10+ impressive women shaping Charlotte in 2025
Between the lines: This is not a comprehensive list of all the women shaping Charlotte. You can also check out our 2022, 2023 and 2024 lists.
Carolina Ascent
Charlotte's first top-tier professional women's soccer team is setting the standard for what professional women's sports can look like in Charlotte going forward.
Caitlyn Sheff
Caitlyn Sheff is making fitness more financially accessible for Charlotteans. Her Wesley Heights yoga studio, The Coterie, is well-known for its sliding scale membership and drop-in class pricing, so much so that the space recently added a second studio room due to its ever-growing waitlist. People love what Sheff's built — just take a look at the flood of support in the comments section on our recent post about the studio's expansion.
Dena Diorio
Retiring county manager Dena Diorio has led Mecklenburg County through nearly 11 years of explosive growth, navigating through a pandemic and working alongside county commissioners to improve Charlotte's economic mobility.
Erinn Thames
Founder of the popular pop-up party series 704 Party, Thames is on a mission to change Charlotte's nightlife scene through inclusivity and dancing. Profits from many of her events fund grants for other local creatives so they can jump-start their own projects and add to the city's culture.
Festival Colombiano co-presidents
Festival Colombiano is more than just a celebration of Colombia's culture — it's a grassroots movement that helped bring national attention to Charlotte.
Its co-presidents, Natalia Silva and Karol Cortes, are among the dozens of local Colombian community leaders and business owners who petitioned to bring a Colombian Consulate to Charlotte, but it's their festival that brought then-Colombian ambassador Luis Gilberto Murillo to Charlotte so they could hand him the petition in-person. Last May, Chancellor Murillo announced that their petition was successful.
Jordan Dollard
Dollard's company, Esther & Elsa, puts on some of Charlotte's most popular vendor markets, the best-known being Front Porch Sundays. This open-air market draws shoulder-to-shoulder crowds along Atherton on the first Sunday of April through December. And in 2024, the small businesses of FPS generated over $1 million in sales — before the holiday shopping season even started.
Katie Mitchell
The Trope Bookshop owner has created a cult-like following for her popular romance bookstore. So popular that people lined up in droves on opening weekend; at times, that line wrapped around the building. Through Trope, Mitchell has also built a community that has connected people in Charlotte through literature.
Kristi Coleman
Coleman, the CEO of Tepper Sports & Entertainment and the president of the Carolina Panthers, is one of a few female executives in the NFL. She oversees business operations for the Panthers, Charlotte FC and Bank of America Stadium.
Molly Grantham
Following a successful 20-year run at WBTV, Grantham recently pivoted her career to empower women. At her inaugural Bet on Yourself Summit last year, she proudly announced to a crowd of 340 women: "I'm reinventing myself at 47 years old."
Ziva Postpartum Retreat founders
Selena Williams and Lauren Hall launched Charlotte's first postpartum retreat for new mothers. The retreat, which opened earlier this year, was designed to educate and support women with resources as they adjust to motherhood.
A few notable reader submissions:
"Monifa Drayton is a powerhouse, business owner and the former head of the Arts & Science Council — in addition, [she] currently holds the position as the first Black female board chair of the ABC Board. Through her leadership, she has expanded opportunities for others while also paving the way for herself." — Brittney B.
"Kim Lanphear led Apparo to offer services at no cost to nonprofits in need by asking corporate partners to help fund the work. Leading the organization through the transition from a fee-based entity to a fundraising-based nonprofit." — Alyssa M.
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