With just a few weeks away from the Women on the Rise Leadership Conference, held at the University of Washington on Saturday, Sept. 17, it’s hard to imagine that this time last year, I was a marketing intern for the YMCA in Auburn for Kela Hall, who, at the time, had only a vision of what the Women on the Rise Leadership Conference and her own nonprofit, KD Hall Foundation, would eventually become. As the road to the conference draws to a close, the real story is behind the scenes — the long journey to fulfilling a purpose, and that a “no” does not mean that they won’t be watching. ...