Celebrate Her Expo Columbus Ohio: Women Building Wellness-Based Businesses

Inside the Celebrate Her Women’s Wellness Expo in Columbus, Ohio—where practitioners, founders, and advocates gathered on International Women’s Day.

By Stephanie Maupin | March 8, 2026

The Celebrate Her Expo Columbus Ohio brought together a room full of women building businesses around wellness, personal development, and community — all in one place for an International Women’s Day event that felt grounded and genuinely conversation-driven.

I spent the afternoon moving between conversations, walking the floor, and sitting in on sessions — getting a full view of how everything connected in real time.

That perspective made one thing clear quickly: this wasn’t just a collection of booths — it was a snapshot of how women in Columbus are building right now.

The event was held March 8 at Menlo at Edison Venues, with three concurrent speaker tracks, a full vendor floor, wellness services, and a steady flow of conversations throughout the afternoon.

That connection shows up in how women are structuring their days, their energy, and their work to prioritize their health.

A Women’s Wellness Event That Felt Like Community

The overall energy felt calm and intentional in a way that a lot of events don’t manage.

People weren’t rushing from booth to booth trying to cover everything — they were stopping, asking questions, and actually talking to the people behind the businesses.

A lot of that had to do with who was in the room.

any attendees and vendors were already connected through overlapping networks in Columbus — the kind of thing that makes a space feel grounded rather than transactional.

From Herbal Remedies to Death Doulas: The Range Was the Point

Walk the vendor floor at Celebrate Her and try to find the common thread.

Not just a few variations — entire categories.

Products, practitioners, and services all mixed together: herbal remedies, mental health counseling, coaching, yoga and movement, sound healing, skincare, home organization, authors, nonprofit work, and hands-on services.

Some were selling something tangible. Others were offering a way to think differently, process something heavier, or change how you live day to day.

This wasn’t one version of wellness — it was the full spectrum of what it looks like to take care of a human life — something I’ve written more about in how holistic health actually works.

Earthley Wellness had a table full of herbal tinctures, natural remedies, and household products anchored by a clear thesis: changing the way people think about healthcare.

The business isn’t just selling products — it’s making an argument about access, affordability, and everyday control over your health.

The sound healing table had a full gong on a stand — which stopped people mid-stride. Not because it demanded attention, but because it offered something different: a form of wellness that isn’t easily packaged or explained.

And then there was Nikki the Death Doula.

Workbooks on grief, death anxiety, and end-of-life planning laid out under string lights. One titled Grief Sucks — which says exactly what it needs to.

Her presence didn’t feel out of place. It felt essential.

Grief doesn’t stay contained — it shows up in sleep, focus, and the ability to function. Of course it belongs in the same conversation as everything else.

There were also less expected things — like hair tinsel, which I ended up getting.

Because small strands woven into your hair that catch the light are fun, a little chaotic, and a reminder that not everything related to wellness has to be serious to matter.

The Speaker Sessions

The speaker schedule made the same point.

Three tracks running all afternoon — covering mental health, cancer education, entrepreneurial decision-making, AI for business, sound healing, boundaries, grief, communication, and identity — all in the same room, on the same day.

Not a wellness event. Not a business event.

Both, layered together.

The Conversations That Stuck With Me

I had a lot of conversations throughout the afternoon — many with women I already know from Evolve, a Columbus women’s entrepreneurship network.

You show up, and your community shows up too.

Holistic Wellness Counseling and Living by the Brush shared a table, pairing mental and emotional health work with mindful art as a form of meditation.

Two different approaches, pointing to the same thing: what’s happening internally matters more than most people think.

Dawn Engle of Dawn of a New Day Health Coaching was also there, focusing on the long game — healthspan, energy, and feeling good in a way that’s sustainable.

(Full disclosure: I built Dawn’s website — but the work stands on its own.)

I also sat down with Stephanie Linn Coaching for an oracle card reading and pulled “The Outlaw.”

The message was simple: stop playing by systems that don’t work for you.

In a room full of women who had already done exactly that — leaving roles, building businesses, redefining how they work — it didn’t feel abstract. It felt accurate.

The Michael Powell Foundation, led by Shanikka Gibson, focused on caregiver support — one of the most overlooked areas of health.

Supporting the people who are supporting everyone else is foundational, even if it’s rarely treated that way.

It’s also a better way to think about health— not separate from life, but as the thing everything else depends on. This is why your health is your most valuable asset. →

Some of the best conversations weren’t structured at all — they happened in passing.

I ended up talking with a Mary Kay consultant and a local pet care business owner, and we found common ground in something simple: raising young kids while trying to build something at the same time.

More Than One Definition of Wellness

What became clear walking through the event is that wellness isn’t separate from success — it’s the foundation of it.

The women building these businesses weren’t choosing between taking care of themselves and growing something meaningful.

They were building models that require both. Energy, focus, and sustainability weren’t side benefits — they were part of the strategy.

That showed up in different ways across the room.

Some businesses were centered on physical health, others on mental and emotional support, and others on creating environments that help people feel better in their day-to-day lives.

But the through line was the same: when your health is supported, everything else becomes more sustainable.

It’s a shift away from the idea that success requires burnout, overextension, or constant output. Instead, it reflects a different approach — one where how you feel directly impacts how you work, what you build, and how long you can sustain it.

And that’s what made this event feel aligned with where things are heading. Not just more businesses, but better ones — built in a way that actually supports the people behind them.

Women in Wellness Columbus: What This Event Reflects

There’s a growing community of women in Columbus building businesses around health — not as a trend, but as something practical.

Practitioners, coaches, founders, advocates.

Different approaches, but often solving for the same thing: helping people feel better so they can function better.

Events like Celebrate Her Expo aren’t just networking spaces — they’re a reflection of where work is heading.

More women are building businesses that prioritize energy, flexibility, and long-term sustainability, not just output.

And in cities like Columbus, that shift is already happening.