Supporting, educating, advocating.

That's how the Women's Business Center of Kentucky says it's been building up the number of women entrepreneurs across the state.

This year, the nonprofit is celebrating 15 years of helping women get access to the resources they need to become business owners.

The Women's Business Center of Kentucky is a hub for entrepreneurs to essentially get resources.

They may not realize they have access to.

So many entrepreneurs that are starting have barriers of entry, whether that be to funding capital, sometimes just networking and meeting the next right person.

And the WBC is here to solve that problem for entrepreneurs.

So we serve.

All 120 counties in Kentucky.

We're headquartered in Lexington.

We have a Louisville footprint, but we're really intentional about getting into the corners of southeast Kentucky, parts of western Kentucky, eastern Kentucky, and so bringing our programing to communities that sometimes don't have programs such as ours.

That is something that we're really proud of.

And our one on one coaching, being virtual, truly meeting people where they are is something that motivates us every day.

So a lot of times when you're in the beginning stages of your business, you don't have access to an accountant, a lawyer, you may not know best practices in your industry.

Strong women, strong coffee is a way that new entrepreneurs can get that information.

So we have a topic speaker.

Each month they speak for 25 to 30 minutes, giving, you know, kind of the the top of the line information or like forest view instead of tree view.

And it's also an extra way that they can connect with the person giving the information.

So we have banking next month and banking can be a very scary thing.

We most people don't want to talk about money, especially when it comes to our businesses.

But being able to have a banker in the room, whether that be for commercial lending or maybe even personal finances, they get to build that relationship.

During Strong Women, strong Coffee, the Strong Women.

Strong coffee events are.

The most diverse rooms that I go into.

There's a diversity in age.

There's a diversity in ethnicity, in language is spoken.

And IT and also businesses being offered.

I started attending the Strong Women Strong Coffee events in Louisville in, I guess, 2023.

We were a small group at that time, 6 or 8 of us at a table, and I found it to be so energizing to learn about other businesses that were in my community.

When you are an entrepreneur and you don't have necessarily employees or people that you're working with, the people that you meet with regularly become your, you know, colleagues.

So that has been really good.

I think with any getting out there into any network.

So total encouragement, connecting me with other people in the community, getting speak opportunities.

I love to get to teach and present things.

I'm most proud of.

For the Women's Business Center is not just the growth for the center, but the growth that the entrepreneurs are experiencing.

So many times we measure success in this way that might make us feel small, and I feel as though our community really celebrates every milestone.

So not just the 15 years, but a new business opening a door, someone understanding their numbers better.

Obviously expansion is great, but someone being able to feed their family through entrepreneurship is also great.

So we're the past 15 years we've seen kind of economic differences, the pandemic, but we've really seen the resiliency of women in business getting started, finding funding and scaling.

And so for us, this milestone is worth not just letting it pass by, but truly standing firm, celebrating and honoring those that came before us that are a part of the journey and what's to come see.

We'll be hosting five events in Lexington, Corbin and Louisville to celebrate their 15th anniversary.

The Kentucky Derby Museum just set an attendance record.

The museum's fiscal year ran from October 1st, 2025 to September 30th, 2026, and during that time it welcomed more than 266,000 guests, the most ever.

That's up 11,000 from the previous year.

The museum has two floors of interactive exhibits, including a 360 degree movie, a cafe and bourbon bar, and the Derby Museum store.

Man Awards.

Last race, Loretta Lynn's first Grand Ole Opry performance, and a vice president from Kentucky.

Our Toby Gibbs has all three and more in this look at This Week in Kentucky history.

Richard M Johnson was born October 17th, 1780, near present day Louisville.

He would go on to become Vice President of the United States from 1837 to 1841, under President Martin Van Buren.

Governor George Madison died on October 14th, 1816.

He was the first Kentucky governor to die in office.

Lieutenant Governor Gabriel Slaughter took the oath later that day.

Happy birthday to Mary Clay, born October 13th, 1839, the daughter of Cassius Clay.

She became one of Kentucky's first advocates for women's suffrage.

As they come around the first turn, it's man of war, leading Sir Barton by a later.

Man of war, ran his last race on October 12th, 1920.

He beat Sir Barton at Kenilworth Park in Canada.

The race was filmed in its entirety and shown in movie theaters throughout the country.

Johnson County, Kentucky native Loretta Lynn performed at the Grand Ole Opry for the first time on October 15th, 1960.

Lawrence Welk and his orchestra became the first performers at the new Rupp Arena on October 17th, 1976.

The crowd was so big, Rupp Arena ran out of popcorn.

Those are some of the highlights of this Week in Kentucky history.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you so much for sharing part of your Monday with us.

We hope to see you right back here tomorrow night for Kentucky Edition.

Take care.