Celebrating Women Who Lead: Highlights from Women’s Leadership Day with Kellymoss

On September 18, 2026, I was honored to be a part of our Women’s Leadership Day. While we have collaborated with other sponsors on this event for the last three years, this was the first time we partnered with Kellymoss and made this a development, networking and inspiring day for a group of women at Acumatica.

From the moment we arrived, we felt like part of the team, not guests, which aligns with the partnership we began with Kellymoss a little over one year ago. Kellymoss, the winningest motorsport racing team in Porsche history, chose Acumatica, a leading, award-winning cloud ERP solution, to streamline its racing and business operations, but the collaboration was — and is — more than just business. It’s an inspirational collaboration that sees Acumatica supporting Kellymoss’s Be Your Own Hero initiative, which grew out of its 2024 Race Forward platform established by CFO and co-owner Victoria Thomas.

The program encourages young people to engage in STEM education and highlights the opportunities racing holds for underrepresented groups. Participants receive hands-on, trackside learning and educational sessions led by professional female racers.

The partnership also demonstrates that empowering women is not limited to a single industry. By bringing together leaders from technology and motorsports, we create opportunities to share experiences, challenge stereotypes, and highlight the many ways women are contributing and leading in traditionally underrepresented fields.

After our engaging and constructive Women’s Leadership Day, I can honestly say that the mission to support women in tech in an authentic environment is speeding ahead. Here’s a look at how this important event supported women’s roles in leadership, technology, STEM, and traditionally male-dominated industries.

About Women’s Leadership Day

This year, Women’s Leadership Day took place at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The event offered participants the space and environment to pause from the pace of work, reflect on their leadership journeys, and get inspired to continue to grow and build confidence while enjoying a firsthand look at the behind-the-scenes activities that make this worldclass operation succeed.

Women’s Leadership Day Panel

Conversations around confidence, resilience, leadership, and defining success on their own terms took place on and off the track, including during the panel I hosted at the event. I was joined onstage by Victoria Thomas, and top racers Loni Unser, and Ashley Freilberg, who are amazing role models for women in leadership positions.

During the panel, the stories shared by the Kellymoss panelists illustrated that perseverance, continuous learning, and confidence are transferable leadership qualities that can help women succeed in any environment. Rather than focusing only on achievements, they openly discussed setbacks, uncertainty, difficult decisions, and the lessons they learned along the way. Those stories created meaningful connections with attendees and the conversations reinforced that growth rarely follows a straight path and that resilience often emerges from the challenges we face.

Attendees heard firsthand how failure is not viewed as something to avoid but as an essential part of the path to success. Every race that doesn’t end in a win provides valuable data, insights, and lessons that improve the chances of future success. In motorsports, failure is not the opposite of success. It is part of the process that makes success possible.

The message resonated because so many of us have been conditioned to view failure as something negative. The conversation challenged that perspective and encouraged us to reframe failure as feedback, an opportunity to learn, adapt, and grow.

For me, this was one of the most powerful takeaways from the day. Success is often built on a foundation of lessons learned from setbacks and that growth requires both the courage to fail and the discipline to learn from those experiences. This theme connected deeply with the broader message of the day: leadership is not about being perfect. It’s about continually learning, evolving, and moving forward with greater wisdom and confidence.

For Natalya Komaneva, Acumatica Senior Manager, CRM, the panel and the message delivered during it captured what the day was all about.

And for Lauren O’Hara, Senior Product Marketing Manager, the Women’s Leadership Day panel brought home the importance of defining leadership individually. “I found the discussion about how each person defines leadership insightful. The Kellymoss team shifted the conversation away from the traditional leader-subordinate dynamic and toward a more personal view of leadership. It inspired me to consider the opportunities I have to lead and grow, both personally and professionally.”

Women’s Leadership Day Workshops

In addition to the inspirational panel, the day included a hands-on workshop. According to Natalya, the workshop created space for attendees to ask questions of themselves.

“In the day-to-day pace of work, we are often focused on execution and the next priority. Creating time to pause, step back, and reflect more strategically is incredibly valuable. It helps us think about what is working, what could change, and where we want to grow next.”

Lauren says the workshop was personally impactful.

Advancing Women in Technology, Women in STEM, and Women in Leadership

Events like Women’s Leadership Day provide participant with opportunities to learn from others, reflect on their own aspirations, and see possibilities they may not have considered before. They help emerging leaders realize they are not alone in their challenges and remind experienced leaders that their stories can inspire those that come after them.

One of the many powerful lessons from the day was that while career paths may look different, many leadership challenges are remarkably similar. Whether someone works in technology, motorsports, business operations, or another field, themes like overcoming self-doubt, taking calculated risks, building resilience, and finding your voice are universal. Bringing together women from diverse industries broadens perspectives and helps participants recognize that leadership lessons can come from unexpected places.

“This event was a good reminder of how valuable it is to step outside your immediate team or area of expertise. People from different roles naturally notice different things, ask different questions, and approach challenges from different angles,” says Natalya. “For leaders, that kind of exposure is important. It helps us avoid becoming too attached to familiar ways of working and encourages curiosity, better collaboration, and openness to ideas we might not encounter in our daily environment.”

The impact of Women’s Leadership day extends beyond a single event. At Acumatica, we’re excited about continuing to build a community where women can learn from one another, grow together, and see new possibilities in themselves while strengthening individuals, teams, and ultimately, our organization as whole.

Acumatica’s Irina Barber, Vice President Integrated Marketing, explains further what this looks like for Acumatica and in terms of mentorship in her post about International Women’s Day 2026. “Acumatica Community members can find amazing mentors in our expanding online Women in Tech forum, which is made up of women with different positions, personalities, and perspectives who freely share their knowledge and experience as they work together to make the workplace an equitable opportunity,” she writes. “The community continues to grow, and we’re adding to its numbers everyday as we create programs that help increase female representation in STEM, such as our Acumatica-LPGA Foundation Scholarship.”

We understand that women working at Acumatica are shaping the future of our technology, and championing equity and inclusion both locally and globally is who we are and what we do. Acumatica is committed to helping women recognize their potential, trust their voice, and step into opportunities they may not have previously imagined.

Ultimately, we’re here for every woman that’s desiring success in STEM, business, or sports. To learn more or to become a part of our exciting mission, contact our team today!