The 2022 Women|Future Conference took place virtually November 8-10, 2022 with pre-conference sessions on November 7.

Our agenda was comprised of sessions that fall within seven main tracks: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Entrepreneurship, Future of Work, Leadership, Marketing, Personal Development, and Technology. Browse the agenda below to view the session details.

Find Your Voice: Insider Secrets from Seasoned Speakers

11:00am – 11:55am

 

LEADERSHIP TRACK

 

Join expert, sought after female global speakers Suzy Jackson, Bri Williams, Em Washington and Marnie LeFevre in this high-energy panel session where they’ll share the speaker secrets they (and their clients) use to connect to an audience and take them on a journey that leaves them feeling inspired, uplifted and moved. They’ll share their insider secrets to crafting your inspiring story (and the importance of storytelling), managing an audience’s experience and their simple tips to getting yourself booked as a speaker. Plus, they speak about the unique challenges women face as speakers and how to overcome them. Each speaker will also be giving you a gift at the end of the session to help you accelerate your speaking success!

 

SPEAKERS

Marnie LeFevre

Bri Williams

Emem Washington

Suzy Jackson

The Ever-Changing World of Social Media

12:00pm – 12:55pm

 

TECHNOLOGY TRACK

 

Join us to learn how female powerhouses use paid and unpaid social media marketing hacks to master the algorithms and create multiple six-figure results for their social media clients. Hear fun and quirky business case studies on band development, content creation, audience building, live video, and video shopping. Stop guessing at what channels will grow the fastest! Get cutting-edge social media trends to grow a diverse community fast and make your followers feel a deep connection and belonging. Come learn best practices to succeed in the future of social media so you can create loyal followers who actually buy your products or services!

 

SPEAKERS

Crystal Lindsey

Meagen Johnson

Jourdan Guyton

Cassandra Le

The Snowball Effect: How Women-Led Businesses Create an Impact

1:00pm – 1:55pm

 

LEADERSHIP TRACK

 

There has truly never been a better time for women to take the lead and step into entrepreneurship than right this very moment. We are watching more women open businesses, more women lead companies, and more countries with women at the helm than we’ve ever seen before. These are extraordinarily exciting times as we watch women positioning themselves to take the lead and create change in their communities. Join us for this inspiring panel as our Speakers share how women-owned businesses drive innovation, positive change, and overall economic growth.

 

SPEAKERS

Suzanne F. Stevens

Jordana Guimarães

Jen Buck

Building Your Community of Mentors

11:00am – 11:55am

 

LEADERSHIP TRACK

 

Mentoring is even more powerful when we build a community around it. Please join these incredible women for an engaging session with stories and examples of building a mentoring community and its personal and professional impact. Each panelist will bring a unique perspective on the ecosystem of mentoring. Attendees will leave enabled with actionable strategies to build their community of mentors.

 

SPEAKERS

Brenda Jimenez

Dr. Cheryl Cooper

Michelle Gardner- Ince

Whitney Knight

KEYNOTE: Dream Big & Chase it

12:00pm – 12:45pm

Join the session to hear the journey of Rashmi where she navigated work & life across three different continents. The cultural differences and experiences, the ways to carve out possibilities and dreams along the way. The session will inspire you to dream big and showcase ways to chase them wholeheartedly.

 

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Rashmi Verma

Networking

12:45pm – 1:30pm

Cultivating an Inclusive Workplace: How Diversity Creates Opportunity

1:30pm – 2:25pm

 

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION TRACK

 

Data shows that increasing the diversity of your organization will lead to improved innovation, better financial outcomes, retention, recruitment and individual work satisfaction and engagement. This session will highlight the importance of diversity inclusiveness and its impact on company culture, innovation and performance.

 

SPEAKERS

Etosha Thurman

Iris Drayton-Spann

Lisa Edwards

Nicole Mehta

Crafting and Delivering the Perfect Pitch

1:30pm – 2:25pm

 

MARKETING TRACK

 

Ready or not, you get one shot at making a first impression. And with the average human attention span only lasting 8 seconds, you have less time than ever to do it. Knowing how to be your best advocate and tell your story right the first time is essential to your success. In this session, you’ll learn how to prepare and enter a pitch competition, set yourself apart from the competition, and captivate potential investors.

 

SPEAKERS

Henna Pryor
Kim Roxie
Annie Scranton

Legal Tips For Your Trade

2:30pm – 3:25pm

 

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRACK

 

This workshop will cover the practical use of trademarks, copyright and contracts in your business to reduce the stress and increase the revenue. You’ll walk away learning how to use law strategically to reach your business goals and positioning your business for success.

 

SPEAKERS

Kelli Jones

Girija Patel

Erin Austin

FearLESS: Facing Adversity

2:30pm – 3:25pm

 

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT TRACK

 

The women on this panel will be sharing their individual stories of resilience, overcoming and how they have each discovered that being fearless does not have anything to do with approaching life with the absence of fear. On the contrary, what makes these women so strong and courageous is that they have managed to survive, overcome, accomplish and reinvent themselves while facing fear, eyeball to eyeball, and decided to do the thing anyway. Each panelist will share their unique experience and a few things they do to inspire themselves continually as they practice being fearless by fearing LESS.

 

SPEAKERS

Jessica Buchanan

Michelle Kuei

Carey-Ann Oestreicher

Phillitia Charlton

Optimizing Your Business Website from Design to Search Engine Optimization

3:30pm – 4:25pm

 

TECHNOLOGY TRACK

 

This workshop is for those who want to understand the strategies to having a website that connects, educates, converts, sells to, and retains the right audience. From conducting user research to developing a site that caters to your target market that includes the right: design, functionality, search engine keywords, & digital marketing is all a PROCESS! This workshop will streamline these facets so you start a website correctly or so your current website can be transformed. A website in 2022 is your first impression…let’s make a good one!

 

WORKSHOP LEADER

Nicole Rowley

Think Like an Investor: How to Get the Funding You Deserve

11:00am – 11:55am

 

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRACK

 

Join these panelists to discuss how you can get more funding, think like an investor and learn from veteran founders and Startup Advisors, supporting and advocating for small business to connect to capital, creative financing platform, resources, mentors and partners. what advice do you have for people seeking funding in this dynamic market and lessons learned.

 

SPEAKERS

Carolyn Rodz
Ifeoma Uddoh
Mez Gallifuco
Faye Sahai

Pitch Competition

12:00pm – 12:55pm

The Next Generation of Tech

1:00pm – 1:55pm

 

TECHNOLOGY TRACK

 

This panel of industry disruptors will focus on how equity should be core to the next generation of tech, how it’s implemented, who implements it and why it’s implemented. Learn how organizations are leveraging nextgen tech to differentiate in the metaverse, Web3, crypto, and AI. These panelists will discuss tech in our everyday lives and particularly the intersection of art and tech and how we can be guardians of the future as it relates to driving great behavior.

 

SPEAKERS

Helen Huang

Shannon Herber

Tracy Ring 

Pico Velasquez

The Balancing Act: Self-Care and a Sustainable Work Life

1:00pm – 1:55pm

 

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT TRACK

 

Do you want to create a more sustainable work/life balance? Start by throwing away what you think you know. Join us to hear our panel of women leaders demystify balance and instead discuss how we can create alignment. Let’s unlearn what we should do and instead embrace what we want and need to do to become our most authentic selves. And let’s explore what it means to create flexible boundaries to protect ourselves in our ever-changing world.

 

SPEAKERS

Brandy Simula

Sabine Roduit

Sohee Junn

A Provocative New Path to Expand Your Corporate Reach

2:00pm – 2:40pm

 

ENTREPRENUERSHIP TRACK

 

A tireless advocate for diversity across industries, Certify My Company founder and president, Heather Cox, will show your entrepreneurial audience the value of getting diversity certified – and how to partner with businesses that are. From how to connect with corporate procurement and diversity supplier team members and turn them into your greatest advocates, to how to access the myriad free resources and professional development opportunities available to certified businesses, by the end of this timely, entertaining, and comprehensive presentation, audience members will be able to— Key Takeaways:

• Demystify what diversity certification is and who it’s designed for

• Debunk some of the top myths about diversity certification

• Explore over a dozen benefits of getting diversity certified

• Strategize their post-certification next steps to get face time with corporate gatekeepers and decision-makers

 

SPEAKERS

Heather Cox

Mindfulness for Busy Women

2:45pm – 3:00pm

 

YOGA/MEDITATION

 

Mindfulness for Busy Women

Join YogaBellies founder and Yoga Master Cheryl MacDonald as she takes you through the basics of practising mindfulness and meditation on the go. As a mother, entrepreneur and author, Cheryl knows firsthand how difficult it is to keep all of the wheels turning while looking after yourself and everyone else in your life. Join her for this short session specifically for women and the unique challenges we face, to get you started with these life changing practices.

LED BY:

Cheryl MacDonald

Networking

3:00pm – 3:30pm

Generational Work Styles: Understanding the Old and the New

3:30 pm – 4:25 pm

 

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION TRACK

 

Workplace preferences are evolving and cookie-cutter approaches to engaging and motivating employees no longer work. Boomers who grew up in the 9-5 office environment are staying longer. Gen X and the digital-native Millennial professionals dreamt of “work-life balance” and flexibility, but it often seemed beyond their reach. In a post-Covid world grappling with labor shortages and the great resignation, Gen Z has experienced hybrid and remote workplaces, and many of them want it to stay that way. Our panel will explore some of the generational work style differences in this era of employee empowerment and how leaders can navigate generational differences as they build highly motivated and engaged workforces.

 

SPEAKERS

Alycia Huston

Amy Nouri

Linda Gharib

Safiya Johnson

Strategic Storytelling: Advertising and PR Tactics for Your Business

3:30pm – 4:25pm

 

MARKETING TRACK

 

Storytelling is a powerful tool to deeply connect and engage with your audience and potential clients and customers. Hear from marketing, PR, and content experts to learn how to define and articulate your story, messaging and voice; and then to develop a content & visibility strategy to maximize the impact of your marketing efforts. Focus on what matters most and aligns with your mission and lead gen strategy to fast track your business and brand.

 

SPEAKERS

Leigh Dow
Ciara Ungar
Star Bobatoon
Susan Harrow

Resilient Leadership in a Changing Business Landscape

11:00am – 11:55am

 

FUTURE OF WORK TRACK

 

In an ever-changing and complex world, what is the modern definition of resilience in the workplace today? Discover how this generation of women in key leadership roles is both challenging and redefining resilience at work. Join the panel as they discuss key learnings on where resilience in the workplace is most needed, how we can establish dynamic and people-first growth strategies, and learn to create internal communications platforms that convey the new authentic reality of resilience.

 

SPEAKERS

Carrie Majewski

Tiffany Poeppelman 

Anita Guha

Jennifer Harris-Kroll

Leveraging Your LinkedIn

12:00pm – 12:55pm

 

MARKETING TRACK

 

Women are powerful. With that power comes great influence and possibility. As women, we have a responsibility to ensure our own presence on LinkedIn is attracting the right opportunities and that we know how to stand out the right way, expand our reach and create meaningful connections. Including live Q&A with the speaker and continued access after the Women|Future Conference, attendees will walk away inspired, equipped and empowered to leverage LinkedIn to increase their visibility and realize their potential.

 

WORKSHOP LEADER

Lindsey McMillion Stemann

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Driving Impact vs Tolerating Tokenism

1:00pm – 1:55pm

 

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION TRACK

 

Diversity and Inclusion are not just hiring issues, but go to the heart of each organization’s processes. Countless studies show organizations that give more attention to D&I are able to boost employee engagement, innovation, and industry profitability. However, effectively improving an organization’s diversity and inclusion involves more than just writing up policies. Tokenism is one of the practices companies should keep in mind and avoid in their DEI efforts. In this insightful discussion, the panelists will explain what tokenism is and the counterproductive impact it creates. They will reveal how to incorporate diversity with actual inclusion in the workplace and will discuss the importance of avoiding simply meeting numerical diversity goals without making effective changes.

 

SPEAKERS

Dr. Nika White

Sinead Rose

Amy Cappellanti-Wolf

Turning Passion into Profit

1:00pm – 1:55pm

 

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRACK

 

The Turning Passion into Profit session will be led by media and PR veteran / entrepreneur Michelle Mekky, founder and CEO of Mekky Media Relations, and will feature a candid conversation with three visionary and impressive founders who have turned their own passions into meaningful business endeavors: Viola Palescandolo of Black Platinum Gold B.V., Hailey Swartz of Actual Veggies and Joanna Waterfall of Yellow Co. The panel members’ industries and expertise range from media to travel to gourmet vegetable burgers to support systems for female entrepreneurs — but they share the similarity of breaking barriers and overcoming struggles to grow their businesses and achieve their dreams. They will reveal the highs and lows of their journeys and their advice for finding not just profit, but purpose and fulfillment.

 

SPEAKERS

Viola Palescandolo
Joanna Waterfall
Hailey Swartz
Michelle Mekky

Networking

1:55pm – 2:25pm

Pitch Competition Winner Annoucement

2:25pm

Take a Seat at the Tech Table

2:30pm – 3:25pm

 

TECHNOLOGY TRACK

 

Technology is mainstream in our everyday lives, which creates a promising future in a diverse spectrum of opportunities to build our careers beyond tech-only roles. Hear from an incredible panel of female leaders who have progressed their careers from outside of the tech world to become leaders of multi-functional teams in some of the most influential tech-led organizations around the World, how they navigated traditionally male-dominated industry to create pathways and programs for our next generation of female leaders to thrive in this space.

 

SPEAKERS

Jen Bailin

Kathleen Mitford

Parna Sarkar-Basu

Paula Kennedy Garcia

Silencing Self Doubt: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

2:30pm – 3:25pm

 

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT TRACK

 

Join this session to learn helpful tips on how to gain confidence and overcome negative self-talk. These methods will help you achieve your goals in situations of self-doubt and use beneficial strategies to banish imposter syndrome to become an authentic leader.

 

SPEAKERS

Kelly Lynn Adams

Natasha Hemmingway

Sonia Jhas

The Evolution of Connection: In-person vs Virtual Networking

3:30pm – 4:15pm

 

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRACK

 

In 2020, the idea of virtual networking seemed like a foreign concept and something we only had to do for a short period of time. As we near the end of 2022, it has become clear that, in our truly hybrid world, there is a time and place for both In-Person and Virtual Networking. In this Panel, we will hear from corporate leaders and entrepreneurs about the benefits of each style of networking, how networking has changed and how we can continue to build genuine connections.

 

SPEAKERS

Amanda M. Bruno

Betty Encinales

Heather Odendaal

Peace Mitchell