WXWForum26 is Wednesday, October 28th from 8:30am - 5pm at WCC's Morris J. Lawrence Building
Before October 14th: $99
October 15th - 27th: $129
At the Door: $149
WXWForum26 Schedule
8:30 am | Registration, Networking & Coffee
9:00 am | Welcome
9:20 am | Break
9:30 am | Workshop #1
10:40 am | Break
10:50 am | Workshop #2
12:00 pm | Lunch, Raffle Prizes, Activity
1:00 pm | Break
1:10 pm | Workshop #3
2:20 pm | Break
2:30 pm | Panel + Q&A
3:30 pm | Break
3:40 pm | Creative Networking Activity
4:20 pm | Closing Remarks & Raffle Prizes
4:30 pm | Happy Hour: Sip, Share & Connect!
WXWForum26 Panel Discussion
Nancy Shore
Director of Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement, Ann Arbor Public Schools
Nancy Shore has lived in Ann Arbor for more than 20 years. She is currently the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement for the Ann Arbor Public Schools. In this role she develops and maintains district-level partnerships, oversees district scholarships, connects community volunteers to schools and builds staff capacity to connect families to community resources.
Nancy Shore brings her core values of community, connection and curiosity to her personal and work life everyday.
You’ll see Nancy out and about in the community almost every day. You may find her helping out at a Science Olympiad event for her kids, attending a Rotary Meeting, grabbing coffee with a community partner, working in her garden, taking a walk with her husband, dancing with her friends, or just reading on her porch.
Alexandra Lopez
Immigration Attorney, Cunningham Lopez LLP
Alexandra Lopez is an immigration attorney, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Cunningham Lopez LLP, with offices in Ann Arbor and Chicago. She has built her career around advocacy, community, and helping people navigate some of the most consequential moments of their lives. As a business owner, advocate, and mother of two, Alexandra believes meaningful connection is essential to building a career, community, and life in which people can truly thrive.
Connect on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
View Cunningham Lopez LLP Website(opens in new tab)
Praveena Ramaswami
Mobility Innovator, Co-Founder of Cargility
Praveena Ramaswami is a mobility innovator, entrepreneur, and social impact leader whose career spans mobility, public relations, marketing communications, and cross-sector partnerships, from Fortune 500 companies to startups. She has led initiatives focused on strengthening communities and expanding social and physical mobility and was recently recognized with a special proclamation from the state of Michigan's elected leaders, including the Governor, for her contributions.
A longtime member of the WXW community, Praveena has been involved since its early days as a sponsor, speaker, and attendee, supporting its mission of connecting and advancing women.
Today, Praveena is the Co-Founder of Cargility, a newly launched mobility startup bringing its patented vehicle handrail to market. Cargility addresses an often-overlooked accessibility challenge: providing greater stability and independence when getting into and out of a vehicle. Her work continues to center on inclusive mobility, accessibility, and helping people stay connected to the places and people that matter most.
Connect on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
View Cargility Website(opens in new tab)
Melissa-Kay Grey
Marketing and Business Development Leader
Melissa-Kay Grey is a marketing and business development leader whose career spans the arts, education, hospitality, and commercial real estate. Most recently, she served as Director of Marketing & Business Development for Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor, developing partnerships and programming that connected businesses, community organizations, civic partners, and the University of Michigan.
Throughout her career, Melissa-Kay has brought people, ideas, and organizations together to create compelling opportunities that strengthen community. Her experience includes founding community-focused arts and education initiatives, building cross-sector partnerships, and creating public experiences that add vitality to the places people call home. Across industries, her work reflects a belief that strong communities grow from relationships, imagination, and a willingness to create something together.
Amanda Sweet (Moderator)
Founder, The ReVamp Ecosystem
Amanda Sweet, known as The Creative Fairy Godmother, is a Detroit-based speaker, community builder, and Founder of The ReVamp Ecosystem, a community-powered platform using fashion, storytelling, and creative experiences to advance sustainability and the circular economy. Through The ReVamp Clothing Swap Festival and The Swap Magazine, Amanda and her volunteer community have helped divert more than 79,000 pounds of clothing from landfills while creating opportunities for Detroit creatives, entrepreneurs, and emerging leaders. In 2026, The ReVamp was selected for the NextCycle Michigan Accelerator, the Black Tech Saturdays x Michigan Central Leadership Cohort, and the City of Detroit’s Waste Warriors initiative. Her mission is simple: get fly, make friends, and save the world through community.
Connect on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
View Amanda Sweet's Website(opens in new tab)
Workshop #1 Topics & Presenters
Creating a Vision of Greatness
Joanie Hales, ZingTrain
How to use this powerful tool to fuel your organizational and personal success
Doesn’t it just make sense that if you know where you want to end up, it will be easier to figure out how to get there? We think so too, which is why we are such believers in the power of visioning and why we teach it throughout our organization.
Our approach applies at any scale, from articulating the future of your organization in 20 years to developing a successful in-store promotion. We believe visioning is a big part of why the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses exists, and why we are successful.
Come get inspired. And then get going.
You’re Not Behind: Releasing Comparison and Redefining Success
Mykayla Giles, Giles Consulting
Many women carry a quiet but persistent pressure to “catch up”—to measure their careers, leadership impact, finances, or life choices against others. This comparison often shows up as self-doubt, hesitation, or the belief that they are behind where they should be.
This interactive workshop creates space for women to pause, reflect, and reframe how they define success. Participants will explore how comparison influences decision-making, confidence, and leadership presence, and will actively work toward defining success on their own terms—rooted in values, seasons, and individual goals rather than external benchmarks. Through facilitated discussion, small-group exchanges, and individual reflection exercises, participants will learn from one another’s experiences and leave with practical tools to release unproductive comparison and move forward with renewed clarity and confidence.
Connect with Mykayla on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
View Giles Consulting Website(opens in new tab)
From Over-Functioning to Empowering: Coaching Skills for Leaders
Stacy Averill, Averill Coaching & Consulting
This interactive workshop offers practical coaching skills you can use to build ownership, strengthen problem-solving, and create more capacity within your team.
High-performing women often become leaders because they are capable, reliable, and driven to solve problems. Over time, those same strengths can quietly create a pattern of over-functioning — stepping in too quickly, carrying responsibility that belongs to others, and becoming the bottleneck for growth.
We will explore a practical leadership shift — moving from solving problems for people to developing their ability to solve problems themselves. Rather than focusing on theory, this session functions as a working leadership lab where you will practice using powerful questions, intentional listening, and coaching-style conversations with real leadership challenges.
You will leave with practical tools you can immediately apply at work, at home, and anywhere you work alongside others.
Connect with Stacy on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
View Stacy's Website(opens in new tab)
From Application to Offer (and Rejection): Navigating the Job Search Like a Pro
Sarah Okin, Waverley Consulting Group
The job search can feel opaque, frustrating, and at times discouraging. This session offers a clear, practical roadmap for navigating the full hiring lifecycle, from submitting an application through interviews, offers, and even rejection.
Drawing on real-world experience reviewing hundreds of candidates annually and partnering closely with hiring managers, this workshop demystifies what actually happens behind the scenes. Participants will gain actionable insight into how decisions are made, where candidates commonly fall short, and how to approach each stage of the process with intention and confidence.
This is not theoretical advice. It is a candid, experience-driven perspective on what works, what doesn’t, and how to position yourself effectively in today’s competitive market.
Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
View Waverley Consulting Group Website(opens in new tab)
Workshop #2 Topics & Presenters
Thriving Through the Decades: Maximizing Your Wealth, Health, and Impact at Every Stage of Life
Jill Carr & Jessie Grybel, Beacon Pointe Advisors
What does it truly mean to thrive — not just survive — through each decade of life?
Women face unique financial realities. We live longer. We often earn less over our lifetime. We are frequently the caregivers. And we must plan for greater healthcare costs and longer retirements.
Join Wealth Advisors Jessie Grybel, CDFA®, and Jill Carr, CPA, CFP®, CEPA®, CPFA®, of Beacon Pointe Advisors for an engaging, practical session designed specifically for women navigating their 30s through their 70s and beyond.
In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore:
- Key financial priorities by decade
- Strategies to strengthen retirement security
- Healthcare planning considerations
- Social Security timing insights
- Estate planning essentials
- How to support family without sacrificing your own security
Participants will complete a personalized self-evaluation worksheet and walk away with clear next steps tailored to their life stage. This is not about doing more. It’s about being deliberate.
Come ready to reflect, learn, and leave empowered.
Connect with Jill on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
Connect with Jessie on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
View Beacon Pointe Advisors Website(opens in new tab)
Shifting Gears in Making Career Transitions
Diana Wong
Create your future career possibilities by identifying different ways to shift gears from your current state. This session is for people who want to manage their career by growing to the next level of opportunities or seeking a transformational pivot into uncharted territories. We will start with the big picture of your career in life and develop a focus on what is most important based on your values. There are no right or wrong ways for managing your career futures, only possibilities to explore and grow into the next career chapter. This session will have fun experiential exercises to generate practical ideas that will support your unique career journey ahead.
Connect with Diana on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)(opens in new tab)
Hormones & the Workplace: Navigating Performance, Boundaries, and Well-Being in Midlife
Alexis Adams, Integrative Health Coach
Hormonal transitions such as perimenopause and menopause are a natural part of life, yet they often show up in our work in ways that are misunderstood, unsupported, or pushed aside. From brain fog and disrupted sleep to shifts in mood, focus, and energy, these changes can directly impact productivity, decision-making, and how we show up professionally.
At the root of these shifts are real, measurable changes in key hormones (particularly estrogen and progesterone) which play a critical role in brain function, stress resilience, metabolism, and emotional regulation. As these hormones fluctuate and decline, many women experience changes in cognition (including memory and focus), increased sensitivity to stress, disrupted sleep patterns, and shifts in energy that can feel unpredictable and frustrating; especially in high-performing or leadership roles.
For women in traditional workplaces and entrepreneurs alike, the challenge is often compounded. Without clear structures or support systems, many women find themselves overworking, pushing through exhaustion, and trying to maintain the same pace they once could, often without understanding why.
This workshop bridges the gap between biology and real-life performance. Participants will gain a clear, evidence-based understanding of what is happening in the body during this transition and how these changes directly influence cognitive function, stress response, and productivity.
Beyond the science, this session creates space for meaningful conversation around self-advocacy and communication. Attendees will learn how to set supportive boundaries, ask for help, and communicate effectively with colleagues, clients, or leadership; all through a lens of nervous system awareness and sustainable success.
Whether you’re leading a team, building a business, or managing both, this workshop offers a grounded, whole-person approach to maintaining performance without sacrificing well- being.
Because this season isn’t about doing more; it’s about learning how to work differently, with your body instead of against it.
Connect with Alexis on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
View Alexis's Website(opens in new tab)
Building your Business through Community
Jenna Reed Walker, Reed Walker Design Collective
Building a business is one thing. Building a business inside a community that actually holds it is another thing entirely.
In this workshop, Jenna Walker, founder of Reed Walker Design Collective, shares how she has grown her firm not just through strategy and hard work, but through intentional, reciprocal relationships that sustain both the business and the person running it. Drawing on her experience launching RWDC in 2024 after nearly 25 years in the field, Jenna walks participants through a practical framework for mapping their existing circle of support, across business and life, identifying the gaps that are quietly costing them, and making intentional decisions about what to do themselves, who to bring in, and how to build relationships that actually go both ways.
Think of it as building your own board of directors: not a networking exercise, but a strategic map of who holds your marketing, your operations, your finances, your legal, your creativity, your growth and who's got your back as a human being doing all of this. Because where the support is missing is almost always where the struggle lives.
This workshop combines strategic clarity with real talk about what sustainable business-building actually requires. It's for current and aspiring entrepreneurs who are ready to stop building alone.
Connect with Jenna on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
View Reed Walker Design Collective Website(opens in new tab)
Workshop #3 Topics & Presenters
Cultivating Harmony through Hardship: Managing Stress and Setbacks through Compassion Resilience
Christina Herbin, Harmony Counseling Center
Every woman in business knows hardship. When the moments of managing personal and professional challenges collide, life can feel overwhelming. What if stress and setbacks could become the very soil from which greater harmony grows? In this interactive workshop, we use the Compassion Resilience Toolkit as a guide to help you identify your stress patterns, reconnect with your inner strengths, and cultivate self-care practices that hold up in the real world of running a business and living a harmonious life. Through individual reflection, meaningful partner exchanges, and powerful whole-group conversations, you'll walk away with practical tools, a personalized action plan, and a renewed sense of what's possible for your business and for yourself.
Connect with Christina on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
View Harmony Counseling Center Website
Operationalizing Culture: Aligning Systems, Decisions, and Daily Operations with Organizational Values
Elena Stegemann, Motawi Tileworks
Most organizations can articulate their values. Far fewer can translate those values into consistent behaviors, decision-making norms, and operational practices that employees experience every day.
In this interactive workshop, executive operator and transformation leader Elena Stegemann will explore how leaders can operationalize culture, moving beyond aspirational statements to create systems, accountability structures, and management practices that reinforce desired behaviors at scale.
Participants will learn practical approaches for aligning emotional culture (“how it feels to work here”) with operational reality (“how work actually gets done”), especially during periods of growth, change, or uncertainty.
The Brand Clarity Workshop: Who You Are, Who You Serve, and Why It Matters
Veronica McGibney, LeadHer Magazine
Most businesses don’t struggle because they lack effort… they struggle because they lack clarity.
In this hands-on workshop, you’ll go beyond surface-level branding to define who you truly are as a brand, who you’re meant to serve, and what actually makes your business stand out. We’ll break down the difference between the problem your audience thinks they have and the deeper reason they’re stuck, so your messaging can finally connect.
Whether you’re just starting or have been in business for years, this session will help you simplify your direction and realign your brand from the inside out.
You’ll walk away with:
- A clearly defined ideal client (not “everyone”)
- A deeper understanding of the real problem you solve
- Foundational messaging you can use across your brand
- Clarity and confidence in how you present your business(opens in new tab)
Connect with Veronica on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
View Lead Her Magazine Website(opens in new tab)
Setting Up Claude as Your Thinking Partner
Emefa Boamah, Embodiment Coach
You've seen the AI landscape — now it's time to move in with one tool and make it work for you. This hands-on workshop dives deep into Claude, showing you how to set it up as a true thinking partner that knows your business, your voice, and how you work.
What we'll cover:
- What makes Claude different in practice
- A real case study: How to teach Claude who you are so it supports your actual work instead of giving you generic answers
- Guided build: Create your own context document and set up a Claude Project configured for your business
- Leave with a working setup you can use the same day, plus a clear sense of the first tasks to hand off so you can focus on the work only you can do
No prior Claude experience is needed - a free Claude account is all you need to participate.
Connect with Emefa on LinkedIn(opens in new tab)
View Emefa's Website(opens in new tab)
Interested in sponsoring WXWForum26?
Broadcast your business to the thousands of women who have joined us for the past 15 years, developing their personal and professional skills, networking, and building strong bonds in your business community.