The Economic Alliance of Lewis County will host its third annual Women in Business Seminar on Wednesday, May 14.
The event invites working women and their supporters to learn from the experiences of notable professional women in the community.
This year’s keynote speaker is Kelly Smith Johnston, who is the mayor of the City of Centralia and the founder of Clarity Consulting firm, which has conducted work with state and local governments, as well as for-profit and nonprofit companies.
Smith Johnston was elected to the Centralia City Council in 2019 and was appointed mayor in 2022.
She previously gave the keynote address at the inaugural Women in Business Seminar in 2023, where she emphasized how important it is for leaders to embody hope and to heal divides within themselves, between themselves and others and between themselves and nature.
“We need to plant the vision of the future and help people see how they can be part of it. This is true whether you’re leading a team of employees, a whole organization, a service group or your own family,” Smith-Johnston said in her 2023 address.
As women, she added, “We’re expected to excel in all areas: in business, in our personal lives, in our appearance, our health and even in finding joy.”
That level of responsibility can lead to burnout, which Smith-Johnston said can be relieved by taking time for rest and play.
“While winter in nature is vital, we don’t allow ourselves to lie fallow and heal. We’re missing that. This is true for everyone, but in many ways, women experience it more because the caregiving work often falls to us disproportionately,” she said.
Other speakers who will make up a panel at the event include:
• Jenny Collins: The former executive director of the Visiting Nurses Foundation, a role she held for 10 years, Collins has been the executive director of the Chehalis Foundation since 2020. She has publicly served the Lewis County community for over 20 years, serving on several non-profit boards and leading over 30 fundraising events and campaigns, according to the Chehalis Foundation. Collins was The Chronicle’s 2021 Person of the Year. In her bio on the Chehalis Foundation’s website, Collins wrote, “Chehalis Foundation’s volunteer board is a team of outstanding professionals who share core values and have a great depth of experience working within community. I am so excited to work with them and expand their good work and positive impact on the Chehalis community that they have been building over the past 17 years. The Chehalis Foundation is a thriving community foundation and I look to the future with joy.”
• Stephanie VonMoos: The owner of Country Financial VonMoos Insurance Group, where she also works as an agent. She was nominated Best Insurance Agent & Best Insurance Company in the KMNT Country Listeners’ Choice 2025 awards. VonMoos also hosts the monthly networking group Women in Success, which was previously named Women in Business. “We want all women to be welcome in our group, not just those in business!” VonMoos stated on social media when announcing the name change in March 2025.
• Paula Burrows: With 15 years in the real estate industry, Burrows is currently the managing broker of the Paula Burrows Team at eXp Realty. “My No.1 phrase is Integrity — Ethics — Honesty, and that is how I run my business,” Burrows states on her business’s website. Burrows and five partners founded the nonprofit Lewis County Footsteps of Hope in March 2025 to address the critical needs of pre-K through 12th grade students in Lewis County. “Our mission statement is to empower Lewis County students, pre-K through 12th grade, by providing access to essential resources and opportunities that support their overall wellbeing and foster their path to success,” Burrows told The Chronicle in March. “Because, children in need, they need to feel like someone cares. And you know, maybe their family doesn’t have a lot of excess to be able to provide the basics, and we just want that child to be empowered, have encouragement, have confidence. Because when kids have the basics, it changes their whole outlook.”
• Jennifer Brown: The medical director of Evexia NW in Centralia, Brown has been a nurse for 20 years and a board certified nurse practitioner since 2019. Through personal and professional education over the last 10 years, Brown has treated hundreds of patients suffering from a wide variety of symptoms including hormone imbalance in both men and women, metabolic abnormalities, and weight gain, according to Evexia NW. “We are here to provide people with options that they may not be able to get at their primary care office,” Brown told The Chronicle when Evexia NW opened in 2022. “Whether it be to add to the therapy that they are receiving from their physician or whether they’re just looking for a different option, a different route, we are here so that we can provide that.” Brown is a 1993 graduate of W.F. West High School and earned her bachelor’s in nursing from Western Governors University. She later completed her master’s in nursing and advanced registered nursing degree from Purdue University.
The Women in Business Seminar runs from 2 to 4 p.m. on May 14 at The Loft, located at 547 NW Pacific Avenue in Chehalis. Admission is $15 and attendees are encouraged to pre-register by calling Dolly Tardiff at 360-748-0114.
Light refreshments and a beverage station will be provided.
Attendees are encouraged to wear pink.
The seminar is sponsored by The Silver Agency, The Chronicle, Providence Swedish, Puget Sound Energy, Clarity Consulting and Edward Jones — Julia Gaul.
Learn more at https://lewiscountyalliance.org.
