2020 Women's Leadership Conference
Join Mount Saint Mary’s Center for the Advancement of Women and professional women from across Los Angeles and the nation for our virtual conference featuring inspiring keynotes, powerful workshops and engaging panels with female industry leaders who are at the top of their game.
What's in it for you:
- Discover strategies and tools to enhance your skills and elevate your career.
- Gain access to successful leaders who will share their expertise and leadership insights.
- Connect with like-minded professional women.
- Get inspired!
Program
Gain actionable insights and expertise to continue building the foundation for a lifetime of effective leadership
Program Coming Soon!Registration
Secure your spot at the 2020 Women's Leadership Conference at Mount Saint Mary's University
Registration Opens August 2020Sponsorships
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Sponsorship OpportunitiesVirtual Event
Annual Women’s Leadership Conference
#BeTheChange
Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020
9:30 AM - 2:00 PM
No Fee
Speakers
Melina Abdullah
Melina Abdullah
Melina Abdullah, PhD, is professor and former chair of Pan-African studies at California State University, Los Angeles. She was appointed to the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission in 2014. Abdullah is a womanist scholar-activist – understanding the role that she plays in the academy as intrinsically linked to broader struggles for the liberation of oppressed people. She was among the original group of organizers that convened to form Black Lives Matter and continues to serve as a Los Angeles chapter lead and contributes to the national leadership. She is a leader in the fight for ethnic studies in the K-12 and university systems and was a part of the historic victory that made Ethnic Studies a requirement in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Abdullah is co-host and co-producer of the weekly radio program Beautiful Struggle which airs on KPFK, part of the Pacifica radio network.
Emerald Archer
Emerald Archer
Emerald Archer, PhD, is the director of the Center for the Advancement of Women at Mount Saint Mary’s University. She has dedicated her career to studying questions related to gender equity and women’s representation in non-traditional domains such as the United States military. Through the Center, Archer’s primary goal is to promote and increase gender equity in California and our region, and she leads the Center's efforts related to applied research, education and policy analysis. Archer has also published articles in The European Legacy and Armed Forces & Society, and is the author of a book titled “Women, Warfare and Representation: American Servicewomen in the Twentieth Century.”
Cleo Wade
Cleo Wade
Cleo Wade is a friend, community builder, and the author of the bestselling books, Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life and Where to Begin: A Small Book About Your Power to Create Big Change. She has been called the poet of her generation by Time Magazine and one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company. Cleo sits on the board of The Lower East Side Girls Club, the National Black Theatre in Harlem and theWomen’s Prison Association. When Cleo is not at home in California with her partner, Simon Kinberg, and their daughter, Memphis, she can be found traveling around the country on her sold-out book tours, which have become a safe space to laugh, cry, hug, and offer support to fellow readers.
Kimberly Nao
Kimberly Nao
Kimberly Nao is a transformative educator who holds the Fritz Burns Endowed Chair Assistant Professor of Education at Mount Saint Mary's University where she teaches courses on language diversity, linguistics, and teacher professional development. Her research interest is exploring the intersections of yoga, schooling, and social justice. She works extensively on diversity and equity issues with a particular emphasis on the intersection of race and gender. She facilitates discussions on these issues as a consultant for Peace Pros LA and as a Diversity Fellow the Mount. She has trained teachers, police officers, university faculty and staff, and health care providers across the Los Angeles area on issues related to anti-racism, gender, sexuality, and toxic masculinity with the goal of reforming and breaking down structures that oppress marginalized groups.
Lori Nishiura Mackenzie
Lori Nishiura Mackenzie
Lori Nishiura Mackenzie is co-founder of the new Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab and lead strategist, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, collaborating at the intersection of the two organizations. Lori was featured as one of the BBC’s 100 Women in 2017, and she was interviewed for the award-winning documentary, bias, which premiered in 2018. Her work has been published in the Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, BBC, San Francisco Chronicle, and brand eins. Prior to her current roles, Lori served as the executive director of the Stanford Clayman Institute for Gender Research. Lori brings 20 years of marketing strategy and business management experience at companies including Procter & Gamble, Apple, eBay and PayPal.
Rachel O’Leary Carmona
Rachel O’Leary Carmona
Rachel O'Leary Carmona has helped to inspire, equip and mobilize people to shape the actions and policies that affect their communities for well over a decade. A recognized expert on building transformational online and offline communities and networks, O’Leary Carmona has held leadership positions with Amnesty International, Women for Women International, Girl Scouts of the USA, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Wisconsin Public Television, and with the Mayors offices in Memphis, Tennessee and Somerville, Massachusetts. She currently serves as the chief operating officer for Women's March National