P31 Womenpreneur Conference March 16 explores essence of humanity in changing world

Feb. 28—What does it mean to be human?

That's the question that will be asked Saturday, March 16 at the third-annual P31 Womenpreneur Conference, which will be held at The Magnolia, a local event venue.

The P31 Womenpreneur Conference is a faith-based communication conference — "P31" represents Proverbs 31, a chapter of the Bible dealing with the concept of a virtuous woman — which puts a focus on women's development. Founded by local Citizens Bank Marketing and Public Relations Director Rikiyah Pryor and her mother Brenda, a transformation coach, the event has grown in popularity over its first couple of years in this community.

"Jordyne Carmack was one of our speakers last year and she's a communication coach, and one of her biggest questions was, what is a human? And that really resonated with a lot of the women who were there last year," said Pryor. "We had a couple of women actually message me and say, 'Hey, can we expand on that? Because I feel like I don't know how to answer that question and I'd like to know what other people think about it.'"

As such, the conference's theme this year is "I See You: The Human Experience," and for Pryor, it's a topic that becomes more and more meaningful all the time as changing technology makes an impact on the humanity, with factors like artificial intelligence and jobs that used to be held by people now being taken over by tech.

"What are the authentic qualities of us as human that technology and artificial intelligence doesn't have, that keeps us rooted and grounded and that makes us unique?" asked Pryor. "... We're still needed. We're still very relevant. We're the people creating these things. And so we're talking about that and unpacking it a little bit, but in a way that's not scary and not intimidating or makes people think it's doomsday. We just want to talk about it and get to the root of how special we are as people."

She added, "It's a Womenpreneur conference and it is focused on women and women's empowerment but this is for everybody. We need our men too. The more our men and our women know who we are and what we're doing, we can really make waves in a positive way."

This year, the conference has brought back what Pryor calls "fan favorites" as speakers, including Brenda Pryor; Leadership Kentucky's Karen Butcher, a former teacher and now corporate trainer who serves as the program coordinator for BRIGHT Kentucky; and and Chicago's Natalie Brown, an award-winning author and motivational speaker.

However, "We also want to make sure that we're highlighting local voices too," said Rikiyah Pryor. To that end, Kasey Compton, an author, entrepreneur and more, will be speaking this year. Compton recently released her book "In Search of You," which Pryor feels is relevant and relatable to local women and to the topic at hand. Indeed listening to the local audience and what they want out of the Womanpreneur conference is key to making it a success in the present and future.

"We like to keep that balance," said Pryor. "That's the biggest thing that we've taken away from these past three years: These women are very opinionated, (the ones) who come to the conference, and we love that. It wouldn't be what it is without their opinions and their feedback."

Referencing Compton's book, Pryor explained, "It's about what to do when doing too much isn't doing it anymore. ... I'm a very high-functioning person. I'm on 12 all the time, and when I'm not, I'm like, 'I've got so much free time. What do I do? What do I want?' I think the book is a very good reflection of that and especially people ... who are very involved and like to see what's going on in the community and get in clubs or events or whatever it may be.

"At the end of the day, we need to also make sure that we're taking time to find that work-life balance and realize what we are as humans and what makes us human," she added, "away from media and away from other people sometimes, just to kind of sit with ourselves and (consider), who am I and what do I want?"

Doors open at 8 a.m. on March 16 at The Magnolia. There is also an event the night before for those with VIP tickets, to be held at the Oak Hill House, for an opportunity to break the ice, and get to know other women at the event.

"When you're going to a conference, especially if you're going by yourself, it's a little weird if you don't know anybody," said Pryor. "So we decided to have a party the day before. It's so fun. Women laugh and cry and make connections"

Pryor noted that there's an "early bird special" right now for tickets, which can be purchased at p31womenpreneurcon.com. Tickets are $59 for general admission, $88 for two people as a special for bringing a friend, and $125 for the VIP Experience ticket, which includes the Friday night hors d'oeuvres soiree and Saturday conference with luncheon included.

For further details, please reach out to Rikiyah Pryor at womenpreneur31@gmail.com or on Facebook.

Pryor gave special thanks to the Kentucky Federation of Business and Professional Women for their sponsorship.

The P31 Womenpreneur Conference has pulled in people not just from Pulaski in the past, but surrounding counties and even as far away as Chicago or Texas. The feedback from previous events has perhaps been the most rewarding part for Pryor, and helps make all the efforts worth it — an example of the human connection at work.

"Since last year, we've had women who have come back and say that they I've started a book or opened a business or made new friends or got out of a weird situation," said Pryor. "I was not expecting that kind of feedback. To be honest, I was hoping we would get that but I was not expecting people to really make change that quickly. So I'm happy that if we put this whole thing on and one woman comes back and says she's changed by it, to me, that's everything."