Groundbreaking Women Summit 2025: Rise and Lead Agenda

Registration, Breakfast, and Networking

Opening Remarks: Nicole Valentine and Dan Costa

Nicole Valentine

Director of FinTech, Milken Institute Finance

Dan Costa

Chief Content Officer and Editor-in-Chief, Worth Media Group

Soaring to Success: Leadership Lessons from a Black Hawk Pilot

Former U.S. Army Black Hawk pilot Elizabeth McCormick shares powerful insights on mastering leadership under pressure, resilience through adversity, and strategies for decisive, confident action.

Drawing from her elite aviation career, she reveals how to navigate turbulence, elevate team performance, and break through barriers to achieve extraordinary results in any environment.

Elizabeth McCormick

CEO & Founder, Soar 2 Success International

The Long Game: Leading Through Climate Fatigue

Climate progress is at risk—from political stalemates, economic headwinds, and growing public fatigue. But across sectors and generations, leaders are finding new ways to move forward.

This panel focuses on inclusive leadership and the lived experience of frontline communities, exploring how creative strategy, cross-generational action, and a focus on equity can reignite momentum—and sustain it—in an unpredictable world.

Jacqueline Patterson

Founder & Executive Director, The Chisholm Legacy Project

Pooja Tilvawala

Founder & Executive Director, Youth Climate Collaborative

Wawa Gatheru

Founder & Executive Director, Black Girl Environmentalist

The Invisible Thread Connecting Executive Women

This talk will explore the unseen yet powerful bonds uniting senior women leadership. Alison Moore reveals how Chief’s unique approach cultivates community, enabling women executives to exchange knowledge, share strategic insights, and collaboratively navigate challenges, driving transformative impacts within corporate culture and beyond traditional leadership networks.

Alison Moore

CEO, Chief

Nicole Valentine

Director of FinTech, Milken Institute Finance

Women Worldwide: The Hidden Cost of Aid Cuts

As global funding declines, this session examines how cuts in foreign aid disproportionately impact women—undermining healthcare, education, and economic mobility in vulnerable regions.

Leaders in global development explore strategies to sustain momentum, prioritize gender equity, and reimagine partnerships that protect and empower women at the heart of global progress.

Michele Walsh

Executive Vice President and Chief Philanthropy Officer, UNICEF USA

Adetola Abiade

Talent & HR Consultant, Worth Contributor

Break

Left on the Bench: The Billion-Dollar Blind Spot in Women's Sports

This panel highlights the untapped economic potential of women's sports, exposing a major oversight in investment and brand strategy.

Industry leaders Lorine Pendleton and Julie Uhrman discuss actionable insights into how businesses can strategically position themselves to capitalize on the fast-growing, billion-dollar women's sports market that many have underestimated or overlooked.

Lorine Pendleton

Founder & Managing Partner, 125 Ventures

Julie Uhrman

CEO and Co-Founder, Angel City Football Club (ACFC)

Eva Shae Crouse

Senior Editor, Worth Media

The AI Advantage: Why Smart Companies Are Moving Faster

On the front lines of AI-driven business transformation, Sanja Bogdanović-Dinić of HTEC and Neeha Curtis of Encora reveal how smart companies are moving faster and thinking bigger.

From operational intelligence to ethical automation, they share firsthand insights on deploying AI to drive agility, reinventing workflows, and gaining a lasting competitive edge.

Sanja Bogdanovic-Dinic

Head of Data Solutions, HTEC

Neeha Curtis

Vice President Digital Engineering Strategy, Encora

Dan Costa

Chief Content Officer and Editor-in-Chief, Worth Media Group

Breaking Barriers in Women’s Health: Innovation, Advocacy, and the Future of Care

Join Kayt Leonard of 1nHealth as she moderates a powerful conversation with Dr. Somi Javaid—board-certified OB/GYN, surgeon, and founder of HerMD—on what it takes to radically transform women’s healthcare.

In this 20-minute session, Dr. Javaid shares her journey as a physician-turned-entrepreneur, why women have been historically underserved in medicine, and how she’s building a movement that puts women at the center of their own care.

Expect bold ideas, actionable insights, and a glimpse into the future of female-focused health innovation.

Somi Javaid, MD

Founder, HerMD

Kayt Leonard

Chief Commercial Officer, 1nHealth

Lunch Break

Navigating Divorce: Strategies for Financial Stability and Growth

Aviva Pinto provides an overview of the latest statistics on divorce rates, trends, and demographics. They will discuss the various factors, specifically financial influences, that contribute to the decision to divorce. Whether married or not, it is crucial for women to be in charge of their finances. They will highlight the importance of both financial independence and a support system, including legal, financial, and emotional advisors, to navigate the complexities of divorce.

This session aims to provide valuable insights and practical advice to help individuals understand and manage the divorce process effectively.

Aviva Pinto

Managing Director, Wealthspire Advisors

Nicole Valentine

Director of FinTech, Milken Institute Finance

Power, Equity, and the Business of Women: Redefining Leadership on Our Terms

Amee Mungo moderates a candid conversation with Jennifer Justice—entertainment attorney and founder of The Justice Dept.—and Talia Bender Small, president of The Female Quotient. Together, they explore what it really means to build power, close equity gaps, and drive systemic change for women in business, media, and beyond.

From boardrooms to cultural influence, this 20-minute session unpacks how women can lead with purpose, negotiate with impact, and create spaces where equity isn’t an initiative—it’s the standard.

Amee Mungo

VP Channel Partnerships, data.world

Jennifer Justice

Founder & CEO, The Justice Dept.

Talia Bender Small

President, The Female Quotient

Employee Motivation Isn’t a Mystery, It’s a Method

Jessica Kriegel explores proven strategies to cultivate genuine employee motivation. Rejecting the myth that engagement is intangible, experts unpack methods rooted in psychology, culture design, and data-driven leadership, transforming workplace motivation from guesswork into systematic results for energized, accountable, high-performing teams.

Jessica Kriegel

Chief Strategy Officer, Culture Partners

Mentorship 2.0: Leveraging Media to Foster Meaningful Connections

Media platforms can foster powerful, authentic connections between young women and industry leaders. Featuring insight from Hello Sunshine’s Teen Advisory Board, this session looks at how storytelling, digital tools, and cross-generational connection are evolving mentorship into something more: a launchpad for creative authority, cultural authorship, and lasting change.

Maureen Polo

Head of Direct-to-Consumer, Hello Sunshine

Illana Raia

Founder & CEO, Être

Miriam Spritzer

Journalist & Board Member, Golden Globe Foundation

Interactive Session Break

1. Your 100-Day Plan with Hariette Cole
2. Caire Beauty
3. OLEADA

Harriette Cole

Author

Celeste Lee

Co-Founder, Caire Beauty

The Collective Power: Women Making An Impact

This intimate conversation will delve into and be grounded in the economic realities for women, but also offer inspirational stories of success and the surprising tools required to unlock capital. This conversation among economics superstar Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, philanthropist and "The Big We" author Hali Lee, and EQ of Wealth creator Wendy Wecksell will make sure you leave the discussion with at least one action you can take for yourself and women everywhere.

Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman

Author of The Double Tax; Researcher, Harvard University

Hali Lee

Founding Partner, Radiant Strategies

Wendy Wecksell

Founder, WxL Partners

From Passion to Profit: Crafting Unique Paths in Entrepreneurship

Three groundbreaking founders share candid stories from their entrepreneurial journeys. Offering tactical insights, real-world lessons, and strategies for navigating startup challenges, they highlight how creativity, resilience, and instinct can empower female entrepreneurs to innovate, disrupt markets, and successfully build influential, purpose-driven brands.

Dana Spaulding

Founder & CEO, Wander + Ivy

Emilia Fazzalari

Co-Founder & Executive Chairperson, Cincoro Tequila

Tiffany Zhou

Creative Director and Co-Founder, Oleada

Amee Mungo

VP Channel Partnerships, data.world

Closing Town Hall

Nicole Valentine

Director of FinTech, Milken Institute Finance

Dan Costa

Chief Content Officer and Editor-in-Chief, Worth Media Group

Closing Reception

Featuring a special tasting experience from Cincoro Tequila and Wander + Ivy.