On Tuesday evening, dozens of people packed the VALA Art Center in Redmond Town Center.

While a new art installation has recently been added in the space, they were not there to celebrate the artist’s work.

Everyone at VALA Tuesday evening was there for the 4th Annual Women In Business event, organized by the Redmond Reporter.

“I was extremely excited to see 80-plus women come out to our Women In Business event,” said Jim Gatens, sales manager for the Reporter. “It was my hope they would find new people to network with, mentor, encourage and build friendships, and from what I could see, all of those things were happening.”

In addition to networking opportunities, the event featured speakers from various industries ranging from pet grooming and dancing to construction and real estate. The speakers shared how they got to where they are now and some of the obstacles they faced as women in business.

In telling her story, pet stylist and Mutt N. Chop’s owner Heather Ormsby acknowledged that opening a new business is not easy.

“I was terrified,” she admitted to the crowd about how she felt when she first decided to take the leap.

Ormsby had previously worked as a pet groomer at a chain store and said eventually, her vision and goals no longer matched the company’s need to make a buck. So, she started her own pet grooming business in the back of a pet supplies store on Redmond Ridge in 2008. Five years later, the pet supplies store has gone out of business but Mutt N. Chop’s is still going.

Other speakers such as April Bettinger — owner of Nip Tuck Remodeling in Woodinville — and Gayle Leyde — office manager for Gotta Dance in Redmond — stressed the importance of listening to customers and clients.

Leyde reminded everyone in the room that when people walk through a business’s door, they are entering with their own issues, histories and families and that is all that should matter.

“The idea is you make your clients the  most important thing at that moment,” she said. “We take ourselves out of the equation and we put it all into our clients.”

The evening’s featured nonprofit was Assistance League (AL) of the Eastside. Donations of socks and towels were accepted to go toward the organization’s various programs — which include Assault Survivor Kits for sexual assault survivors, Help4Homeless for homeless individuals and families, Operation School Bell for school children in need and Starting Over Support for individuals and families fleeing domestic violence. In addition, AL accepted donations of yarn, which will be knit into hats and scarves for their Operation School Bell program.

“It’s such a great opportunity for us, for the exposure to a new demographic,” said AL Vice President of Communications Kathleen Mercer about partnering with the Reporter for the evening, adding that all of AL’s members are women.

She said because AL meetings are during the day, it can be difficult for them to attract new members because people work. So attending an evening event such as Women In Business could help them meet new people.

The evening also featured a fashion show with clothes and models provided by Target in Redmond. Employees from the store volunteered their time to participate in the show and the event.

Jessica Lambert, founder and executive director of Venues for Artists in the Local Area (VALA) Eastside, said they are always interested in working with other community organizations, so when the opportunity to host Women In Business at the Art Center came, they accepted. She added that as a woman who started her own business, holding this particular event was very meaningful.

In addition, the current artist on display at the Art Center is Suzanne Tidwell, a fiber artist whose Artificial Light installation at Redmond’s Anderson Park in 2012 sparked a lot of conversation within the city. Lambert said it was coincidental but fitting that the current art installation is based on knitting, a medium traditionally associated with women.