United Way of Santa Barbara County (UWSBC) will host the annual Women United Derby Luncheon, featuring keynote speaker Beate Chelette, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18 at the Plaza de Sol, Hilton Santa Barbara, 633 E Cabrillo Blvd.
Chelette is the growth architect and founder of The Women’s Code, a strategic business and balanced leadership development company.
A first-generation immigrant who found herself $135,000 in debt as a single parent, Beate bootstrapped her passion for photography into a successful global business and eventually sold it to Bill Gates in a multimillion-dollar deal.
She was named One of 100 Top Global Thought Leaders in 2021 by PeopleHum, and One of 50 Must-Follow Women Entrepreneurs by HuffPost.
Chelette is the author of “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go from Overwhelmed to Awesome,” a No. 1 international award-winning Amazon bestseller that corporate trainer Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”
Beate believes in UWSBC’s community-driven approach and has personal experience with the benefits of free, quality community education programs for children.
“Having been a single mom immigrant intricately connected to difficulties of trying to do everything by yourself, United Way has a very subtle but effective community-drive approach to solving issues without looking down on the people they are trying to help,” she said.
Throughout her career, Beate has remained committed to informing her professional development with philanthropic initiatives like those embodied in the mission of Women United.
“The law of reciprocity that is based on giving says that the more we give without expectation, the more we receive,” she said. “As a woman in business, it is a concept and principle I use to build my business. Lots of beautiful opportunities then come out of seemingly nowhere because of the law of reciprocity.”
Women United recently relaunched in 2021 and the Derby Luncheon will be the group’s second in-person event in more than two years. All of the event proceeds will go to UWSBC ’s education programs for local students.
Shari Liu Fellows chairs the Women United group and is in her first year of membership on the United Way Board of Directors. “I am honored to be able to serve United Way, especially to serve as the chair of Women United. Benevolence and giving are very much principles in my personal values,” she said.
Tickets to the Derby Luncheon must be purchased by Wednesday, May 11. To buy tickets and learn more, visit http://unitedwaysb.org/wu-luncheon. For more about United Way of Santa Barbara County, visit unitedwaysb.org.