By: Megan Shellman-Rickard NBPWC Immediate Past-President (2020-2024)

Living the Biennial Theme 

President Barbara Bozeman’s 2024-26 theme: “Connecting  

Locally. Uniting Nationally. Igniting Globally.” is an inspiration  for my magazine article this month. 

Connecting Locally 

In early August I found myself traveling the 325 miles

 from Southwest Colorado to Northeast Colorado for a weekend festival with my husband to celebrate our anniversary. Many of our Colorado  members live in the Front Range area and although my time was limited and my plans were concrete, I missed my BPW sisters after our wonderful conference in Pennsylvania. As it happened, we had an extra backstage ticket for the entire weekend and I immediately thought of one member who adores live music AND was within 15 miles of the venue. Kathy Kelly and I found ourselves enjoying some great musicians together as we connected over the long weekend in Lyons, Colorado.  

We had so much fun connecting in person (outside of NFBPWC planned activities) and  we  likely drove my husband a little crazy talking about the ERA and women’s rights all weekend. We also enjoyed listening to powerful female vocalists like Brittany Howard (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittany_Howard) and Anais Mitchell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana%C3%AFs_Mitchell) both Grammy Award

 winners. The Rocky Mountain Folks Festival (https://bluegrass.com/folks) often highlights strong women and we were definitely  in our element. (Pictured Left: Brittany Howard – Our view from backstage)   

As I embrace the role of Immediate Past  President, I want to connect locally with more of our members during this term. My gratitude for the local, national, and international network of friends and colleagues that I have found over the past 18 years as a member of his incredible organization. I look forward to seeing the friendships and successes that will come from this term with our newly elected executive committee, all phenomenal women. 

Please continue to reach out to me personally or professionally as we continue to our work to make NFBPWC a better organization, because together we are stronger. 

Best Personal Wishes, 

Megan Shellman-Rickard 
NBPWC Immediate Past-President (2020-2024)