LADIES OF LEGACY 2020

LADIES of LEGACY

April 18, 2026 • Akron, Ohio

Join us on April 18, 2026, for the 11th Annual Ladies of Legacy Brunch, Limitless Ambition’s signature celebration honoring extraordinary women whose leadership, resilience, and impact are shaping the next generation. This legendary brunch brings together community leaders, changemakers, and supporters for a morning of inspiration, connection, and celebration. Through powerful storytelling and meaningful recognition, Ladies of Legacy uplifts women who are breaking barriers and opening doors for young women to dream boldly and lead confidently. Together, we will celebrate legacy in motion—and invest in the future of limitless potential.

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2026 Ladies of Legacy Honorees

Candace Tell

Candace Tell is an award winning community leader, speaker, creative visionary, and entrepreneur committed to helping women rediscover who they are beneath survival, expectations, and life experiences. She is known for creating transformative spaces where healing, creativity, self awareness, and confidence building come together in real, practical, and culturally relevant ways.
Candace is the Founder and Executive Director of Empowering Queens, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting women, particularly mothers, through holistic empowerment experiences that nurture mental, emotional, and spiritual well being.

Through workshops, events, and community initiatives, Empowering Queens helps women strengthen their identity, build confidence, and create healthier foundations for themselves, their families, and their communities. Professionally, Candace serves as a Parent Engagement Supervisor at the Early Childhood Resource Center, where she leads community engagement strategies, supports family centered initiatives, and helps connect families to resources and opportunities that strengthen long term stability and wellness. In addition to her nonprofit leadership, Candace is the host of Talk & Tell: The Podcast, where she leads honest, relatable conversations about healing, relationships, personal growth, self-awareness, and navigating real life as a woman. Her work is rooted in storytelling, radical self-awareness, and helping women move from survival mode into alignment, confidence, and overflow.

Throughout her career, Candace has built meaningful partnerships across community organizations, family serving systems, and nonprofit networks to expand access to resources, healing spaces, and empowerment programming. She is recognized for her ability to blend lived experience, professional expertise, and creative innovation to drive meaningful and lasting community impact. Candace is a proud recipient of the Greater Akron Chamber 30 For the Future award and the Go Girl Award, recognizing her leadership, innovation, and commitment to strengthening her community and elevating women. At the core of everything she creates is one mission: to help women feel seen, valued, healed, and powerful enough to live boldly as their full, authentic selves.

Favorite Quotes

“You are allowed to outgrow survival mode. You were never meant to just make it. You were meant to live, shine, and overflow.”
“Before the world told you who to be, you already knew who you were. Spend your life
remembering her, not hiding her.”
“You do not have to shrink, water yourself down, or be perfect to belong anywhere. The rightspaces will not just accept you. They will expand because you showed up.”

Erica Banks

Erica Banks serves as the Akron Food Works Coordinator at The Well CDC, where she works alongside food entrepreneurs to help them create, incubate, and elevate sustainable businesses. She supports entrepreneurs through the practical steps of building and growing, from early planning to problem solving and connecting to resources, because she believes entrepreneurship can be a powerful pathway to stability, purpose, and community pride. Erica’s work is rooted in the understanding that when food entrepreneurs succeed, families gain opportunity, neighborhoods grow stronger, and local culture is preserved and celebrated.

Erica holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Central State University and brings a social service background that shapes how she leads, with empathy, accountability, and a commitment to helping people access what they need to move forward. Her approach is grounded in meeting people where they are and making support feel clear, realistic, and encouraging.

Before stepping into her current role, Erica co-owned a restaurant for four of its six years. That hands on experience gave her a deep respect for the day-to-day realities of the food industry, including long hours, tight margins, and the resilience it takes to keep going. Over time, she felt called to take what she learned and focus on supporting others at the beginning of their journey. Leaving the restaurant space to help food entrepreneurs create and incubate their ideas became a natural extension of her values and her purpose. In addition to her work in entrepreneurship support, Erica founded Majestic Tails in 2021, her mobile bartending service, and is the creator of Project Safe Space, a sober curious pop-up experience designed to foster alcohol free connection and belonging. In 2024, Erica received the Knight Emerging City Champions grant through the Knight Foundation and 880 Cities in support of Project Safe Space and its mission to create inclusive community spaces that encourage connection and well-being.

Erica’s leadership and community impact have also been recognized through several honors, including the Pinnacle Award from Al Jones Marketing in 2023, the 30 for the Future recognition from the Greater Akron Chamber in 2023, and the 2025 National Philanthropy Day Heart of Belonging Award presented by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Across every lane of her work, Erica remains committed to community well-being, economic empowerment, and creating opportunities for others to thrive.

Favorite Quotes

"You can always pivot, but never give up"
"Don’t be afraid to succeed"
"Believe in yourself and trust yourself"
"God Got You"

2026 Ladies of Legacy Sponsors

Check Out our Past Ladies of Legacy Honorees Here!