Women Business Leaders Conference Sessions - October 19

10:00 AM - 10:45 AM  Conference Welcome & Keynote

Keynote: Your Story is Your Superpower  

Chely Wright, Chief Diversity Officer, Unispace

Chely will share her perspective on storytelling as a tool to maximize one’s impact. In this conversation, Chely will share her personal journey as a queer woman in business, as a leader, as an artist and as a human being, and how living her authentic life allows her to use her power with intention.

11:00 AM - 11:45 AM  Workshops

Workshop 1: We Work for Food: How Women Will Transform the Foodieconomy

Lisa Raiola, President & Founder, Hope & Main

For many leaders in the food industry, the future is now and it is a future without a blueprint. Businesses that survive and thrive in a post-Covid world, will need to retool and create food systems that have never existed before. The pandemic has accelerated nascent industry trends and provided radical permission to test and explore new approaches to tackling urgent challenges in that face our food systems such as food access and security; food sovereignty and equity; as well as innovations in plant-based and more sustainable foods for our planet.

Who are the women-- especially the Black, Latina, Asian and Indigenous women-- transforming our food systems with their courageous ideas and future-forward businesses? I will tell their stories... beginning with my own.

It was the poet, Ranier Maria Rilke who said: “The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.” The women I have met at Hope & Main, the women whose stories I will share, have faced down greater and greater life challenges to achieve their dreams of launching a food business. What they have built is resilient and innovative and gives us an inspiring glimpse of the new future.

Workshop 2: Mindset and Money: A Conversation with Dr. Caroline Clerisme

Caroline Clerisme, Money Coach, Debt Repayment Strategist, Doctors Out of Debt

Practical steps and tips on how you can have wealth and be debt free as a business owner.

Workshop 3: Think Big. Win Big. Mapping Our Roadmap to Success.

Diane Winston, Founder & CEO, Winston Strategic Partners

Women - and especially Women of Color - are forging newer and bolder strides to attain success on our own terms. As the largest growing segment of small businesses in the U.S., join this discussion and learn how to leverage our sisterhood to empower, promote, and thrive together.

Workshop 4: Digital Business Solutions: Thriving in the Digital Economy

Cathleen Finn, Greater Boston Community Engagement Director, Verizon

Melissa Egdorf, Associate Director Business Sales, Verizon

Monique Geil, Senior Manager, Cybersecurity Sales, Verizon

Christa Hagearty, President, Dependable Cleaners

Andrea Sroczynski, Solutions Architect, Verizon Wireless

At Verizon we deliver the promise of the digital world by enhancing the ability of humans, businesses and society to do more good. Have you been thinking about how to adapt your business to our increasingly interconnected world? Then you won’t want to miss this conversation with a team of digital solutions experts that will inspire you to think differently about how to better serve customers and our community. See how to leverage digital solutions that provide for collaboration, security, always-on connectivity to help you save time, money, and grow your business. Learn how Verizon is investing in 1 million small businesses through a complementary Digital Ready online platform offering learning modules, expert coaching, peer networking, access grant opportunities and more to give small businesses like yours the personalized tools to thrive in the digital economy.

12:00 PM - 12:45 PM 

Panel: Stronger Together

Tisha Hood, Founder & Creativepreneur,Breadcrumbs Creative (Moderator)

Joan Wallace-Benjamin

Ilhiana Rojas Saldana, CPC, CDVC, Owner, Executive Transformation Strategy Coach, DEI Consultant, Believe Coaching and Consulting

There is a complex reality to navigating professional life as a woman.  There are pressures (real and perceived) of perceptions and expectations of “successful women.”; In a community, success of one parlays success for all. In this panel, we will discuss how working together, women can empower and inspire each other. We will talk about how to:

• Identify your strategic support network (mentors, coaches, cheerleaders)
• Identify your community
• Put yourself out there to ask for help and support others

Learn from the experiences of our panelists in growing stronger, together.

1:00 PM - 2:15 PM  CWE WBENC Meet & Greet (WBEs Only)

This virtual session allows WBENC-WBE certified businesses to connect with WBENC Corporate Partner in a one-on-one online setting.

For more information about completing your WBENC certification, please visit: www.cweonline.org/certification