Women to Watch Awards Finalists – Business

Mina Carey

CEO, Coastal Dental Health Staffing

Describe your role and work that you do.

“As owner of Coastal Dental Health Staffing and Coastal Dental Assisting Academy, I connect dental professionals with practices in need while helping educate future dental assistants. I lead business operations, build lasting partnerships, mentor my team, and create opportunities that strengthen both careers and communities. My mission is simple: serve people with integrity, compassion, and excellence.”

Anything else you want us to know about you?

“Growing up in Afghanistan, I learned early what it meant to have very little voice as a woman. Education, independence, and owning a business were not easy paths for women. Those experiences shaped me and gave me a deep appreciation for every opportunity I have today.

When I came to the United States, I lived in New York and Massachusetts before finally making Wilmington my home. I was welcomed by a community that believed in me. …

I have never forgotten where I came from. Today, many women and girls in Afghanistan are still denied the chance to go to school, follow their dreams, or even speak freely. Their strength inspires me every day to do what I can to support education and create opportunities for others.

I believe we all have a responsibility to lift one another up.”

Lauren Godwin

Head of AI Enablement, Vantaca

Describe your role and work that you do.

“I currently lead AI Enablement at Vantaca, a community association management software company. I am a founding team member and served as chief customer officer until moving fully into building our AI strategy, partnering with our engineering team to design, govern, and scale AI agents across teams, while translating what’s technically possible into real business outcomes.”

What are some of your career highlights so far?

“Before Vantaca, I led an accounting team at a CAM company through fast growth and partnered to stand up a separate Accounting Services business. At Vantaca, I’ve been part of our growth from zero to over 350 employees, wearing every hat along the way, and as CCO grew our customers from zero to over 500. Most recently, I stepped into a brand-new AI Enablement role, learning everything possible and helping navigate the company through change.”

What have you learned about your leadership style?

“I lead by example and never ask someone to do something I wouldn’t do myself. I genuinely care about people – my team, my peers, our customers, the kids I coach in basketball – and I listen to them while motivating them to be better than they think they can be. I want to see people grow, and I’ll help however I can, wherever that shows up.”

Kristin Peoples

Director of Member Relations & Engagement, Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce

Describe your role and work that you do.

“I help businesses build meaningful connections that support growth and long-term success. I onboard new members, connect them with strategic resources, cultivate partnerships, and create networking opportunities that strengthen our business community. Whether through events, relationship-building, or collaboration, my work is centered on helping people and organizations thrive together.”

What are some of your career highlights so far?

“Some of my proudest career highlights include personally onboarding more than 300 new chamber members each year, increasing engagement within our African American and Latin American Business Councils, being recognized as an ACCE 40 under 40 Recipient, along with serving on the DREAMS Center for Arts Education Board of Directors, co-chairing the NC Project Lead White Lotus Gala, and of course being selected as a WILMA Woman to Watch. The greatest reward has been creating connections that open doors, strengthen businesses, and positively impact our community.”

Anything else you want us to know about you?

“Beyond my professional role, I am passionate about community service, mentorship, and creating opportunities for others. I believe success is measured not only by personal achievements but by the impact we have on those around us.”

Megan Rowe

Founder, What’s Good

Describe your role and work that you do.

“What I actually do can seem like a mystery. Most people recognize me from the local media and influencer side of What’s Good, but that’s only part of my role as co-founder. Running that media arm is what fuels our software: I use those on-the-ground insights to shape the product, identify our SaaS opportunities, and build our B2B go-to-market, growing it to roughly 20 government and media deals.”

What are some of your career highlights so far?

“At twenty-three, I was on the founding team of a creative agency. By twenty-five, I’d helped raise six figures for our software. By twenty-six, I led the company to revenue positive. By twenty-seven, my work had been recognized across 13 outlets, I’d supported 100-plus small businesses, built a local ecosystem of 90,000 people, and partnered with some of Wilmington’s most influential organizations to support the local economy and culture.”

How did you get to this point in your career?

“My path here started by accident. I asked to shadow a friend in marketing, but her boss thought it was a job interview, and I got offered a position. That pivot led me to a creative agency, then to co-founding What’s Good from a gap I saw firsthand in the community. Also, my mom owned her own business for thirty years in a then male-dominated profession, and innovation and creativity were always heavily encouraged in my family.”

Laurie Whalin

President, Novant Health Coastal Region

Describe your role and work that you do.

“As president of Novant Health’s Coastal Region, I provide executive leadership for regional strategy, operations, clinical quality, financial performance, workforce engagement, and community partnerships. I work with facility presidents, physician leaders, and regional executives to ensure exceptional patient care, sustainable growth, operational excellence, and improved health outcomes throughout our coastal community.”

How did you get to this point in your career?

“By saying yes to opportunities whenever they presented themselves. I learned early on that I had amazing mentors and leaders in my life for a reason – and if they saw something in me that I may not have seen in myself at that moment – that I should trust them, and so far, they have not let me down.”

What have you learned about your leadership style?

“That leadership is a team sport, and my leadership style is to go all in on the team. My leadership mantra is to build high-performing teams that change the world. After teams win the Super Bowl or World Cup, you look back on them and realize just how special they were to be able to achieve such greatness. And most of the time it was because they had a team-first mentality to achieve one mission. That’s the team I am building.”

To view more of photographer Madeline Gray’s work, go to madelinegrayphoto.com.

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