Knoxville’s own “Let Her Speak” is launching nationally
For nearly six years, Let Her Speak operated under the fiscal sponsorship of KEC. In March 2024, the organization's founder officially filed for an independent 501(c)(3) status.
Knoxville’s celebrated Let Her Speak organization plans to take a bigger stage – the whole United States. Yes, the organization’s Founder, Catherine Porth has her sights set on big plans for the women’s organization.
The mission of Let Her Speak is to elevate all women’s voices, to facilitate deeper conversations, to inspire lasting change in our communities, and to build a stronger support system for more women to lead. This comes through several different programs – the flagship Let Her Lead program, the new Let Her Vote initiative, the annual Women’s Summit, Let Her Invest workshops, community groups, and more.
“We are all about elevating women’s wealth, power, and influence, and I believe we have a platform to do that nationwide instead of just in Knoxville,” Porth said.
Porth first had a vision for a women’s conference in 2017. She wanted to get women in the community together to discuss opportunities for women in business, professional development, and vision for the future. She made it happen, and through the help of the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (KEC), Porth hosted her first “Let Her Speak Women’s Summit” in 2018.
“I call myself an accidental non-profit founder,” she laughed.
Many things have happened since then. For nearly six years, she operated the organization under the fiscal sponsorship of KEC. In March 2024, Porth decided it was time for Let Her Speak to expand into its organization and filed for 501(c)(3) status.
She said the main reasons behind this decision were that Let Her Speak was outgrowing KEC’s capacity, the organization now serves a wider audience than entrepreneurs, and it was hard to file for women-only grants under the KEC umbrella. Plus, she has visions of expanding to a much wider audience than Knoxville.
“My main priority right now when it comes to growth is intentionality. I don’t want to sacrifice the quality of our programming, collaborations, or conversations by growing too fast,” Porth said.
Furthermore, Porth is a researcher at heart. She spent nearly a year researching the needs of the Knoxville market before launching the initial Women’s Summit. She plans to thoroughly research each market before unrolling programming in the area.
“Data tells you a lot about what a community needs. What women in Atlanta need may not be the same as Charlotte, Chattanooga, or Knoxville,” she said. “Also, we want to connect and collaborate with other women’s organizations that already exist. How can we be better together?”
As Porth continues to dream up new ways for Let Her Speak to make an impact nationally, and on a local level, she is excited about a partnership with the League of Women Voters of Knoxville-Knox County to launch “Let Her Vote.”
The programming is geared toward getting women engaged with local politics and government.
The next session for Knoxville’s “Let Her Vote” is on September 10th, and it will be a platform for female leaders to share their stories in politics.
Then, on October 10, the group will hold another session about how to get involved with political processes and local issues. For more information about Let Her Speak programming visit the website.
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