What does community mean to you?

What is community? More importantly, what makes someone feel that they truly belong to one?

During the first weekend of May, I attended a retreat in Ottawa with Coralus, an organization I've belonged to for several years. Those of you who attended the 2025 Annual Conference will recall that Coralus founder Vicki Saunders was our keynote speaker. She had fascinating things to say about entrepreneurship, business models, and how we might rethink the way we support women in business.

The purpose of the retreat was to explore how Coralus should evolve as an organization. For years, it has supported women-owned businesses in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, providing more than $21 million in interest-free loans. Like many organizations, Coralus is responding to a world that has changed dramatically over the past few years and is asking what women entrepreneurs need now and in the future.

If the word retreat suggests a leisurely pace and time to relax, that definitely wasn't my experience. Meeting with eight other members from Ottawa, along with two facilitators, it was an experience that left me both energized and exhausted. It takes a lot of energy to challenge mindsets, question assumptions, and imagine how systems might be redesigned to better serve people.

While we didn't come away with a brilliant solution neatly wrapped in a bow, I do think we contributed to a sense of moving forward. And for me, that feeling was anchored in one recurring idea: COMMUNITY. Not community as a buzzword, but community as something essential to how we do business, support one another, and navigate uncertainty.

That reflection followed me home and led me to think about the Business Sisters community. One of our goals has always been to create more than a networking organization or a calendar of events. We want to build a community where women business owners feel connected, supported, and invested in one another's success. That sounds simple enough on paper, but creating a genuine sense of community is much more complex than organizing a meeting or hosting a workshop.

For too long, entrepreneurship has been steeped in individualism and a very masculine narrative. "I did it my way" could easily be entrepreneurship's slogan. In my experience, especially in rural communities, that is far from the truth. The businesses that thrive over the long term are often those with strong relationships, strong local roots, and a willingness to contribute to the communities that support them. Many women entrepreneurs understand this instinctively. We build businesses through relationships, collaboration, trust, referrals, and mutual support.

In some ways, this may seem like an old-fashioned approach to business. Small communities have been operating this way forever. Yet suddenly, the broader business world is discovering the value of community. There's a lot of chatter online about brands building communities that help shape products, generate ideas, strengthen customer loyalty, and create powerful word-of-mouth marketing. It seems that what rural communities have known for generations is becoming fashionable again.

OK, so what, you ask?

Well, I've been doing this work full-time for the Business Sisters community for four years now, and I still find myself asking questions.

In fact, I think the future of the Business Sisters community depends on ALL of us asking better questions and listening carefully to the diversity of answers.

• What makes someone feel connected to a business community?
• Aside from a shared desire to see our region thrive economically, what encourages retailers, service providers, farmers, professionals, and others to actively participate?
• What differentiates a Chamber of Commerce from the kind of community we envision at Business Sisters?
• What would make the Business Sisters community feel less like a networking organization and more like a true community?
• Have you helped build a community around a shared purpose? What worked? What didn't?

As the world faces increasing economic and geopolitical uncertainty, I find myself more convinced than ever that our relationships with one another matter more than ever. Community is not just something nice to have when times are good. It is often what helps us weather difficult times. Women are uniquely positioned to influence their families, friends, neighbours, clients, and colleagues. We are often the connectors, the conveners, and the people who bring others together. When you can sit down with your neighbour, break bread together, and have a meaningful conversation, that is where community begins.

One of our goals within the Business Sisters community is to build something that reflects the needs, experiences, and aspirations of the women who belong to it. We don't want to assume we know what that should look like. We want to hear from you.

So please tell me your thoughts: What does community mean to you? What would make the Business Sisters community feel even more valuable, welcoming, and supportive?

Your answers in the comments below will help shape what we build together.

Thanks for reading my rambles!