ST. GEORGE —When one female business owner saw a need for a networking group to support like-minded women, she took action by creating a female business collective that has changed both her life and the lives of all who continually join.

“Hurricane has always had a good old boys club. We needed a girls club. And we’re doing amazing things out here,” Kerry Ann Humphrey said.

Humphrey started her own occupational therapy business alongside her husband after spending 28 years employed by Intermountain Healthcare. That included 17 years in the neonatal intensive care unit. Five years ago, a house fire disrupted her life in more ways than she could’ve imagined.

“During the time that my house burned down, I was in a huge process with the insurance company. I felt like, what do you do with your life while you’re trying to figure out your life, waiting for your life to happen? That’s when I started this,” Humphrey said about her journey to business ownership.

Humphrey, who had also been practicing yoga for 20 years, decided to get her yoga teacher certification. She learned that occupational therapists, not just physical therapists, could also specialize in pelvic floor work and got certified. With multiple certifications including aerial yoga, along with her career as an occupational therapist, she realized that she could leave her employment at the hospital and start her own practice.

Upon opening Unity Health & Wellness, Humphrey said she attended business networking and chamber events. As she introduced herself and talked about her business, she said the experiences felt extremely competitive and masculine. She also met owners of other women-owned businesses in the Hurricane Valley and realized that a networking group for women did not exist.

She drew up a…