CEO Kyra Hardwick to Speak at AKA Hosted “Women’s Empowerment Summit”

“Just Dream and Dream Comfortably!” Those are the words of CEO and managing consultant Kyra Hardwick of the Kyra Company. In fact, she wants the attendees at the “Women’s Empowerment Summit” hosted by the Alpha Kappa Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated (AKA) to do just that. The theme: Empowering Women to Soar in Entrepreneurship

A champion for women entrepreneurs, Kyra founded her company nearly a decade ago and also created the Smart CEO’s Accelerator Program: The Capacity Builder. Her leadership has earned multiple honors, including recently receiving the 2025 Impact Award from the Women’s Business Alliance (WBEA). And on Saturday, Nov. 22, she will grace the summit stage as the keynote speaker for the opening session. She soars—the power of entrepreneurial spirit. The business leader explains in our interview that she will “set the tone for the day by inspiring women at every stage of their entrepreneurial journey, whether they are just beginning or scaling with a message of resilience, vision, and possibility.” The CEO will also join a panel to discuss Certified to SOAR: Unlocking Opportunities with Certification. “I’ll be telling my story of what it’s like as an entrepreneur with essential certifications. That is my focus,” says Kyra.

The spark is always going to be a gentle reminder to remember what it feels like when the spirit of entrepreneurship is really a call into this wild space

Kyra looks forward to the attendees keeping their spark, “you know that spirit of entrepreneurship that kind of glazes over you and connects to that thing inside of you, no matter where an entrepreneur is goal-wise,” says the business leader. Adding that the “spark is always going to be a gentle reminder to remember what it feels like when the spirit of entrepreneurship is really a call into this wild space where you can imagine things that don’t exist, and you can create opportunities that are not present in your space, and you can produce revenue that has no boundaries. You can impact the lives of others in your community based on the dynamic makeup of your skillset,” Kyra says of entrepreneurs.

When we asked the CEO how her company, The Kyra Company, shows up for women in these challenging times, Kyra responded with three words: “Tell the truth.” The CEO says she is committed to helping people understand where they are in business. These include conversations about your current status and state, and about your true desires as an entrepreneur. “The way we are driving success for women entrepreneurs in particular (and I will note we drive success for everyone), but for women, we are mirrors, individuals, they can look at us, they can look at my journey I’ve been very intentional about making sure the dirty side of operations is visible so that you can see the imperfections in our delivery, but the excellence in our outcomes. And so, that is a mirror we provide. There is a transparency around truth.”

And why should women entrepreneurs attend this year’s summit? Kyra says with high energy: “Get in the room! Get in the room! Be smart enough to get in the room. That’s part of our slogan for Smart CEOs. We are leaders that are smart enough to get in the room. So much happens in the room. That’s the number one reason. The second reason is that you know you have needs. Entrepreneurs, write down the one, maybe two, or three needs that you have that are at the top of your list. Who do you need to know? What information do you need to gain access to? And what opportunities do you need to consider? Get in the room. What you need is going to be in there. There’s information, resources, and opportunities waiting for you. That’s why you should be there.”