Women's Leadership Conference

Inspired Women Lead

Schedule & Sessions

This is the schedule from our conference on May 10, 2019. It provides an idea of how the day unfolds. Check back in Spring 2020 for the next WLC Conference: Embracing Change

CREATING IMPACT

A powerful day filled with passionate keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and panel workshops which offer a variety of topics designed to meet all levels of leadership—from those you are currently undertaking, as well as challenges you may face in the near future.

REGISTRATION 7:45am – 8:15am

OPENING REMARKS 8:15am – 8:30am

MORNING KEYNOTE 8:30am – 9:30am

When All Else Fails…Puppies
(How to harness the superpowers of joy and creativity to change the world)

Golriz Lucina will share her personal story of how she took a leap into the unknown and discovered her own blueprint while birthing SoulPancake, an award-winning media company co-founded by actor Rainn Wilson. Her presentation will cover the importance of connection, joy and authenticity – the core ingredients of the content she creates, and why she believes this recipe makes such an impact.

SPEAKER: Golriz Lucina

Golriz Lucina is the Head of Creative at SoulPancake, an inspiring entertainment company founded by actor Rainn Wilson, that creates daily socially conscious videos about human connection. Lucina is also co-author of the New York Times bestselling book SoulPancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions; and co-host and executive producer of the SoulPancake interstitials on the Oprah Winfrey Network’s Super Soul Sundayseries.

With an academic background in media and publishing, and a passion for storytelling, Golriz leads the ideation and development of SoulPancake’s content and is the creative force behind the brand’s distinct aesthetic and a wide body of work which has amassed a community of 10M fans and over 1B views worldwide.

BREAK 9:30am – 9:45am

SESSION A 9:45am – 11:15am

Thecia Jenkins — BOLD Impact: Discovering Your Inner Leader — “No significant learning occurs without a relationship.” ~ Ruby Payne Building relationships are the key to making an impact and being impacted. Today’s successful leaders are those who are able to perceive and express themselves, develop and maintain relationships, cope with challenges and use emotional feedback to create impact. This session introduces the topic of emotional intelligence and provide four strategies to encourage, equip and empower today’s leaders to meet people where they are so that learning occurs that transforms organizations. At the end of this session you will be able to develop a plan to recognize your BOLD factor, deal with adversity, establish connection with your team and clients; and manage diversity so that you can make a BOLD impact! Thecia will share the BOLD System for Discover Your Inner Leader.
Diane Allen — Own Your A-Game: Fulfill on Your Potential — Are your high level skills and special talents untapped? Are your fears and inhibitions in the way of achieving the dream? Can you get into your A-Game anytime, anywhere, no matter how high the pressure? How you perform your best already exists within you. Learn how to get “into” your A-Game “outside” of your comfort zone and open up doors of opportunity.
• Harness what makes you “tick” to close personal performance gaps.
• Gain mastery over your stress response and exceed your previous limitations.
• Learn how to exude your unique leadership presence and be an influential leader.
Nicole Bowe-Rahming — The Power of You: Outperform No Matter the Circumstances — Who you become is a matter of choice fueled by emotions, thoughts, and actions working together. This session is designed to move you beyond circumstances and provide skills and strategies to employ your personal grit. Nicole empowers attendees to embrace their individual strength, shows them how to rewrite the narrative of every situation and how to engage real-time resilience tools. Attendees leave mentally and emotionally stronger and armed with the tools to outperform in all situations and conquer self-imposed limits.
Mary Hambleton — Colorful Connections - Adaptive Skills for Interpersonal Synergy — Are you good with people? Your success and happiness depend on it! Do some people irritate you without saying a word, but when you get to know them you actually really like them? Welcome to the world of Personalities! Personality style differences are the single biggest cause of interpersonal stress. Learning to navigate these differences is the key to your success with relationships at all levels: spouse, kids, community and career. In this program, Mary will:
• Introduce you to the fundamental building blocks of personality styles.
• Show you the four basic personality styles and how to recognize them. • Teach you how to connect from any style to any style with ease.
• Give you ideas on how to better communicate, work through stress, function in teams and have fun with those around you.
This program is packed with fun and interactive activities that will help improve your relationship with everyone

BREAK 11:15 AM – 11:30 AM

SESSION B 11:30pm – 12:00pm

Julie Gillis — "Yes, And," Your Life — Find yourself facing roadblocks when things should be easier? Concerned about negativity encroaching in your life? Want more positive results overall no matter the topic? Join Julie Gillis for a powerful thirty minute presentation on the the power of "Yes, And" the first commandment of Improv. This session will define the power of "Yes, And" for collaboration, connection, and making the people, groups (and YOU) feel supported, heard, and acknowledged. This presentation will help you create additive and generative points of view, all while connecting with others.
Jayne Donnelly — Recognizing Hidden Leadership - Gender Style Effects — As we celebrate women’s hard-earned rise into positions of greater social, political, and economic power, we must also be aware of how women may find themselves reaching for, and utilizing, the more traditionally "masculine" style of leadership. We all know that stylistically men and women lead differently, and characteristically we all have access to both styles. A healthy combination of both creates a solid balance of leadership that engenders confidence and inspires others to be their best. Assess your own balance as we explore the edges of masculine and feminine leadership qualities. Discover a new and unique perspective of leadership that provides a way to enhance your own leadership as well as how to see and inspire leadership in others.
Jessica Gomez — You Think You’ve Found Your Fit, Think Again: Lessons in Being Limitless — Hard work, talent and luck played a big part on your road to success. You are thriving, respected and comfortable in what you’ve accomplished. But is that enough? When Jessica Gomez was asked to run for State Senate representing Southern Oregon, she was already an accomplished business owner, wife and mother. Why rock the boat? In this session, Jessica will provide specifics on how she overcame obstacles from childhood through candidacy, how pushing through your “comfort zone” will reveal who you are at your core and she will share the wisdom gained over countless setbacks. With vivid wit and candor, you’ll hear her hard-earned advice for cultivating perseverance so you can live without limits. You will leave with specific strategies on: 1. Overcoming Obstacles 2. Gaining Courage and Self-Confidence to Move Beyond Your Comfort Zone 3. Using a Setback for a Comeback 4. Cultivating True Perseverance to be Limitless.
Jennifer Nicholls — Learning From and Embracing Our Mistakes — Mistakes -- we all make them. Fear of making a mistake holds us back, keeping us in our comfort zone. Dwelling on past mistakes keeps us focused in the past, not looking forward. What if we re-frame mistakes? Instead of a "failure" what if a mistake is an "opportunity." This workshop will offer some practical tools to: (1) acknowledge and accept our mistakes; (2) identify our own opportunities for growth in mistakes; and (3) work with and support colleagues/employees as they confront and grow from their mistakes.

LUNCH 12:00pm – 1:15pm

SESSION C 1:15pm – 2:45pm

Renee Riley-Adams and Jessica Wakefield — Leading with Confidence and Ease, It all Begins with YOU! — How are you a leader in your own life? Are you running ragged, at the mercy of time and others’ agendas? This session meets you where you are, seeing what you want to improve, as well as celebrating what is already working well. Embrace your values and ability to communicate as the keys to your motivation and action. Rediscover what it means to be capable, confident, and compassionate, both at work and at home. Walk out with passion and Your Next Best Step by seeing and reclaiming your strengths, and revitalizing your support networks at work and at home.

Crystal Arnold — The Offers and Needs Market — The Offers and Needs Market will be a lively community-building event where participants identify and exchange their passions, knowledge, skills, resources, and needs. This isn’t a gifting circle; imagine speed dating meets Craigslist, and you get to decide how much you share and what, if any, price is associated with it. In small groups, people define and share their offers and needs in a rapid-fire process. Unsure about what you have to offer? We'll lead you through the entire process and you can always just listen to what others have to share. There is no obligation to complete an exchange during the event. Through this structured process you can learn to ask for what you need with more ease, and spark some valuable relationships.

Erica Ledesma — Cultural Strategy: A Tool for Social Change — How do we create a more just and equitable country? Cultural Strategy integrates arts and culture into a comprehensive plan to shift public sentiment around social problems or issues. Political or social change cannot happen if there is no shift in culture. Why culture? Culture reachers a wider audience through different ways and it's important because it's where people make sense of the world. Culture affects how we think, interact, react, speak, and even vote. The key to cultural strategy is bringing together key players like organizations, activist, funders, government agencies, and artist to implement long term planning. This interactive workshop will demonstrate how we've used culture and art to shift public opinion and create change in the course of our history.

Lindsay McPhail — The Value of Disrupting Leadership Culture — It's easy to fall in line and follow suit when it comes to leading, managing or owning a business. We see others who have gone before us and assume their path is the safe and proven passage. But what if our truest path to groundbreaking success lies in who we already are? What if our perceived weaknesses are actually what will set us apart and propel our industry forward? What if the experts in our field are not actually the gatekeepers? Join us as we explore the advantage of purposefully disrupting traditional leadership culture and celebrating the opportunity to own who we are.

BREAK 2:45pm – 3:00pm

SESSION D 3:00pm – 3:30pm

Carrie Paul — Strategically Planning YOU — Like the good companies that some of us have worked for, each has had a strategic plan. The strategic plan is what the goal of the organization is now. Businesses and individuals can’t predict the future, but we can plan for what we want tomorrow. Let’s put on our business hats and strategically plan our next move.
Dr. Joan McBee — A Look at Generation Z — Generations are people moving through time. Each group (or generation) of people have similar experiences and possess a distinct sense of self. This presentation narrows in on Generation Z - those born between 1995 and 2010. The focus of this research is on Generation Z's work habits, attitude toward life and its opportunities, and academic honesty. By trying to understand the newest generational cohort, we may be able to maximize their strengths and manage their differences so that we can have more productive and collaborative experiences in the classroom and the workplace. Examining a generation's similarities will not replace the need to understand someone on an individual level, but it is a starting point for communication.
Jori Mundy — Breaking Barriers - Success In The Face Of Adversity — As women continue to break glass ceilings on their journey to the executive suite, the world is greatly impacted. Before women can break barriers they’re faced with, they must first identify and acknowledge effective methods to address them. This session will address some of the expected challenges and will supply practical methods for implementation on the road to the executive suite.
Upon completion of the session, participants will have learned:
• What may be holding them back from leadership opportunities
• How authenticity can break barriers
• How to put their best foot forward for optimal success
Kassia Borycki — Thinking Inside the Box — Thinking [Inside] the Box is a short course that focuses on using project parameters to guide creative thinking, planning, and design. Using design thinking, strategy, and ideation exercises, this session will explore how visual and design practices can improve problem solving and idea exploration, as well as how utilizing visual language helps clear communication.

BREAK 3:30pm – 3:45pm

AFTERNOON KEYNOTE 3:45pm – 4:15pm

Joy, Embodied

Did you know that joy lives deep in your bones, accessible under all circumstances? In this session, we will explore the body as a source of calm, meaningful interconnection, and unbridled joy. We will dose up on dancing and maybe even jump for joy.

SPEAKER: Dr. Deborah Cohan

Deborah is a loving mother, joyous dancer, compassionate physician, and subtly mischievous rabble-rouser spreading the messages of joy, interconnectedness, and love. As a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UCSF and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG), Deborah runs HIVE, a hub of sexual and reproductive wellness for pregnant women and others living with HIV. Deborah was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 44. A dancer all her life, she danced the day of her diagnosis and nearly every day throughout her treatment, including in the operating room immediately prior to her bilateral mastectomy. A video of the intraop flash mob taped by the anesthesiologist and posted by a friend unbeknownst to her on YouTube during her surgery went viral and instigated a pop-up social movement of joy and healing through dance. Upon completing chemotherapy, Deborah founded Foundation for Embodied Medicineand offers her teachings at Commonweal, ZSFG, and other venues locally and nationally. When not dancing or mothering or delivering babies, Deborah likes to meditate and explore primary sensory experiences.

Sponsors are invited to join us at this time.

CLOSING REMARKS 4:15pm – 4:30pm

RECEPTION 4:30pm – 5:30pm

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