Lisa Jeffries Nobling – Raleigh, NC

Category: events

  • Innovation, Intention, and Inspiration at the 2025 Carolina Women’s Collective Summit

    Innovation, Intention, and Inspiration at the 2025 Carolina Women’s Collective Summit

    Some events promise connection and inspiration. The Carolina Women’s Collective Summit delivered both today—and then some.

    Hosted at the beautiful (and newly renovated!) Coral Bay Club in Atlantic Beach, NC, the 2025 Summit was an unforgettable day of storytelling, strategy, and sisterhood—designed to help ambitious, purpose-driven women from across North Carolina reconnect, refocus, and reignite what’s possible.

    The Right Room

    You’ve heard the saying: “If you’re the smartest woman in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” This was absolutely the right room.

    Carolina Womens Collective 2025 Summit
    The View from the “Rowdy Gals” Table in the Back
    Carolina Womens Collective 2025 Summit
    My RMG+REG Owalla Bottle Made in Raleigh by BaySix
    Carolina Womens Collective 2025 Summit
    Triangle Gals Pic: Lisa Jeffries Nobling, Annie Franceschi, Dr. Sarah Glova
    Carolina Womens Collective 2025 Summit
    Playing Paparazzi for My New Friends

    From the opening remarks by Newport Town Manager Michele Querry, to New York Times bestselling author Kristy Woodson Harvey’s perfectly practical “Life by Design” talk (btw, she lives right here in Beaufort!), to the real talk panel featuring Ashley Harrell, April Mitchell, Ann Marie Raymond, and Zelle Wiggins, the programming was smart, intentional, and energizing from start to finish.

    My Roost Retreat business partner, Stephanie Money Deans, attended the inaugural Summit last year and came back raving—and when a fellow event-industry pro gives high praise, I pay attention. After attending this year, I can say with confidence: her assessment was spot on.

    Beyond the Stage

    What truly elevated the day were the people and conversations.

    Lunch reconnection: Caught up with Lynn Minges of the NC Restaurant & Lodging Association, who’s always full of insight about hospitality and leadership.

    Book talk & balance: Shared a table (and some great scheduling hacks) with Kristy Woodson Harvey—adding her novels to my must-read list.

    Coastal connections: Met Anna Segrave and her business partner, Sam, of Downtown Barre in Morehead City — their community-first energy is contagious.

    Wolfpack strong: Reconnected with fellow NC State supporter and real estate pro Elizabeth Stack, and finally got to talk shop in person with Paige Allen Harris from Wolfpack Women in Philanthropy and Flatlands Jessup—after so many email exchanges, it was great to connect offline.

    Bonus rec: My tablemates convinced me to finally listen to Daisy Jones & The Six on audiobook — and I’m officially on board.

    The Mic-Drop Moments

    The programming was packed with insights, but two sessions really stuck with me.

    First: The afternoon keynote from Dr. Sarah Glova, Blueprint to Innovation. Her message hit home: “Innovation is not a trait—it’s a skill. We can learn and practice.” A perfect reminder for any entrepreneur, leader, or creative.

    Second: A mid-day working session led by Annie Franceschi, branding expert, author, and host of the Establish Yourself® podcast. Annie walked us through her Referral Message Creator™ — a genius framework for crafting a quick, clear, three-sentence way to make it easy for people to refer you. (Seriously, this is a game changer. Try it yourself!)

    Name Dropping? Yes, And…

    Sharing the names and links above of the women I connected with today isn’t about name-dropping—it’s about celebrating the incredible diversity of experience represented in the room. From authors and town managers to small business owners, brand strategists, and nonprofit leaders, every woman brought a different lens and story to the table. I left feeling deeply grateful to be among the caliber of women who call North Carolina home and made space in their crowded calendars to come together today.

    Worth Every Penny

    As a small business owner, I’m intentional about where I spend on professional development. I grabbed my early-bird ticket for $200, and I can honestly say I got far more than $200 in value.

    For context, mid-event, an email popped into my inbox about another RTP-area event priced at $600 for a half day. As far as value, there’s no comparison—the Carolina Women’s Collective Summit delivered big on both quality and connection.

    Looking Ahead

    The go-getter founders—Booth Parker, Jillian Lister, and Silvana Botta—have created something truly special: an event that blends purpose and polish, where women learn, grow, and champion each other’s success.

    The 2026 Carolina Women’s Collective Summit returns to Coral Bay on October 22, 2026, and I’ll be ready to grab my ticket the moment they go on sale.

    Until then, I’ll be carrying forward the lessons, conversations, and momentum from a day that reminded me what happens when women show up—for themselves and for each other.

  • The Cabin for CASA – And a Great Video Showcasing What CASA Does

    A few weeks ago I was invited to the premiere of Blueforest Studio‘s inaugural “Blueforest Gives Back” non-profit video project. It was the first time I’ve heard about the great work CASA is doing in the Triangle, so I’m excited to share today both the video and an upcoming fundraiser event the organization is hosting that looks fun and won’t break the bank for donors!

    Watch the video here:

    (Click here to view if you have trouble with the embedded player above.)

    So, about that fundraiser they’re hosting in September:

    Join us for The Cabin for CASA 2.0, a Lynn Robertson DeMent Memorial Fundraiser! 

    Thursday, September 17, 6:30-9:00 p.m. home of Rusty and Nella DeMent – 717 North First Ave., Knightdale, NC 27545 

    Tickets: $40 each, or $75 for two 

    Music and Libations Dinner by 42nd St. Oyster Bar Raffle and Silent Auction Included 

    All proceeds to benefit CASA’s mission to develop and manage affordable housing, particularly for veterans and people living with disabilities. In 2014, the first annual Cabin for CASA raised over $30,000 to support CASA’s mission. Mark your calendars to join us this year!

    Click here to buy tickets, support the sponsors of this event, and more at CASA’s website.

  • Do This Next Weekend: Stamp Out Hunger

    I’m pretty passionate about this topic because I personally feel that food insecurity and hunger are the most embarrassing issues facing North Carolina right now. We aren’t lacking food. (Thanks, farmers!) We aren’t lacking the money, resources, and science to solve this problem. (Like cancer, etc.) This is a fixable issue facing hundreds of thousands of NC families, children, seniors and individuals.

    This is literally the easiest food drive you’ve ever participated in. Simply pick up some extra canned items when you grocery shop this weekend or next week and just leave the extras at your mailbox. So plan on joining in on Saturday, Nay 9 – no matter where you live!
    How easy is it?
    Pack a bag of food and set it by your mailbox on Saturday, May 9! Your local letter carrier will do the rest.
    What should I give?
    Check this list of most needed items and take it with you on your grocery shopping trip! (No glass, please.)
    Where does my food go?
    Although this is a national food drive, all donations made within our region come to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC. Donated items are provided to the more than 651,000 children, families, and seniors in our 34 counties who are food insecure.

  • Band Together Main Event 2015

    I love live music. I love a great cause. And I have an especially soft spot in my heart for this event because it’s where I fatefully bumped into Johnnie Bud just three years ago and our first date was soon after. #BandTogetherLoveStory right here, y’all.

    Needless to say, you’ll be seeing me on Saturday, June 27, when Band Together’s Main Event takes the stage in downtown Raleigh at Red Hat Amphitheater with Michael Franti & Spearhead.

    I hope you’ll join me in helping Band Together reach their lofty, but attainable, goal of raising $2,000,000 for Step Up Ministries, a non-profit dedicated to helping low-income homeless individuals in the Triangle area become self-sufficient.

  • SuperKids Capes

    The MeFine Foundation is an NC non-profit that does a lot of good for children with serious illnesses. Check out how you can support this great program and their latest efforts below…

    The Foundation has recently launched the SuperKids Cape program for children with critical illnesses. According to board member and all around good guy Richard Averitte, “The Me Fine Foundation wants to bring attention to these unbelievable little people and their superpowers by adorning them with garments fits for a superhero; so we provide them with SuperKids Capes.”


    Me Fine Cape in Action

    The capes are hand-sewn by the Sewing Guild at Holy Cross Lutheran Church. They are customized capes that are awarded to a child after he/she undergoes a major procedure as part of their treatment, or upon discharge from the hospital. Me Fine is constantly in awe of the strength and determination of these kids, and the capes are a small way to recognize their inner superhero.

    On Sunday, March 1st at the Oak City Comic Con Me Fine will have a table with information on the Foundation and the SuperKids Capes program. A donation of $20 will go to the purchase a cape for one of these brave children. In addition, the donor will have an opportunity to write a short message of encouragement on a MeFine card. Three cheers for Oak City Comic Con donating space during their inaugural event. On top of hosting an abundance of comic book professionals and the best local comic book stores and vendors from across the state, the Oak City Comic Con will be a great activity for family this weekend.

    More details at http://www.mefinefoundation.org/events-posts/fine-takes-oak-city-comic-show-superkids-capes/. Be cool and share this Raleigh event with fellow cool people.

  • Paw-fect Valentine’s Plans

    Only rookies will celebrate Valentine’s Day on a Saturday night – instead, consider something fun… and for a great cause – that’s happening on Thursday night: Bark & Wine with Your Valentine 2015

    Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a beer & wine tasting while surrounded by the cutest faces in town! (Bringing a date is completely optional.)
    Fine wines, beer, tasty treats and wet puppy kisses await guests at the 10th annual Bark & Wine with Your Valentine. 
    This unique, intimate event will be held at the SPCA Curtis Dail Pet Adoption Center in Raleigh on Thursday, February 12 from 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm. Sample 6-8 varieties of wine and and light fare to compliment the flavors for just $30.00 per person of which $5.00 is tax deductible.
    Email Vanessa Budnick at vbudnick@spcawake.org or call 919-532-2087 with questions.

  • Yoga + Wine… IN GARNER!

    Yes, you read that wonderful combination right and I’m just as surprised as you are to find out it’s only a few miles from my house.

    I checked out a warm yoga class a few Saturday mornings ago at Zin Yoga Wine and I can’t wait to get back in the studio soon. I hate to already be booked on Saturday and not making this great event, but it doesn’t mean I can’t share the details with you local readers…

    Vino and Vinyasa Saturday, January 31st: 6 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.

    Yoga with friends, wine and chocolate will sure to make a memorable night out. The night will start with a long gentle practice and end with a glass of wine, delicious tapas, and Togomay truffles and gluten-free cookies. This is the true experience of Zin Yoga Studio and Wine Lounge.

    $35/person. Must Preregister by Thursday 29th.
    www.zinyogawine.com (events tab to register)
    zinyogawine@gmail.com
    919-917-7500

    Namaste, y’all. 🙂

  • Raleigh Rotaract to Host Charity Beer Dinner

    Raleigh people – I hope you’ll join me for a great beer dinner on Thursday, Dec. 11!

    The Rotaract Club of Raleigh has announced its inaugural Fall Charity Beer Dinner to take place on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014, from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m., at Backyard Bistro restaurant in Raleigh, NC.
    The event features five food courses, designed by Chef Joe Lumbrazo (executive chef and owner, Backyard Bistro), that are each complemented by beer pairings donated by Raleigh’s own Big Boss Brewing and Lonerider Brewing companies.
    Raleigh is certainly no stranger to beer dinners, but the charity format is one not often seen. Of the $50.00 ticket price, nearly half of the money raised on ticket sales alone will go directly to this year’s designated charity: camper’s scholarships at Camp Mondamin in Zirconia, NC. This year’s beneficiary was selected in memory for local Rotarian Simon Everett, who died in an accident while working as a camp counselor at Mondamin this past summer. Everett donated his counselor salary to fund campers’ scholarships each summer and Raleigh Rotaract plans to pay that commitment forward with the proceeds from this event.
    In addition to ticket sales, silent auction items will be available for bidding on during the event, including food and beverage experiences, gift certificates to local businesses, and sporting event tickets – all great ways to beat the shopping lines at the mall this holiday season while supporting a great cause.
    Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/raleigh-rotaract-2014-charity-beer-dinner-tickets-13465649119 or RaleighRotaract.org. Discounts are available for tables of four – so plan to attend with friends, because more is truly merrier at this event.

  • What I’ve Been Up To: November Edition

    I also went back brunette in November, so if you see me out and about, do say hi. If you think it's me, it probably is. While blondes to have a lot of fun, after a three year stint on the lighter side I'm excited to not spend $200 at the salon every 3 months. That should definitely add to the fun budget!
    I also went back brunette in November, so if you see me out and about, do say hi. If you think it’s me, it probably is. While blondes do have a lot of fun, after a three year stint on the lighter side I’m excited to not spend $200 at the salon every 3 months. That should definitely add to the fun budget!

    Once we get into the holiday season, it seems like time flies even faster than it already does. Much of my November was spent planning and working on large-scale annual productions, not the least of which wrapped up last weekend and tonight: the sixth annual iheartretail.com Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday Shopping Guide and the Triangle Merry Mingle.

    The iheartretail.com Shopping Guide is a labor or love that I’ve diligently compiled for the last six years running to direct shoppers’ deal-hungry dollars to local and indepdent retailers, rather than massive national chains – especially those that open on Thanksgiving and in the wee hours of the following Friday morning. In the borrowed words of my pal Mike G. – “ain’t nobody got time for that!” Aside from being a labor of love, it’s also the single most significant traffic driver to iheartretail.com all year long and also generates a significant amount of new email subscribers, so while it takes me days to compile, it’s worth every bit of benefit to the retailers featured and to the overall success of my website. If you’re a local retailer and want to make sure I have you included next year, drop me a line to join my retailer email list!

    As also mentioned above, the Triangle Merry Mingle is an annual networking event hosted by TIMA, Triangle AMA, AdFed, and AIGA – all local professional organizations for those in advertising, marketing and design. The event is a great chance to see nearly everyone in the industry, and lots of former colleagues and dear friends, while supporting a great cause, the Triangle Spokes Group, which provides bicycles for needy children in the Triangle for Christmas.

    Speaking of TIMA, we wrapped up our 2014 programming in events with a great networking event in Morrisville at the new Blackfinn Ameripub and will be ushering in a new volunteer board for 2015. I’m excited to remain on the board in the role of Events Director and can’t wait to share more from that early next year.

    And when it comes to volunteer boards, more is always merrier right? I’m excited to be joining the Raleigh Public Relations Society for 2015 as their Sir Walter Raleigh Awards banquet chair. Not a huge commitment, but that’s plenty for this girl!

    Things were relatively smooth sailing at WRAL.com in November, as we geared up for the launch of a newly redesigned mobile news app, as well as the 43rd annual HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational Basketball Tournament. Both require a tremendous amount of planning, pre-production and execution, so I’m personally thrilled to have had ample time to begin addressing each in advance. My team there also enjoyed some group learning at our annual visit to Internet Summit and with a Triangle AMA class, Mad Libs for Business.

    On the Raleighwood Media Group side of things, I happily welcomed a new client to our growing client roster (thank you kindly for the referral, Evan Roberts!) and can’t wait to share some December success stories on their behalf in my next monthly wrap-up. I’m also negotiating a new office space on Glenwood South and can’t wait to get in and get a First Friday cocktail party on the calendar for 2015. There’s just something so exciting about having a real brick and mortar presence in Downtown Raleigh.

    Adding another “first” to the list of things I’ve adventured into this year, I boarded an Amtrak train for a 7-8 hour ride to Delaware, along with Mom, Dad, and Johnnie Bud to visit Mandy and Joe in Delaware for their first Thanksgiving away from North Carolina. We had a great time kicking back, doing some shopping at Rehoboth Beach on Small Business Saturday, and taking a scenic drive through the massive (but completely abandoned this time of year) Ocean City, MD.

    The first of many holiday parties kicks off this weekend, along with a great deal of “wrapping the year up with a bang” work, so I wish you all the best in this final month of 2014. Make it a great end to the year!

  • What I’ve Been Up To: October Edition

    October flew by because it was packed with things to do, places to be, and people to see. My favorite ways to fill up a busy schedule!

    Johnnie Bud and I spent the first weekend of October visiting my little sister Mandy and her other half Joe up in Delaware are their first house. We got a special tour of Dover Air Force Base where my sister is a veterinarian and the officer in charge at the Dover Air Force Base Veterinary Treatment Facility – check out this great Veteran’s Day article on her and the patients she sees daily: Base vet supports mission, your pets. It’s a long 6+ hour drive (about 2 hours north of D.C.), but always worth it to spend some quality downtime with family.

    Johnnie’s brother got married the next weekend on a Sunday – congrats Christopher and Nikki! – and the very next morning was the WRAL TechWire Executive Exchange: Fiber Transforms the Triangle half-day conference held at SAS that I spent no less than three months working on. Every detail, from venue, down to nametags, was painstakingly planned for by my incredible team at WRAL.com and this high-caliber event went off without a hitch. It’s nice to occasionally have a nice, long planning and marketing timeline and a moderate budget to work with!

    Just four short days after the Fiber event, Johnnie Bud and I hoped on a plane bound for Louisville and not only traveled to see NCSU play at Louisville (notice I didn’t say “win”… bummer), but we spent a few days checking out a “new to both of us” city and toured and tasted as many of the stops on the Urban Bourbon Trail as possible. Louisville’s got a great food and beverage culture, but their downtown foot traffic is surprisingly slow on the weekends compared to somewhere like Raleigh. I would love to visit again in 5-10 years to see if that has changed.

    We wrapped up the month with more places to be at the UConn vs. ECU game in Greenville (thanks for the hospitality, Cory and Alison!), another lovely night of fundraising for the Rex Foundation at the Rex Gala, and as with every October, a quick visit to the NC State Fair!

    Business-wise, I’m thrilled to say that several projects were completed for Raleighwood Media Group clients and I even had the opportunity to develop three proposals for new business (social media management and email marketing projects) which are all coming to fruition now that we’re in November… also known at #Movember. So #LetItGrowRDU and I’ll check in next month. Thanks for reading, y’all!