Women in Marketing: Success in Innovation

These highly accomplished women, currently working in marketing in the Consumer Packaged Goods and Retail industries, will share with us their approach to innovation in their day-to-day jobs, in their work/life balance, and in defining their career paths.

Nonprofit Leadership: Women Changing the World

The non-profit sector encompasses an enormous range of organizations engaged in education, health care, research, economic development, the arts, religion, the environment, civil rights, and human services. Research has shown that nonprofit jobs provide more challenge, variety, satisfaction and intrinsic rewards than those in private enterprise or government and that women are increasingly holding top management positions. This panel will illustrate how women non-profit leaders have used their business acumen and commitment to social justice to re-shape the way financial institutions “do business” in low income communities, pave the way for future high growth entrepreneurs, reshape public school systems to prepare the next generation of America’s workforce, and change the way America thinks about the non-profit sector.

Women in Real Estate Today

Women in Technology Today

The Women in Technology panel will feature experienced leaders within a variety of roles and segments of the dynamic technology industry. Panelists will discuss topics such as successful strategies and burgeoning obstacles to balancing work and life; the changing perception of women's contribution to this fast-paced industry; and how innovative thinking and action has contributed to their success.

Women in Finance and Consulting: Leadership in Innovation

These highly accomplished women, currently working in either finance or consulting, will share with us their approach to innovation in their day-to-day jobs, in their work/life balance, and in defining their career paths.

Careers in Health Care: Making a Healthy Impact

Creating Change in an Organization

To remain at the forefront of the corporate world, companies must regularly induce and properly manage change. Change may stem from new technology, a corporate merger, financial difficulties or other emerging problems. A successful change evolution is rooted in creativity, adaptability, and effective implementation. Our panelists will discuss the changes they have created, managed or lived.

Finding Your Passion: Innovative Ways to the Right Career

For all the talk of ascending the corporate ladder, many people find that their career follows a non-linear path, especially as they seek to integrate their passions and personal values into their daily jobs. Hear about some creative ways that women have successfully brought together their passions (whether it is endurance sports, social justice, or education) and their careers. The panel will feature women whose careers have spanned the for-profit world and non-profit world, large multinational companies and boutique firms. Whether you are looking to make a career change or looking for your first job, this panel will offer inspiration, insights, and practical advice to guide you towards finding the “right” career.

Innovations in New Product Development: Creative Approaches to the Day-to-Day Process

This panel includes product development and marketing specialists from the consumer goods, technology, and strategic consulting industries. These women will explore innovative processes for the development and launch of new products, ultimately leading to increased customer satisfaction.

Breaking Through Middle Management

Ever wondered how to energize your career and break through the middle management ranks? In this panel we will hear from several women who have successfully navigated this process and learn what strategies they utilized to make it happen.

What Women Entrepreneurs Have Learned: Stories From The Trenches

This interactive session brings on a power-packed room of dynamic women entrepreneurs in the high-tech, wine, food & beverage, and cosmetics industries. These women will be sharing inspiring stories from the trenches on how and why they became entrepreneurs, and how gender may or may not have played a role in innovation, as well as their business success.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Changing the Role of Women in Corporate America

Managers across industries are faced with the challenge of recruiting and retaining female employees. Publications from the New York Times to Harvard Business Review have engaged in a debate on the opt-out revolution: women leaving their corporate careers to work in non-profits, raise families, or start their own business. But as corporations compete for market share on the basis of responsible business and corporate citizenship, they are carving a new niche for women who may be choosing to disengage with corporate America. Companies are creating and developing corporate social responsibility departments, and women are taking the lead in shaping the strategies of how companies can do “good business” and achieve a triple bottom line. This panel features women leaders of CSR departments at top Bay Area companies who will share their career paths and the challenges they face in shaping these new high-impact roles.

Roadblocks, Detours, and the Road Less Traveled – a Woman’s Guide to Non-Traditional Career Paths

What even is a non-traditional career? Does it involve just overcoming the hurdles and making tradeoffs, or can it include incorporating your passions with your work? This panel answers such questions and more by focusing on the considerations, processes and decisions that women must keep in mind in pursuing non-traditional careers. Discussion will include not only tradeoffs and roadblocks, but also how to decide which parameters are most important in deciding which opportunities to pursue. We will hear from a diverse group of women: from those who have worked to develop new products to those who have actually changed the way their companies do business. Additionally, panelists may share how they broke through middle management and found and pursued their individual passions, whether by becoming entrepreneurs or by pursuing a non-traditional career path.

Interviewing Authentically

If you have ever dreaded interviewing, or wished that you could be more natural and relaxed with an interviewer, this workshop will provide you with a framework, tools, and activities that will help you to interview more authentically. You’ll discover how to increase your chances of landing a job that truly fits you.

This workshop will incorporate Susan’s innovative philosophy of “beginning with the end in mind” as a way to plan for and conduct an interview that promotes authenticity. In addition to reminding you that job interviews are a two-way street which involve both the interviewer and interviewee, Susan will show you how to demonstrate your real value to a company organization in a persuasive, fact-based way that lets you be your natural, authentic self.

Using structured planning tools, visualization techniques, and an interactive mock interview session, participants will learn how to:

• Match their strengths with the specific characteristics of their ideal job
• Decode job descriptions in order to better understand what a company is looking for in potential candidates
• Prepare for interview success by employing authentic communication skills

To enhance your experience of this workshop, Susan encourages participants to bring along one or more job descriptions for positions they are seeking.

Financial Planning for the Future

Not sure where to invest your retirement savings? How much is enough for retirement? What is more important, saving for retirement or your children's education? Can you really afford NOT to buy a house? How much is enough insurance? How can you invest with a heart and a conscious? These and other questions will be answered during this fun filled yet informative and interactive hour.

Negotiating For Change

Innovation is as much about implementation as about new ideas. While the latter calls for creativity, the former calls for the ability to successfully influence both processes and people. This dynamic hands-on workshop will provide tools and tips to help you engage in effective dialog to influence change in the workplace.

Gender and Communications

This workshop will help participants gain an understanding of the similarities and differences in communication between men and women as well as how these differences influence relationships, job performance and careers. It also addresses how to manage these differences, avoid unnecessary conflict, read nonverbal cues and work effectively in groups.

Career Mapping: Tools for Success

As you navigate your way from entry level to CEO, you are constantly adding to our skill set. This workshop will show you how to integrate two important skills into your career map, whatever your career stage. First is focusing on your strengths—research shows that leaders are more effective when they focus on their strengths versus continually trying to shore up their weaknesses. Secondly, network, network, network—one reason cited in studies of women’s under representation in corporate America is a lack of informal networking.

A Business Plan for Life: Making Change Happen

This workshop will lead the group through a step-by–step plan to facilitate your journey to define your success. Every woman needs to develop life goals and to write a business plan for life so that she can control her own destiny. This workshop will stimulate and help you to get started on defining your personal/work goals and identify the keys to making change happen.