Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs

Someone suggested to Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham, who is trying all sports once in her lifetime, that she try snow golf. Tracy searched the Northeast and discovered a special charitable tournament for the occasion.

The Landmark Trust USA, located in Vermont, hosts its 3rd Annual Play Snow Golf, where it was invented, and supports a great cause. The event involves golf, drinks, food, prizes, and the public kickoff of the Naulakha Campaign.

WHEN — Sunday, February 23, 2025 — 12:00 - 3:00 pm, awards and Naulakha Campaign kickoff to follow.

WHERE — Scott Farm - 707 Kipling Rd., Dummerston, VT 05301

WHAT — A series of golf challenges and one traditional hole. Try your hand at Putt-Putt, Flop Shot, Chipping Skeeball, Tic-Tac-Toe, Longest Drive, Blindfolded Pick-A-Club, and Closest to the Pin.

WHO — Golfers of all ages and anyone who wants to enjoy hitting some golf balls around in the snow. Spectators welcome.

Their first inaugural Snow Golf challenge was held in 2023 on a beautiful snowy day. Snow or no snow, seasoned golfer or novice, have an excellent time for a good cause. The event is partnering with the Brattleboro Country Club on the design and layout of our challenges and featuring our popular Scott Farm pop-up bar, plus a food cart from Newton’s Curveball Concessions!

The 2026 event will be bigger and more important than ever, as we’re not only following in Kipling’s footsteps with our golf game, but we’re also kicking off our public Naulakha Campaign, a $1.25 million investment in a climate-resilient future for Rudyard Kipling’s historic Naulakha Estate.

The crystal-clear water of Lake Michigan at Traverse City surprised me. Looking out at it from our hotel balcony it didn’t look like you could see straight down to the bottom until I was perched on a jet ski with my husband. It was as clear as our beloved Sanibel Island water in Florida. Looking for some extra fun on our first visit to this part of the country, we decided to take up our hotel’s offer of trying jet skiing. My husband was a long-time snowmobiler, I was not. My family preferred skiing and jetting ourselves across snowy paths and down hills, not using gas. So, I was skeptical of ever wanting to be on a jet ski due to the smell and noise. But with my new sports attitude of trying every sport once in tow, I jumped on the back of the jet ski allowing my husband to drive it first across the open waters. I enjoyed the spray hitting my face behind him in the back and the thrill of hitting the waves. Any nervousness about operating a motorized boat was soon gone, like the spray, and I took control after 15 minutes. The jet ski was easier to turn than I imagined – almost too easy to turn as I jerked my husband almost off the back of it. Simply learning to adjust the speed and angle to go over waves was the only teachable part of the experience. I grew up on a lake with boats but never drove them so I knew the rules of the water, just not how to steer a small, fast one.  I loved it.

Had I been in this rink before? If so, it was back in Junior high school in the late 1970s, when roller skating added music, lights, and fun to a teen’s life. If you were lucky, the rink dimmed the overhead lights so strobes and fluorescent lighting illuminated the ground where your quad skates slid across the wooden floor. But today was 2024 and this ole 59’er hadn’t tried roller skating since she was a teen, making this new sport of Roller Derby an interesting prospect. The thing that happens as you approach your sixth decade of life is your center of weight shifts as your weight increases. Sure, I run half marathons, but that’s easy when your feet hit the pavement and nothing is rolling beneath you. I think my last 8-mile run, which took over an hour, was easier than standing on roller skates for one hour. New experiences give you realistic points of view you wouldn’t gain otherwise.

So, there I was, along with one other 50-year-old woman celebrating her birthday by trying roller derby, and twenty 20- and 30-year-olds, prime for the adventure. The women there were fantastic – friendly, some apprehensive like me, some excellent at the sport already, and accepting of all others in the room. No matter your size, age, gender identification, or skill, every woman was welcome, just like rugby. The Central New York Roller Derby organization based in my hometown of Rome, NY was well organized and coached. Their leaders made sure we had the essential equipment on – helmet, elbow pads, mouth guards, wrist guards, knee pads, and quad skates. For $50, you get all the rented equipment plus eight weeks of lessons and activity making it a reasonably priced sport to try. They were patient and helpful with the newbies.

Like every sport, we began with warmups. I particularly liked doing pushups and sit-ups with roller skates on. It added some weight to the exercises. Then it was time to stand up and try gliding on the skates. I say this with the hesitation that’s intended. It takes a while to find your center of gravity and fearlessness to push off, glide, and stop without falling down. Okay, I did fall two times until I figured out to lean forward not back in my stance. Like anything in life, you have to adjust to new centers of balance. Then we got off our skates and learned about the key derby positions of jammers and blockers and did a few activities like getting into positions as blockers to stop the jammers and how to become a pivot blocker if you receive the jammer star/cover when it is handed to you. What I learned only from this small exercise is I need to watch a YouTube video on roller derby to piece it all together so I understand it better the next time I try it. I did this before trying rugby and it helped my comprehension level immediately. Don’t call it necessary due to my age, but rather because I learn best by seeing, and not hearing.

There are places in the world where women cannot run. We run for them!

This is the fourth year Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham has invited women to join her on the international day when women all over Canada, the USA, and the world run for women in Afghanistan, and other places where they are not ALLOWED to run freely.

This 3.1 mile run in the brisk, and FREE air, Central New York women breathe is the perfect time to run together to promote the fact women in other countries don't have the freedom to run.

Event History:

In 2015 for the first time ever, a marathon was held in Afghanistan, a marathon that both men and women were able to participate in but they had to keep it a secret. Why? There are still places in the world where women are not allowed to run or walk outside. However, a community in Afghanistan courageously carved out a new way forward for the next generation. By creating safe races they helped to create a safe place. We want to help.

Join us for The Secret 3K run/walk. Held during the week of International Women's Day, this race celebrates our right to be free to run. We're inviting everyone to come together in solidarity to support the right all humans should have to walk or run free of fear in their community.

By participating you are helping us to increase awareness about gender equality issues and by making a donation you are helping to further the work of our charity partners to build safe and inclusive spaces that promote gender equality. Together we can empower women and girls through education and sport.

Make a difference by signing up to participate in The Secret 3K and inviting a friend to join you today.

Anyone interested can sign up at https://raceroster.com/events/2024/73911/secret-3k/pledge/participant/23741135 and pay the $15 fee to run and hopefully donate to one of two organizations including the Afghanistan Women's Fund or #261Fearless.org.

If you don't want to register on your own, then pay the $15 on our website and we will register you!

Someone once asked me what animal I would want to be if I could be one. It only took a second for me to say any bird that can soar and swim. It wasn’t until I tried the sport of parasailing that I agreed with my assessment.

High above the tranquil waters of Lake George, NY, the peacefulness of soaring in the sky above a boat that looked like a miniature toy, is where I found the beauty and serenity of soaring. Although I was attached to a parachute and harness with one of my members next to me, we flew and I realized I was absolutely spot on with wanting to be a bird that could take off and land on water.

The clouds drifted even higher than we parasailed although we felt high enough to touch them. The Adirondack Mountains were miniature in comparison to what they looked like on land. The quietness of only air with small bellows of wind was far more peaceful than the hustle of the tourist destination below us. Simple peace and beauty is how I would describe it.

Five of the women parasailing for the first time were scared of heights, where I was not, so I give them extra credit in joining me on this adventure. Their anxiety levels matched my excitement level of trying a new sport to check off my list. Having been a daughter to a stepfather who flew a Tiger Drummond four-seater airplane, and getting to “fly it” once in awhile with him at my side, made the experience a reminder of how peaceful it is in the sky. I never get the same feeling on a commercial jet.

All of my fearless female friends said they loved the experience and would do it again, which means my goal of helping other women become more undaunted in their life and business worked. You only need to look at the photos of us to see the thrill it brought to their faces. Their trepidation of heights is stripped away in a single hour of time – that is a powerful decision.

So, the next time you stop yourself from doing something you are fearful of, remember these smiling faces, the empowerment you achieve when you try something new with anxiety, and give it a try. You will find yourself soaring higher and braver than you thought you were.

The last time I approached Sandy Pond it was a blustery day in February and the beautiful blue waters were transformed to harden white turf. Ice fishing in Upstate New York is a pastime adored by my husband so every year I venture out with him bundled up ready to face the wind, cold, and prospects of catching perch. What else is a winter sportswoman to do?

Yesterday approaching the same body of water on Father’s Day with the father of my two sons who couldn’t make it home for the holiday, I wore bright pink shorts, a tank top, and water shoes ready to try Kayak Fishing for the first time. I already experienced deep-sea fishing and fly fishing, why not kayak fishing? I grew up on a lake with boats so this kind of fishing was going to be my favorite.

As the calm waters enveloped my pink kayak (of course I have a pink kayak), my spirit settled and the old familiar comfort and serenity of being on water embraced me. As we paddled out of the cove into deeper waters with a fairly calm breeze blowing, I hooked my first worm and let it drift into the water as far as it would go, and then reeled it up two times to the perfect location, per my husband.

Boom (well, maybe a small boom) the fishing pole dipped and I yanked hard enough to pull up my first small perch. Deciding I wouldn’t be too afraid to take the fish off the hook this time, I gently started to, when my husband said, “here let me help you.” I agreed of course since I’m not that tough of a fishing gal yet.  I re-launched my pole and almost immediately got another bite and up came another small perch. These small perch were not big enough to keep so we set them free. This happened again and again until I caught six of them. I can see how fishing becomes addictive in the sense of trying to see if you can catch just one more.

Alas, the wind picked up and we decided to “ride” our kayaks back to the cove onto of the white capping waves which felt like we were surfing. It was a really fun unexpected addition to the adventure. So even though we didn’t catch enough big perch to bring home some dinner, the thrill was definitely found in the experience of doing a new sport and comparing it to my other fishing experiences. Deep Sea Fishing can be exciting if you land a big salmon like I did years ago but you weather bigger waves and need to wait sometimes to share the poles with other boat mates. Our last deep sea fishing experience in St. John’s landed my son a shark – a 4-foot, 400-pound shark – that took over an hour to pull in and then release.

Biking every day, and I mean every day, in Central New York even in the winter except typically the month of February when we finally have too much snow on the bike path, means my mind, body, and spirit want to be outside and move. The fresh air, the blue or cloudy sky, the wind or windless day, greet me and I wear what I need to wear to adjust to the temperatures and conditions.

But today as an orange haze glows outside my window for the second day, matching our Syracuse city’s favorite color on basketball and football days, I feel like a bear hibernating in winter unable to go outside and conduct life as I’d like doing sports especially when I’m willing to bike when it is 23 degrees with wind freezing me. Our orange sky is from the hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada producing an AQI of 124 out of 500, yesterday it was in the 300 range.

So, what is an addictive sports girl to do when she has enough energy from not biking three days in a row? You are right, I jumped on my bike and pedaled up and down the large hills on my road where I typically don’t bike because it is hard but it was close so if by chance I couldn’t breathe well, I could just turn around. I took my asthma and alopecia into consideration and just did it with my Nike sneakers on. It felt so, so good, and yet I felt the burn in my throat and in my lungs afterward, like I expected. I’m not sure it was a wise choice but my athletic spirit needed it.

As I topped the tall hill, two flat playing fields (aka “pitches”) lay ready. Approaching the one with the two yellow goalposts on either end like the YouTube video I watched to prepare myself, I saw my cousin Paige, dressed in her former rugby cleats standing near an oblong football much bigger than a regular American football. I knew I was in the right spot to try rugby for the first time. My first impression of rugby was at college when the men’s team would crazily be dancing around an Indian statue – their mascot of some sort – in a bar on a Friday night. My feeling was they weren’t crazy, but the sport they liked playing must be crazy because that is how they identified themselves as a team when games and practice weren’t in session. So, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect on a balmy May night on the “pitch” in Syracuse.

Like most of the team sports I’ve tried, practice started with simple passing and running drills. In the case of rugby where the ball is larger and is thrown in a unique spiral, getting my hands around it and trying it out was my first lesson. I wasn’t horrible at it since my father, a football coach, taught me how to throw a mean football spiral growing up. I could handle the throw and motion until the passing drills of running while throwing the ball in a timely order to teammates in a moving line sped up my work. And in rugby the ball must be thrown behind or to your side, not in front, so timing is essential to get down.

Once the throws and simple running drills were done, we practiced running more advanced sequences of drills of passing and pocketing behind a teammate repeatedly until we hit the other side. If anyone dropped the ball, a “half-moon” exercise was given to the team. I definitely contributed to the half-moon workout which was basically a burpee plus a half-squat turn in both directions upon standing – thus the soreness in my thighs today.

After practicing the offensive drills, we turned to defensive drills learning the importance of working in a line to stop the offensive players from coming through. This is where my age and lack of quickness slowed me down. Running forward is one thing, trying to run as fast as the offensive line trying to catch up with them was another. Thank God their full-body tackling exercises were last week. When asked if anyone has gotten really hurt tackling without pads, I heard a few horror stories but not as many as you’d think. “Tracy, the old girls play just touch and not tackle,” a few of them told me. Yeah, that might be where I belong, I thought if I wanted to continue playing.

As the hazy sun started setting after two hours of a really fun time, they took me over to the “scrum machine” to give me a taste of what a scrum feels like. A scrum is a method of restarting play in rugby football that involves players packing closely together with their heads down and attempting to gain possession of the ball. With two teammates on my side, we maneuvered into the machine for the feeling and a photo opportunity. This is where I knew for sure you must have strong legs for rugby.

Playing along with a team of great girls reminded me why I love all women communities because bonds develop quickly and you want them to linger. So, I accepted their invitation to a restaurant across the pitch for food and drinks. It’s there I learned more about a few of the players and enjoyed casual conversation. My cousin Paige said, “This happens after all rugby games – both teams coming together afterwards to share in the experience and getting to know each other.”  

Rugby was originally a men's sport and women's rugby has become popular more recently. These days, women's rugby is gaining a higher profile thanks to International tournaments' exposure and financial investment.

The growth in popularity among women attracted women in both developed and emerging nations, being the fastest-growing sport in the world with over 500,000 new players joining every year globally. The game remains an amateur, minority sport but a fast-growing one played in over 80 countries worldwide. It is estimated that by 2026, 40% of the total number of players will be female! Do you want to be one of them?

Join Tracy at Uticuse Hellbenders Rugby (a women's team) located in Syracuse for an evening practice to get a feel for the game. If you love it, you can always return and play with them on a weekly basis. The club bridged the cities of Utica and Syracuse since 2008 and grew the team from a rag-tag group of diverse individuals, former rugby players, and newly interested ones alike to a State-Ranked Competitive Rugby Club.

Both their captains and coach will be on hand to help us with drills and cater the first practice to our experience level! So you have nothing to lose but a fun night of trying a new sport, which you might just want to try again.

Grab a girlfriend and join Tracy and her cousin Paige Amidon, a former SU Rugby player for a night of rucking, mauling, and scrumming!

Women TIES and its Women's Athletic Network are taking to the water for some Saturday kayaking, exercise, and business/personal networking on the beautiful Lake Delta in the Mohawk Valley.

Join Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham on her home waters of Lake Delta with other Mohawk Valley area women in business to get some exercise in, networking, socializing, and business "ties." Men aren't the only ones to do sports together, you know!

You must have a kayak of your own. We will meet at the boat launch area to park and launch our kayaks. Tracy will bring beverages and snacks for you. Afterward, we will network and possibly go to a venue for lunch if the group wants to.

There is a $7 cost to enter the park and launch your kayak. You will pay for that on your own at the park.

There is a $20 fee for beverages and snacks and the sales contact list. You pay that when you register for the event.

We are looking forward to being with you on the waters of Lake Delta forging new and stronger female ties.

Rugby was originally a men’s sport and women’s rugby has become popular more recently. These days, women’s rugby is gaining a higher profile thanks to International tournaments’ exposure and financial investment. The growth in popularity among women attracted women in both developed and emerging nations, being the fastest-growing sport in the world with over 500,000 new players joining every year globally.  The game remains an amateur, minority sport but a fast-growing one played in over 80 countries worldwide. It is estimated that by 2026, 40% of the total number of players will be female! Do you want to be one of them? Join Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham at Uticuse Hellbenders Rugby (a women’s team) located in Syracuse for an evening practice to get a feel for the game. If you love it, you can always return and play with them on a weekly basis.

The club bridged the cities of Utica and Syracuse since 2008 and grew the team from a rag-tag group of diverse individuals, former rugby players, and newly interested ones alike to a State-Ranked Competitive Rugby Club.

I transported myself back to the starting line of the Boston Marathon this morning as I turned on the live 2023 race, six years after I stood in the same place in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. My heart rate increased, feeling anxious and excited, and my palms sweating even though I’m hundreds of miles away. I won’t forget the exact moment I started to run knowing there was no going back only forward 26.2 miles. The first competitors of the marathon are wheelchair athletes who can complete the race in 2 hours. As their muscular arms pump with blood, spinning thin wheels on their chairs, I wonder what it is like to race in a wheelchair. I know what it feels like running for six hours from start to finish in Boston but my sports heart wonders what para-athletes experience.

As my friend Shawn Cheshire, a blind woman and one-time Rio para-athlete bicyclist attempts to climb Mount Everest today half a globe away, I decided I want to bike with her as blind as I can be one day to experience her life as an athlete. I know what the marathoners are feeling today because I’ve run in their shoes before, but never as a para-athlete in a wheelchair competing. Climbing Heartbreak Hill around the 20-mile marker in Boston in 2017, I ran uphill with a blind woman running with her coach on my left, and a man with steel legs and his coach on my right. The moment running alongside them seared into my soul and arose again today watching the para-athletes competing. If I am committed to trying every sport once in my lifetime, I owe it to myself and para-athletes to try competing in their style of sport. Whether it will be with Shawn on a bike or in a wheelchair playing basketball or something else, I want to experience and write about what it is like to compete for their way.

Parasailing is one of the adventure sports Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham has yet to try so she is inviting other women to join her on this adventure.

The event will take place on Saturday, July 15th in Lake George, NY. In order to book the event, we need to see who is interested in it so we can call and start the booking. If you have any interest in joining us, please register and we will send you details.

Women TIES and its Women's Athletic Network are taking to the water for some Saturday kayaking, exercise, and business/personal networking on the beautiful Lake Delta in the Mohawk Valley.

Join Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham on her home waters of Lake Delta with other Mohawk Valley area women in business to get some exercise in, networking, socializing, and business "ties." Men aren't the only ones to do sports together, you know!

You must have a kayak of your own. We will meet at the boat launch area to park and launch our kayaks. Tracy will bring beverages and snacks for you. Afterward, we will network and possibly go to a venue for lunch if the group wants to.

There is a $7 cost to enter the park and launch your kayak. You will pay for that on your own at the park.

There is a $20 fee for beverages and snacks and the sales contact list. You pay that when you register for the event.

We are looking forward to being with you on the waters of Lake Delta forging new and stronger female ties.

Yoga has been around for awhile and offers peace, relaxation, fitness, and mental health benefits to the women who practice it. As Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham invites more women to try different sports with her while networking with the other women who attend, suggestions included horse yoga, goat yoga, and SUP Yoga. With the warmer weather approaching, Women TIES and its Women's Athletic Network have chosen a SUP Yoga Class.

Take your love of the outdoors into a new realm of discover, challenge and playfulness as we float and pose! This multi-level class offers options for beginners to experienced yogis in a supportive and fun environment.

The class will be taught by Rochester woman entrepreneur Lynn Boucher of Yoga Revolution and be held at Bay Creek Paddling Center in Irondequoit Bay. The class runs from 4:30 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. After the class is over, we'll make a decision about going to K2Brewery for a drink or someplace for dinner. Bring your business cards, athletic spirit, and love for the water and trying a new sport with you.

We have paid for 6 spots which will be given out on a first-come, first-serve basis. SO MAKE YOUR RSVPS today! We might be able to add 2 more spots if we have the interest.

Note: In light of inclement weather being moderate to heavy rain, lightening, thunder or very wavy conditions, we will pick another date in the future. We won't know that until two hours prior to the event.

Currently the SU Women's Lacrosse team is undefeated! Let's fill the stands for them on their last home game at the JMA Wireless Dome and show up!

Women will pay for their ticket at the Dome Gate but will register at this link so Tracy can bring you some cheering items and put you on the sales list. So, register here so we have your name.

The weekend long runs leading up to the Boston Marathon were trial periods as well as training runs for me.  It’s impossible to think you can do something physically, like running a marathon, by just thinking you can; instead you need to prove to yourself you can. It isn’t so different in entrepreneurship when the idea to start a business, grow it successfully, and reap in the profits can be dreamed about, but not realized unless you test run the idea through a business plan, with advisors, and tweaking the specifics of the plan a year into running it. What we envision isn’t always what we face when we begin and try.

As I jumped on my bike in 35 degrees, cool, sunny, but very windy conditions this Saturday to test a combination biking and running sequence before next week’s first ever mini-triathlon, I knew I had to try my hardest while timing myself in 15-minute increments to see the mileage I biked and ran individually for some comparison for myself for the upcoming race. I bike. I run. I don’t bike and then run after each other, so it was a test. Since the mini triathlon is based on timing and not distance since it was a created event by RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) to give people a taste of what a triathlon is like, I needed to put the sports back-to-back to see how my body responded. Since my pool is closed this time of year due to snow, the 15-minute swim portion will be a mystery until I get in their pool. As a long time swimmer, I know I can do it but adding a third and different sport to the other two might test me a bit but, I’m ready.