VIRTUAL CIRCLE | July Lessons In Leadership

Lessons in Leadership is for leaders eager to grow. Join fellow CXers on the 1st Tuesday of every month for a conversation about a relevant leadership topic to grow in knowledge, learn from others, and identify ways to stretch yourself. 

Each month our Lessons in Leadership facilitator, Julie Klima, will interview a guest presenter who will share their experience and philosophies about leadership. Our guest for July is Mary Beth Gentry.

  Mary Beth Gentry is the founder and CEO of Young Women on the Move (YWOM), a 501c3 nonprofit in Wyandotte County, Kansas. Young Women on the Move’s mission is to unleash the power of girls to create a more vibrant, healthy, and peaceful world through a focus on holistic health and wellness of adolescent girls, 11-25 years of age in Kansas City, Kansas, the state’s most urban and diverse county. Young Women on the Move has become the Kansas City, Kansas Public School District’s primary mentoring program for girls in after-school and summer enrichment programs focused on character, personal leadership, college/career readiness, holistic health, and wellness.

From 1998 – 2004, Ms. Gentry served as assistant dean for external affairs at the KU School of Medicine, Kansas City, Kansas when her eyes were finally opened to issues affecting women’s health.  In 2005, Ms. Gentry earned a master’s certificate at KU in Community Health and Development and, in the process, developed the framework for Young Women on the Move.

Ms. Gentry is the 2022-2023 President of the Lyric Opera Circle, a membership group of women devoted to raising funds through an annual Ball to support the Lyric Opera KC. She and her husband, Jimmy Gentry, are active members of the Church of the Resurrection Leawood, and parents to Kerry Gentry Hartnett. They are in process of planning their 50^th wedding anniversary for this coming fall.