On this week's episode of The Rural Woman Podcast™, you'll meet Iris Meck. Iris Meck was raised in Sapton, Manitoba, on a mixed farm and attended the University of Manitoba, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and earned a Certificate in Management at the University of Manitoba while working at Cargill. Iris started her career at Cargill and, for over 10 years, held management positions that included marketing and sales. Iris then moved into Account Management for prominent agricultural marketing agencies in Regina and Calgary. In 1999, Iris started her own business delivering marketing tactics for domestic and international agricultural corporations. She organized numerous forums, conferences, workshops, product launches, facility openings and social gatherings for clients in the agriculture and food industry. Among her successes, in 2014, Iris created the Advancing Women Conferences ‐ a Life Skills for Leadership Program for Women in Agriculture positioned across Canada. Since 2014 and through 10 years of hosting AWC conferences, over 7000 women have joined the community to listen, learn, network and grow. In late 2019 Iris joined Glacier FarmMedia and continues to host AWC and other events in agriculture. Iris lives in Calgary, Alberta. For full show notes, including links mentioned in the show, head over to wildrosefarmer.com/awc-2023 . . . DISCUSSIONS THIS WEEK: [09:50] Challenges and Progress Made with Women in the Agriculture Industry [19:20] The Start of Advancing Women in Agriculture Conference  [28:53] Investing in Yourself, Building Confidence, Networking and Connecting with Industry Leaders [39:12] Upcoming Conferences for the 2023/2024 Year . . . This week's episode is brought to you by Advancing Women Conference . . . Let's get SocialFollow The Rural Woman Podcast on Social Media Instagram | Facebook Sign up to get email updates Join our private Facebook group, The Rural Woman Podcast Community Connect with Katelyn on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest . . .Support the ShowPatreon | a href="https://wildrosefarmer.com/shop/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...