This is a paid piece from EmBe.

Simplified: Regardless of where you are in your career or life trajectory, EmBe has a women's leadership offering where you'll belong. Here's how EmBe is creating spaces for women to share their expertise, build their skills and own their leadership journey – including programs starting as soon as this spring.

Why it matters

• EmBe's Women's Leadership Programs aren't just a setting to hype you up and tell you that you can do it. It's about real growth and transformation, according to Director of Leadership and Culture Melissa Hiatt.
• Programs are designed to challenge women to grow while also connecting them to a network of professional women who can serve as both peers and mentors in addressing leadership challenges and wins along the way.
• Leadership programs fall into three distinct categories: Leading Me, Leading With and Leading Wise. Each of the programs build upon one another, but you don't have to complete one before you sign up for the next.
  • It's also the right time to apply now, if you're looking for business development in the first half of 2026. Applications for spring cohorts of both the Leading Me and Leading With programs close mid-April.

"This is hard work," Hiatt said. "Knowing yourself as a leader requires leaning in and growing in self-awareness. It’s not about the next thing to boost your ego.  It’s taking responsibility for who you are as a leader and the part you play in building your career, culture, and community. This is transformational work that happens."

Tell me more

Leading Me is a twice-annual cohort, in the fall and in the spring, in which women will be paired with a mentor with the goal of showing up fully in their workplaces and in their lives.

• The six-month program starts with a full-day retreat, and then participants meet monthly, in addition to regular meetings with their mentor.
• The program maxes out at 25 participants, but Hiatt said even if you're not accepted into the cohort you apply to, you'll be able to join the next time around.

"If it's something you want to do, you're in," she said. "I’m hearing from too many women who are shying away from applying because they didn’t think they would get in. If you’re interested in growing as a person and building a career you enjoy, these programs are for you. You just need to apply."

Leading With is also a twice-annual cohort, in the fall and spring, designed for women who are 10 to 15 years into their leadership journey. It's a smaller group and structured more as business coaching.

• This program is designed to help women understand their impact on others, and it involves some introspection in looking at their family of origin and how learned patterns might be impacting their work and leadership.

Leading Wise is, in some ways, still forming, Hiatt said, but the goal is to create a clearinghouse for women in the community to share their expertise with others.

• The goal is to meet community needs as they arise and give women with expertise a way to share their offering with more people.
• One aspect of Leading Wise is The Bold Table, a partnership with Bold Identity Studio to create a space for women to share a table and glean wisdom from one another.

How can I get involved?

Applications are now open for both the Leading Me and Leading With cohorts. You can learn more about all of EmBe's Women's Leadership Programs here.

Scholarships are available because EmBe doesn't want finances to be a barrier for women to better themselves. Simply note that you're interested in scholarships on your application, or reach out to Hiatt directly at mhiatt@embe.org.

• And, really, if you're reading this and thinking that these programs would be a good fit for you, you're probably right. Moms, entrepreneurs, small business owners – this is for you, too. (Yes, you.)