When Rachel Lutz was a kid in Detroit, she spent a lot of hours visiting a shop her parents ran in the Fisher Building, fascinated by the “glamorous fashions of Detroit” at the time.
After trying out other options – political activism, journalism and social justice among them – Lutz dove headfirst into the fashion game, opening her first retail store – the Peacock Room in the Park Shelton building, with a credit card and her dream.
Since its founding in 2011, the Peacock Room, which specializes in women’s apparel and accessories, stationery, gifts and furniture, has added a second location in the Fisher Building.
The business has grown from maxing out Lutz’s $1,500 credit card limit to raking in $1.6 million in revenue.
“I went into business to sell beautiful dresses and sparkly jewelry,” she said, recounting the story with a chuckle for the crowd recently at the 29th annual Women Thrive Conference, which honors the success of women each year. “I thought in my business plan, which I haven’t dusted off in 13 years, I was going to be my only employee. I accidentally became an entrepreneur.”
The conference helps MichBusiness, along with its sister brands Corp! Magazine, the Best and Brightest programs, and the National Association for Business Resources, accomplish its one mission – to ignite greatness in companies and their people.
Lutz’s success is the kind of story that helped Lutz earn recognition as one of the conference’s five Women in Leadership honorees. The conference also saw four women inducted into the Michigan Business Hall of Fame and another five honored as “Shooting Stars.”
Jennifer Kluge, president and CEO of the NABR, noted the progress that’s been made.
“We have been coming together as a community to recognize influential women in leadership for almost three decades,” Kluge told the crowd gathered at The Henry Ford. “We have seen a lot in those years.”
Kluge outlined what she called “some interesting numbers” as the crowd gathered for the 29th annual conference, including:
- In 1996, the first year of the conference, the percentage of women executives at S&P 500 Companies was less than 5% and there were no women CEO’s at the S&P 500 companies. Currently, women hold 29.2% of senior-level positions in S&P 500 companies, and 8.2% serving as CEOs.
- 29 years ago, 59% of U.S. women were in the workforce, Today, 57.5% of women participate in the workforce. “It’s worth noting that the women’s labor force participation rate has been trending downward in recent years,” Kluge said.
- 29 years ago, 11% of all elected officials at federal, state and local seats were female. Today, it is 28.2%
Hall of Famers Honored
The successful careers of four women were recognized with their induction into the Michigan Business Hall of Fame. They included:
Lisa Lunsford, the co-founder and CEO at GS3 Global, a manufacturer in metro-Detroit. Lunsford has been recognized twice as one of Automotive News’ 100 Leading Women in Automotive. She serves as board chair of MICHAuto, the state’s only automotive and mobility association with a mission to promote, retain, and grow Michigan’s signature industry. Lunsford accepted the honor with gratitude and a little humor. “I used to think being a Hall of Famer meant you were dead,” she said with a laugh. “When I found out, it was an honor and I was humbled by it. It does mean it’s a responsibility. I feel energized and I have so much work to do. I’m just so proud.”
Ursula Scroggs, the managing director of DKSS CPAs + Advisors, with offices in Troy and St. Clair Shores. As one of the leaders of Michigan’s largest women-owned CPA firm, Scroggs is a recipient of the Michigan SBA Advocate of the Year Award for Women in Business from the U.S. Small Business Administration. She also has received the MACPA’s Experienced Leader Women to Watch award. In addition to all of that, Scroggs is an active board member of Impact 100 Macomb and has dedicated her time in helping women come together to make a positive difference and financial support local non-profits. Scroggs said work and life experiences have taught her what it means to be a leader. “As a former den mother and mom of an Eagle Scout, I’ve learned the importance of being ready to tackle challenges while being flexible and open-minded with my stakeholders, team, clients, and family,” she said. “It’s a complex juggling act and you must decide which takes precedence at any given moment. I’ve also come to realize that self-care should be a priority. If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be around to nurture anyone else.”
Milinda Ysasi, CEO at Grow. Grow is a Grand Rapids-based community development financial institution focused on providing capital and knowledge to entrepreneurs. Ysasi is also co-founder of the Latina Network of West Michigan, an organic collective focused on changing the Latina narrative in the region. In November 2019, Ysasi was elected to serve as a commissioner for the 2nd Ward of the Grand Rapids City Commission. In 2024, she was elected to a second term and ran unopposed. She serves on the City of Grand Rapids Smartzone Authority, Brownfield Development Authority and the Kent County Community Action board. “Being recognized in the Hall of Fame is an honor, but it’s also a responsibility,” Ysasi said. “I’m leaving here with renewed energy about, ‘What else do I need to do?’ The path isn’t linear, so what’s the next step and the step after that.”
Valerie Vig, president at J.S. Vig Construction. Vig’s story demonstrates both the potential for women in construction and her work to encourage other women into the field. Under her leadership, J.S. Vig Construction has completed more than 1,600 projects that range from hospitals, libraries and municipal facilities to office buildings and industrial facilities. Vig recently received the prestigious Waters Woman in Construction Award. Her visionary approach and unparalleled commitment has set new standards within the construction sector. “It’s an incredible honor … I’m so proud of all the women on the panel and I was blessed to be a part of this,” Vig said. “Honoring women is very important. I was happy to be asked questions that a lot of the time you don’t know people are even thinking about. Asking people how they solve their problems versus how you solve your problems … We all have the same issues and different ways of looking at things.”
Women in Leadership
Four other women joined Rachel Lutz in being recognized as Women in Leadership honorees, including:
Andrea Bogos Trapani, managing partner at Identity, a Birmingham-based national public relations, marketing and creative agency. Bogos Trapani oversees the firm’s client services and strategy teams and leads the firm’s day-to-day operations. Under her leadership, Identity refined its operational processes to scale growth, expanded its vertical practice areas, and increased its overall footprint and reputation as a leader in integrated public relations in southeast Michigan and nationally.
Kelly Burris, owner and founder of Burris Law, a Detroit firm specializing in intellectual property protection. Burris is a former aerospace engineer and uses her own aircraft to criss-cross the country throughout the year to meet with inventors, engineers and business executives. Burris received the Best Lawyers 2023 “Lawyer of the Year” award for Patent Law in Detroit and was selected by her peers for inclusion in “The Best Lawyers in America” list for Patent Law from 2021 through 2025. She is a passionate pilot and serves on the Michigan Aeronautics Commission and the Western Michigan University Board of Trustees.
Jacqueline Howard, head of money wellness at Ally Financial, a digital financial services company and a top 25 U.S. financial holding company. Howard serves as a strategic program and communication lead to establish Ally as the leading voice in financial health and wellness, with a focus on money psychology and behavioral financial education. She’s also the Board secretary for the Ally Charitable Foundation. In 2018, she was recognized as a Leading the Way recipient at Ally. She also received the Woman of Excellence Award from the Michigan Chronicle and earned a spot as one of 15 women on Next list.
Tina Jackson is the president and CEO at Work Skills Corporation, a non-profit vocational rehabilitation organization that has been dedicated to empowering individuals facing significant disabilities and employment barriers. Under Jackson’s leadership, the organization has grown significantly with dramatic increases in the number of people served, through development of WSC Staffing Service, WSC Home Care, and the expansion into charter schools and introduction of Artisan Corner, an art studio that features artists with disabilities.
Shooting Stars
The five women recognized as Shooting Stars included:
Rachel Allen, Senior Brand Manager at Bissell Homecare. Allen is a strategic marketer who provides best-in-class solutions rooted in consumer and market insights. She focuses on effectively influencing change by building strategic relationships and following through with innovative recommendations. She is passionate about sharing her experience and category expertise with others by utilizing storytelling to deliver excellent presentations.
Andrea Daniewski, the vice president of operations at Bedrock, the Detroit- and Cleveland-based commercial real estate firm, where she leads a team whose role it is to collaborate across all business areas to improve, implement, and train on process and policy. She also oversees the moves and management of all office operations for the organization. Daniewski played an integral role in the acquisitions of signature downtown properties such as One Campus Martius and Ally Detroit Center in Detroit, and Tower City Center in Cleveland. She also serves as a critical stakeholder in parking asset improvements and public activations.
Katy McBrady, General Manager at Molson Coors Beverage Company. McBrady grew up in the Detroit area, graduated from Central Michigan University and got her start in the beverage industry working for local distributors. For the last nine years, she’s been building her expertise in craft beer and leading sales at a distributorship in California. While in California, she knew she wanted to make her way back home to Detroit.
Cat Shapiro, owner and head chef of Thyme & Honey, a Detroit-based food company. Shapiro uses skills from her culinary degree and more than a decade of industry experience to build stunning visual displays of charcuterie and cheese boards and unique gourmet bites for clients across the metro area. With a focus of colorful, healthy produce grown by local farmers, Shapiro’s dedication to creating unique and unforgettable dining experiences has helped her business flourish. She’s changing the way Metro Detroiters see and eat local foods, one event at a time.
Bo Shepherd, co-owner and head of design at Woodward Throwbacks, a Detroit-based design studio that creates furniture and spaces using reclaimed materials. A former car designer at General Motors, Shepherd left the automotive industry to pursue her passion for interior and furniture design. Her design philosophy is to redefine how society sees reclaimed materials, infusing them with new life as functional works of art.
Others benefit from conference
Each year the Women’s Thrive Conference partners with a nonprofit organization to provide support for its mission.
This year’s nonprofit partner was Gianna House, an Eastpointe, Mich.-based resident housing and community outreach center for low-income mothers of any age in the Wayne-Oakland-Macomb county region.
Gianna House’s mission is to provide support through education and life skills programming to pregnant women and mothers who are at-risk and lack housing to transition them to independence.
The center, which impacts some 250 women and even fathers, is backed by donations, all of which provide support to its residents.
“An event like this helps us keep running because it allows us to use our resources to keep a roof over our residents’ heads,” said Cynthia McFall, Gianna House’s residential program coordinator.
For people like Amy Yousif Joa, the Women Thrive Conference provides a networking connection like few others.
Yousif Joa, who leads the executive MBA program at Michigan State’s Broad College of Business, said supporting events like this one gives the college “an opportunity to connect with people who are motivated to succeed and make change.”
“We want to connect with them on that journey,” Yousif Joa said. “We want to be a part of their journey.”
The conference also welcomed a variety of vendors who were looking to network and raise awareness of their businesses.
One such vendor was Apex Placement and Consulting, which offers a wide range of recruiting, staffing, direct hire, temp-to-hire and contract labor solutions for companies nationwide.
The conference “helps us get out here and connect with the community,” said Kristin Gladki, Apex’s operations director.
“We’re a newer company, and part of being here is the exposure and the chance to expand our footprint,” Gladki said. “We have a larger mission to give back (to the community) when we can.”
