By Karen Hendricks

When Heather Valudes found out she’d been named a Woman of Strength, she wasn’t sure she fit the bill.

“When I think about my work, strength isn’t always the first word that comes to mind,” says Valudes, 37. “But I do think I persevere a lot—I’m tenacious, and I show up in the work I do.”

That work includes being named the first female president and CEO of the Lancaster Chamber last year—a milestone year in which the chamber celebrated its 150th anniversary.

“It’s interesting to reflect on that, a year into the position,” Valudes says. “We’ve never put a woman in this role traditionally held by men, and I’m realizing how much weight other people have put on that—how monumental that was. I don’t know that I owned that from the jump.”

Read about five women that Susquehanna Style magazine readers nominated as 2023 “Women of Strength.” The highly-anticipated and highly-read annual cover story published in November of 2023.