In the nine years Sandra Lindquist has been at the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, she has developed multiple community-wide events and organizations that benefit the region and seen the chamber’s membership grow from 500 members in 2011 to more than 1,300 today.
It is Lindquist’s work specifically with women, however, that she has found her calling.
In addition to creating the chamber’s Women’s Business Alliance, which meets monthly, Lindquist co-founded the business and social networking event Women & Wine on Wednesday. Her latest accomplishment was last year’s inaugural Power Up: Women’s Leadership Conference, a day-long professional development event designed specifically for women.
“We were hoping to draw 200 to 300 people,” said Lindquist, “but we ended up selling out one month before the event with 550 ladies.”
This year’s event, scheduled for March, had a capacity for 800 women. Before it was postponed to August 7, 700 tickets had already been sold.
Lindquist said she sees the popularity of the event, and other female meetup opportunities and leadership programs as the dawning of a new era.
“Early in my career, women I worked with would try and keep other women down,” she said. “But that is no longer the case. Women are really coming together now. They’re realizing there’s strength in numbers and that women with a strong peer group are achieving greater success.”
