Sessions

Empowering Women through Emotional Intelligence: Unlocking the Key to Personal and Professional Success

Presenter: Dr. Sheronda Glass

This session is designed for women at all stages of their careers who are interested in developing leadership skills, improving emotional health, and building stronger professional relationships. Whether attending for personal growth, career advancement, or to connect with other like-minded women, attendees will leave with actionable strategies to apply in everyday life.

Learning Outcomes

• A clear understanding of the five components of emotional intelligence and how they influence leadership and relationships.
• Practical tools and exercises to enhance EQ and promote personal development.
• Strategies to cultivate resilience, increase confidence, and lead with empathy.
• A greater sense of empowerment in personal and professional decision-making.

Empowering Female Leadership

Presenter: Erin Donahue

This inspiring session encourages women to embrace their leadership potential and redefine what it means to lead. It explores the unique challenges women face and provides practical strategies to overcome barriers, build confidence, and lead with authenticity. Through real-world insights and actionable tools, attendees will learn how to harness strengths, foster resilience, and create supportive networks that empower them to grow, innovate, and drive change.

The session also highlights the importance of mentorship, allyship, and advocacy, urging both women and men to support a more inclusive leadership landscape. Participants will leave with a renewed sense of purpose and a toolkit of strategies to break through limitations, challenge conventional norms, and seize leadership opportunities. Leadership isn’t about titles—it’s about impact, courage, and the power to create change. Join us and step into your leadership with confidence!

Learning Outcomes

• Recognize and Overcome Barriers: Understand the unique challenges women face in leadership and gain strategies to overcome self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and societal expectations.
• Build Confidence and Resilience: Learn actionable tools to harness personal strengths, build leadership presence, and foster resilience in the face of adversity.
• Foster Supportive Networks and Allyship: Develop strategies to create mentorship opportunities, advocate for inclusion, and cultivate environments that empower women to thrive as leaders.

Dismantling Benevolent Sexism in the Workplace

Presenter: Binnu Palta Hill and Ben Williams

Women’s experience in the workplace continues to be disparate from their male counterparts. In 2024, according to Pew Research Center, women earned an average of 85% of what men earned. This is only slightly up from 2003 when women earned 81% that of men’s salaries. Studies show that women’s day-to-day work experience is often influenced by the presence of benevolent sexism in the organizational culture. Benevolent sexism is an ambivalent form of sexism that comprises behaviors that appear benign or even positive but actually promote traditional gender roles and a patriarchal status quo. In this session, we will discuss signs of benevolent sexism and how one can recognize and counter them. Additionally, we will discuss how male colleagues can be allies in dismantling cultural elements linked to benevolent sexism.

Learning Outcomes

• Recognizing benevolent sexism
• Strategies for countering benevolent sexism for women and men

Be SMARTER About Your Future

Presenter: Sue Wenker

This engaging and interactive session is designed to empower participants with the tools and strategies to effectively apply Backward Design Concepts and SMARTER goals in both their professional and personal lives. By the end of this session, participants will have a clear understanding of how to set meaningful goals, create a vision for their future, and maintain balance in their daily activities.

Learning Outcomes

• Learn principles of Backward Design and how to apply them to plan and achieve long-term goals in your personal and professional life.
• Master the art of setting Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals that take into account the Emotional context while seeking Repeatable practices.
• Develop an action plan specific to your personal or professional life.

Breaking Barriers: Women in Sports Leading with Influence and Impact

Presenter: Panelists TBA

Women in sports continue to break barriers and shape the industry in powerful ways. This panel brings together leaders from college athletics, professional sports, and other key entities to discuss how they have leveraged their influence to advance their careers, enhance well-being, and foster inclusive environments. Through candid conversations, panelists will share strategies for overcoming challenges, advocating for themselves and others, and creating spaces where women thrive in sports. Attendees will leave with actionable insights and inspiration to navigate their own careers with confidence and purpose.

Learning Outcomes

• Harnessing Influence for Career Growth – Understand how to build and use your personal and professional influence to advance your career and create new opportunities in the sports industry.
• Prioritizing Well-Being in a Demanding Field – Gain strategies for managing stress, maintaining work-life balance, and advocating for mental and physical well-being in high-pressure environments.
• Creating Inclusive and Supportive Spaces – Learn how to champion diversity, equity, and inclusion in sports workplaces and empower others through mentorship, allyship, and leadership.

The Art of Difficult Conversations: How to Balance Warmth and Candor

Presenter: Ming Shelby

Effective leaders know that delivering tough information isn’t just about what you say, it’s about how you say it. Drawing from Daniel Coyle’s, The Culture Code, this session explores the power of warm candor—balancing honesty with empathy to strengthen relationships, build trust, and navigate organizational dynamics. Participants will gain practical strategies to lead with authenticity, communicate difficult messages with confidence, and foster a workplace culture where constructive conversations drive growth and collaboration.

Learning Outcomes

• Learn practical strategies for delivering difficult messages with honesty and empathy to build trust and improve workplace relationships.
• Develop skills to manage challenging conversations with colleagues and supervisors, fostering a positive and collaborative work culture

What Serious-Illness Communication Teaches Us About Leadership: Skills for Challenging Conversations

Presenter: Sara K. Johnson MD, Sarah Ahrens MD, Laura Zakowski MD, Amy Zelenski PhD, and Mariah Quinn MD

Leaders often need to have challenging conversations. Physician-educators have challenging conversations with patients and/or learners daily: giving bad news, providing corrective feedback, and navigating conflict. In many cases, physician educators use well-established and validated frameworks for these conversations, including the SPIKES (Setting, Perception, Invitation, Knowledge, Emotion, Strategy) framework used in breaking bad news and the REMAP (Reframe, Expect emotion, Map, Align, Plan) framework used in goals of care conversations. These frameworks provide scaffolding for effective and efficient conversations, while leaving room for individual style and flexibility in the moment. In this workshop, participants will learn and practice several frameworks we teach and employ in healthcare and adapt and apply these skills to challenging conversations common for all leaders.

Learning Outcomes

• List 4 key preparation steps for challenging conversations
• Identify 4 essential communication skills from serious-illness conversation frameworks that can be adapted to challenging leadership conversations
• Practice using communication skills from these frameworks in a simulation of a challenging leadership conversation

Growing Career Resilience in an Everchanging Workplace

Presenter: April McHugh

Workplaces are changing at the most rapid pace we have ever seen. So much so that we sometimes lose our ability to adapt in healthy ways. How can we grow our career resilience to lead in the most effective way through these constant changes? This workshop will share what career resilience is and how to grow it, while participants work through a challenge of their own to better lead, work, and develop in their own careers.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand what career resilience is
• Learn how to grow career resilience
•  Leave with resiliency strategies  that can be implement immediately
• A greater sense of empowerment in personal and professional decision-making.

Taking the Next Step in Your Career with UW-Madison Women in IT

Panelists: Salima Currimbhoy, Jamie Gutkowski, Priya Sachithanandam, Mehrnaz Ahmadi Joobaneh, Amy Diestler, and Kelsey Harrington
Moderator: Amanda Thornton

Thinking about your future as a woman in the technology industry? Join us for an inspiring and practical session designed just for you.

Discover the diverse paths your career can take, whether it’s growing into leadership, exploring new roles, taking a step back, or simply finding work-life balance. Hear real stories from fellow women in IT who set different courses to navigate these waters.

They’ll share:

• How they prepared for new opportunities
• Lessons learned from successes and setbacks
• Strategies for advancing and growing while staying true to yourself

Employee Resources will be on hand to showcase the support and tools available to help you find your next move and thrive in your IT career at UW.

Whether you’re eyeing a promotion, considering a change, or seeking better balance, this event will equip you with insights and resources to confidently take your next step.

Come connect, learn and empower yourself to shape your future at UW–Madison!

Learning Outcomes

• Learn tips on how to succeed in the IT world as a professional and leader
• Gain insights on how to leverage your background to make it to the next level of your career
• Acquire tips for navigating the political landscape while taking the next step
• Learn how to find and provide mentorship and support

Developing Your Experience Capital: How the Early Career Woman Can Position Herself for Promotion

Presenter: Mona-Lee Belizaire

Now more than ever, women are ambitious and committed to their careers. Young women are especially ambitious, with 97% of women, 30 and under, viewing their career as very important and 93% of women, 30 and under, interested in getting promoted to the next level (LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company, Women in the Workplace 2023). While this statistic is encouraging, women are most disadvantaged when it comes to being promoted at the first step, from entry level to manager. In 2022, for every 100 men promoted from entry level to manager, 87 women were promoted and the gap is widening for women of color with 73 being promoted to manager for every 100 men compared to 82 the previous year. The statistic is even more dismal for early career Black women, with the number being promoted to manager falling from 96 in 2021 to 54 in 2022 (LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company, Women in the Workplace 2023).

How can the early career woman start off right in her career and position herself for promotion across the corporate pipeline? Experience capital, defined as the knowledge, skills, and wisdom gained on the job, provides the opportunity for the early career woman to grow and excel in her career journey. In this session, participants will gain knowledge on how to build their experience capital prior to entering the workforce and while on the job. They will leave with practical tips and tools that they can readily employ to become high performers and high potential leaders.

Learning Outcomes

• Increase your knowledge and understanding of experience capital
• Learn how to gain experience capital prior to joining the workforce and while on the job
• Learn how to apply their experience capital for advancement into leadership and managerial roles, and promotions.

Taking Charge of Your Professional Development

Presenter: Christina Bowley

Early- to mid-career professionals often look to their supervisors for professional development guidance, but waiting for opportunities to be handed to you can limit your growth. This session empowers professionals to take initiative in their own development, exploring strategies to identify, pursue, and leverage opportunities independently.

Participants will learn how to proactively seek out professional development options, including free and low-cost resources available through their institution, industry networks, and online platforms. We will also discuss best practices for communicating these activities to supervisors—both to gain approval when necessary and to ensure that personal growth is recognized and valued within the workplace.

By taking ownership of professional development, individuals can enhance their expertise, expand their networks, and demonstrate initiative—key qualities that contribute to long-term career success.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify free and accessible professional development opportunities within and outside your institution.
• Learn strategies to communicate professional development engagement to supervisors for support and recognition.
• Develop the confidence and ability to take charge of your growth, building knowledge, skills, and a professional network independently.

Creating SPACE for Women in the Workplace: 5 Steps to Amplify Voices and Unlock Leadership Potential

Presenter: Dr. Carmen Paredes

Despite progress, women in the workplace continue to face barriers to being fully heard, valued and promoted into leadership roles. Speaking up isn’t just a personal challenge—it’s a systemic issue. Without intentional change, organizations risk underutilizing the insights, expertise, and leadership potential of half their workforce.

In this empowering session, Dr. hc Carmen Paredes introduces the SPACE Framework—a practical, 5-step model for creating workplaces where women’s voices don’t just echo—they drive meaningful impact. Through real-world examples, actionable strategies, and leadership insights, participants will explore how to foster environments where women can speak with confidence, influence key decisions, and rise into leadership roles.

Whether you’re an emerging leader, executive, or HR professional, you’ll leave equipped with tools to shift culture, challenge bias, and unlock the full potential of women in your organization. Because when women lead, everyone rises.

Learning Outcomes

• Shift the Narrative – Recognize and challenge the hidden biases and workplace dynamics that silence women and limit their advancement.
• Amplify and Advocate – Learn practical strategies to elevate women’s voices in meetings, decision-making, and leadership pipelines.
• Build a Culture of Belonging – Create inclusive spaces where women feel psychologically safe, supported, and empowered to speak up and step into leadership.

Coaching Leadership for High-Performance Teams

Presenter: Jayna Hintz and Cindy Sarkady

The way you lead your team has a direct impact on its performance. Transitioning from a traditional leadership style to one that emphasizes coaching can shift your team’s culture, driving synergy, engagement, and innovation. Leadership through coaching creates a space for open dialogue, vulnerability, and growth, enabling teams to take calculated risks and achieve exceptional results.

This session will provide specific, actionable strategies for leaders to implement a coaching leadership style that nurtures collaboration, builds trust, and maximizes team potential. You will leave with a clear understanding of how to guide your team using coaching techniques that foster empowerment, accountability, and continuous development.

Learning Outcomes

• Expand self-awareness of your leadership style and identify opportunities to incorporate coaching strategies to enhance team performance.
• Master the steps in coaching leadership, focusing on the techniques that create a safe environment, build trust, and promote meaningful risk-taking.
• Develop effective coaching questions to guide team members toward self-discovery and growth while facilitating collaboration and leveraging strengths.
• Enhance team engagement by creating a culture of open communication, empathy, and respect, leading to better collaboration and sustained relationships.

Breaking Barriers to Effective Collaboration

Presenter: Nura Said

In today’s fast-paced work environment, communication breakdowns and collaboration challenges are all too common. From miscommunications to delays and tension between teams, many of us unknowingly contribute to a difficult workplace. This session will highlight a series of practical, easy-to-apply strategies that anyone can use to mitigate these barriers and foster more effective communication in everyday interactions. Participants will leave with actionable tools for adapting to different communication styles, writing clearer emails, running more productive meetings, fostering a culture of collaboration, and tracking progress for professional growth.

By making small changes to how we communicate, we can create a ripple effect that transforms our workplace into one that’s more productive, inclusive, and empowering.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify and Adapt to Different Communication Styles: Understand how to assess colleagues’ communication preferences as guidelines for collaboration and tailor your approach for more effective interactions.
• Write Clear, Actionable Emails: Apply key elements for writing effective emails that include clear subject lines, concise content, actionable steps, and tailored tone to recipient and message. Employ a neutral tone that balances assertiveness and approachability.
• Run Efficient, Productive Meetings: Plan and lead meetings that stay focused, share clear action items, and ensure accountability by summarizing decisions and next steps. Additionally, navigate common challenges (frequent interruptions, being overlooked, etc.) to assert presence and reinforce contributions.
• Foster a Collaborative and Empowering Work Environment: Apply intentional behaviors to create a micro-culture that fosters empowerment and collaboration within immediate relationships such as encouraging colleagues’ strengths, addressing conflicts constructively, holding space for honest discussions, and practicing empathy.
• Measure and Track Progress for Professional Growth: Develop habits for tracking improvements, such as maintaining a “Work Wins” folder in your inbox, reflecting on communication successes, and seeking colleague feedback to continuously refine your approach. Advocate for professional growth in performance reviews and salary discussions with confidence and data-driven language.

Participants will leave feeling empowered, with a concrete set of tools to immediately implement in their daily work and begin improving their communication and collaboration.

Building Self Confidence and Bringing Joy Back into Communicating with Others

Presenter: Dr. Ruthanne Chun and Dr. Laura Garrett

This session will review four core communication skills and share numerous tips and techniques on ways to maintain a nimble and open mindset when interacting with others.

Learning Outcomes

• During the session, attendees will practice applying specific communication skills.
• Attendees will learn several different exercises that can change how they perceive and interact with others
• Attendees will choose one to two exercises to use in their own work places to improve relationships with work colleagues

Mindful Leadership: Cultivating Strengths for Personal and Professional Growth

Presenter: Merri Guggisberg

This session focuses on empowering women leaders to cultivate their personal and professional growth through mindfulness and strengths-based practices. Participants will discover how integrating mindfulness into leadership enhances emotional intelligence, resilience, and effective decision-making. By exploring the Value in Action (VIA) Character Strengths framework, attendees will gain insight into their unique strengths and learn to apply them in leadership roles, whether in business, community, or family settings. This interactive session will provide practical tools and strategies for leading with compassion, fostering stronger connections within teams, and navigating leadership challenges with clarity and confidence.

Learning Outcomes

• Discover a mindfulness practice that can be seamlessly woven into your daily routine to help enhance clarity, reduce stress, and support thoughtful decision-making in both personal and professional settings.
• Identify and apply your top personal strengths using the VIA Character Strengths framework, and gain tools for leveraging those strengths to enhance your leadership style and build stronger, more connected teams.
• Develop strategies for leading with empathy and compassion, incorporating mindfulness to strengthen relationships, navigate conflict, and create a supportive work environment.

Empowering Problem Solvers: A People-First Approach to Organizational Success

Presenter: Sarah Tilkens and Leah Roe

This session is about empowering problem solvers through a people-first approach to organizational success. Leah and Sarah will guide you through creating a culture where problem-solving isn’t just a task—it’s a mindset that drives growth, innovation, and deeper engagement. Leah will focus on the being side—how to build trust, foster safety, and create a culture of curiosity and innovation. Sarah will then share the how-to—real-world strategies, honed through years of experience at GE HealthCare, that will help you empower your team to solve problems with confidence, consistency, and impact.

Why is this important? Because successful organizations are built by people who love solving problems together. When you prioritize people—creating the right environment, building trust, and rewarding the right behaviors—you unlock the potential for sustainable growth, innovation, and team success. In this session, you’ll not only learn the foundations of a thriving problem-solving culture, but also gain practical tools to immediately apply these lessons and start driving real change in your organization. Get ready for an interactive, hands-on experience that empowers you to lead with purpose and build a lasting culture of problem-solving!

Learning Outcomes

• Foster a Culture of Problem Solving: Learn how to create an environment where your team loves solving problems, embraces the journey of learning, and is empowered to tackle challenges with confidence.
• Build Trust and Curiosity: Discover how to cultivate trust and curiosity, making space for experimentation and risk-taking while fostering innovation and problem-solving at all levels.
• Reward the Right Behaviors: Gain strategies for recognizing and rewarding behaviors that drive sustainable problem-solving, shifting your team’s focus from quick fixes to long-term solutions.

From Solo to Supported: How a Personal Board of Directors Can Transform Your Career

Presenter: Shana Campbell, MBA

You have a vision for your career—big goals, bold aspirations, and a path you’re hoping to follow. But as you push forward, the process can feel overwhelming, and at times, uncertain. You’re putting in the work, making strategic moves, yet you wonder: What am I missing?

Here’s the truth: No one succeeds alone. The most accomplished professionals don’t just rely on talent or hard work—they surround themselves with a Personal Board of Directors who offer guidance, open doors, and challenge them to think bigger.

In this engaging and interactive session, you’ll learn how to apply the B.O.A.R.D. Framework to build the right support system for your success. Whether you’re charting a new path, stepping into leadership, or taking your career to the next level, this session will give you a clear, repeatable strategy to stop navigating alone and start building the support system that helps you win.

Learning Outcomes

• Recognize the key roles that make up a Personal Board of Directors and their impact on career success
• Evaluate current professional networks to identify mentorship and sponsorship gaps
• Apply the B.O.A.R.D. Framework to build and sustain strategic career-boosting relationships

Leading with Authenticity while Creating Community and a Culture of Empowerment

Presenter: Dr. Julie Janiak, Megan McGarry Bouapha, Hyewon Park, and Sarina Strnad

Bringing your whole authentic self into your leadership approach and style can be difficult depending on your lived life and professional experience. In this session, we will help you explore the intersectionality of who you are as a leader and how your identities shape your leadership approach and style. We will reflect on the various labels ascribed to you based on the assessments you’ve taken and the messages you’ve received. Attendees will explore feelings about those labels and learn to re-frame them as needed. Most importantly, we will share practical strategies for creating a supportive leadership community including steps for empowering others in any role and area.

Learning Outcomes

• Attendees will explore what it means to be your authentic self and how the intersectionality of gender, culture, and other identities shapes their leadership approach and influences their leadership style.
• Attendees will review their own leadership style, including various labels others have bestowed upon them, and learn ways to re-frame those labels.
• Participants will learn practical strategies for creating a supportive leadership community and empowering others in the process.

A Conversation on Courage and Collaboration

Presenter: Sabrina Messer and Salima Currimbhoy

Leadership isn’t a straight path—it’s a dynamic journey of knowing when to collaborate, when to challenge the status quo, and when to take bold risks. Some moments call for diplomacy and teamwork, while others demand decisive, and at times unconventional action. This session explores the delicate balance leaders seek in navigating complex environments, shifting priorities, and evolving responsibilities. Through candid reflections on real-world experiences, we’ll unpack the power of adaptability, self-awareness, and strategic risk-taking. Join us for an engaging discussion on how to cultivate both grace and grit in your leadership approach—because sometimes, the best leaders do both.

Learning Outcomes

• Flexibility in leadership style: seeing when to lean into team collaboration and when decisions need to be made
• Seeking your authentic leadership style: learning more about your own leadership style and how and when to evolve, refining decision making and delegation skills
• Navigating leadership transitions: how to keep work moving and staff growing during ambiguity

Oh Look, A Fraud! Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Presenter: Dr. Holly Stevenson

“Imposter syndrome” has become a buzzword in the recent years, but what is it, how do I know if I have it, and how can we overcome it? This session will talk through what this phenomenon is, the different types of imposter syndrome, as well as providing tools for how to overcome it. We will also discuss the difference between imposter syndrome and a lack of belonging.

Learning Outcomes

• Participants will leave with an understanding of imposter syndrome and its prevalence
• Participants will be able to distinguish feelings of imposter syndrome from a lack of belonging
• Participants will be able to recognize which type of imposter syndrome they most resonate with, and will leave with tools to diminish such feelings.
• Participants will leave with tools to lower their imposter syndrome, as well as those they work with and care about.

Debunking the Myth of Female Rivalry

Presenter: Binnu Palta and Anjali P. Sridharan

Studies suggest that women joining forces with other women has a much greater impact on the culture of an organization and towards shifting gender norms. It’s a long-held belief, that women work against each other and we have found that it is actually productive for women to serve as allies to each other. Research also suggests that women inadvertently internalize patriarchal messages and that lead to mistreating and underestimating other women in an attempt to increase their own status and power. In this session we will discuss actively seeking out other women as allies and building bridges to benefit women as a whole.

Learning Outcomes

• Understanding climate where women work against each other.
• Learning strategies to build strong networks for self-advocacy and to support others

Putting The Bloom on STEM: The Importance of a Scientific Education on Female Leadership and Empowerment

Presenter: Amy Gutman MD, FACEP

Leaders with a robust Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education are crucial for driving innovation, technology, and economic growth in modern economies. Despite the abundance of over 10 million STEM-based jobs globally, women currently occupy less than a third. This disparity stems from various factors, including limited educational opportunities and mentorship. However, a key contributing factor is the failure to acknowledge the substantial benefits of STEM education beyond the scientific sphere.

Although there has been remarkable progress in reducing the gender gap in STEM employment, the profound impact of STEM-based education on non-scientific leadership positions in business and industry is undeniable. Investing in female STEM education yields numerous direct and indirect positive impacts. STEM courses cultivate the essential skills for executive leadership, such as complex problem-solving, data-driven reasoning, critical thinking, curiosity, collaborative communication, and adaptability. The “hard skills” of STEM naturally translate into acquiring the “soft skills” necessary for global workforce competence.

Inclusive and diverse learning environments naturally foster a talent pipeline from primary schools through advanced degrees, reinforced by mentorship that fosters collaborative learning and networking opportunities. Despite comprising half of the global economy, women still hold less than a third of leadership positions due to systemic bias and limited educational opportunities. Women and their allies advocating for a vital STEM education remain essential to cultivating a diverse workforce and propelling innovation in the global economy’s research, technology, business, and governmental fields.

Learning Outcomes

• • Defining STEM education and the statistical representation of women globally in STEM-based educational programs.
  • Exploring how the “hard skills” of STEM naturally translate into acquiring the “soft skills” necessary for global workforce competence.
  • Advocating for a strong STEM education for women is vital for workforce diversity, infrastructure innovation, and female empowerment.

Sound On: Amplifying Your Voice in Leadership and Beyond

Presenter: Audrey Mickelson

Women in leadership often navigate a complex balance between being heard and being palatable—adapting their communication to meet expectations while sometimes losing their authentic voice in the process. In this session, we’ll explore what holds us back from speaking up, the cost of staying silent, and how to confidently share our ideas, expertise, and stories.

Audrey will share her journey to becoming a speaker, offering practical strategies for leveraging your voice in different spaces—whether in meetings, public speaking, writing, or one-on-one conversations. Attendees will walk away with a deeper understanding of how to overcome self-doubt, communicate with clarity and impact, and find opportunities to share their message.

Whether you’re leading a team, advocating for change, or simply seeking to be heard, this session will help you turn up the volume on your voice—without compromising who you are.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify and Overcome Barriers to Speaking Up – Recognize common challenges that prevent women from using their voice in leadership spaces and develop strategies to navigate them with confidence.
• Leverage Your Voice Across Different Platforms – Explore various ways to share your expertise—whether in meetings, public speaking, writing, or one-on-one conversations—to maximize impact.
• Take Action to Strengthen Your Presence – Walk away with practical steps to amplify your voice, advocate for yourself and others, and find opportunities to lead with authenticity.

Lessons to our Earlier Selves: Leadership growth and learning from the past to influence the future.

Presenter: Nicole Jennings, Nandita Nanchal, Kara Mulligan, Camille Endres, and Niki Virnig

In this session we will each touch on our diverse paths to leadership and then have a case-study-type discussion. We will talk about some of our toughest professional challenges we have faced as leaders who are women, how we navigated them (or didn’t!), and what we learned/do differently now based on the experiences.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand various paths to leadership and career development.
• Gain perspective and comfort with learning from past challenges to inform future success.
• Explore different perspectives from women leaders and how we navigate uncertainty.

A Feminist Approach to Networking

Presenter: Dr. Carley Gomez and Emmeline Prattke

Networking often has negative connotations: It’s competitive, it’s uncomfortable, and it can uphold a white supremacist patriarchal framework in career fields by privileging unspoken cultural norms.

Despite the longstanding history of traditional networking events, networking doesn’t need to uphold a capitalist hierarchy that prizes the competitive individual above all else. By re-imagining what it means to “network” using a contemporary inclusive lens, networking can become an intersectional practice that builds community and helps people of all identities find fulfilling careers. In addition to exploring why many women and people with marginalized identities don’t feel comfortable participating in traditional networking, this session will also demonstrate the value of intentionally creating more accessible spaces for relationship-building, provide actionable strategies for doing so in a variety of professional settings, and explore ways to redefine “networking” itself.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand why many women and people with marginalized identities can feel excluded from traditional networking
• Recognize the value of rethinking networking as a more accessible and universal concept
• Identify strategies for creating more intersectional, equitable networking opportunities