2026 Women Who Roar Leadership Awards Luncheon
In Sarasota, leadership rarely arrives with a brass band.
By Edit Sarasota Staff
In Sarasota, leadership rarely arrives with a brass band. It appears in the steady work of building a neighborhood, sustaining a nonprofit, mentoring a young professional, protecting a creative institution or making room at the table for someone who has not yet been invited. The 2026 Women Who Roar Leadership Awards Luncheon will gather that often-unshowy force in one room—and give it the recognition it deserves.
The word “roar” suggests volume, but the most consequential women in any community understand that influence is not always loud. It can be persistent, strategic and generously shared. In a city shaped by philanthropy, entrepreneurship, the arts, education, medicine and civic engagement, women’s leadership has long been woven into the region’s identity. Their work is visible in major institutions and grassroots efforts alike, from cultural programming and community advocacy to the daily care that keeps organizations and neighborhoods moving forward.
An awards luncheon offers more than a moment of applause. It creates a civic portrait: a chance to see the range of experience and ambition gathered across Sarasota, and to recognize how individual achievements connect to a larger public life. For emerging leaders, such events can provide both example and encouragement. For established ones, they offer a rare pause from the work itself—a room in which colleagues, collaborators and friends can acknowledge what is usually accomplished behind the scenes.
There is also something fitting about the luncheon format. Around a shared table, professional distinctions soften. Conversations begin between courses; introductions become partnerships; a celebration of one woman’s contribution can prompt another woman to imagine what she might take on next. In a community as socially interconnected as Sarasota, those exchanges can carry well beyond the afternoon.
The 2026 Women Who Roar Leadership Awards Luncheon will take place Friday, November 6, 2026. Venue, honoree and ticket information will be announced by the event organizers as plans develop. For now, the date offers Sarasota’s community of leaders, advocates and allies a reason to reserve space on the calendar—and to consider the many forms courage can take when it is put to work for the common good.