The CYP Club is proud to present the Women of Inspiration Summit Experience (WISE) - now as a QUARTERLY series of events - in January, April, July, and October!
WISE brings together nearly 100 attendees for an uplifting and inspirational three-hour event to connect and grow while hearing from outstanding speakers and thought leaders. Features include light breakfast & coffee, spectacular speakers, compelling workshops, inspirational interviews, meditation sessions, and a whole lot more. Our full agenda and speaker bios are updated below as they are added.
On Thursday, January 25, 2024, our focus will be on SPIRTUALITY! All WISE events are hosted from 8:30-11:30am at Wild Goose Creative in Franklinton. SAVE THE DATES! Other WISE dates this year include: April 18, July 25, and October 24.
Cost: A summit pass is $15 per person, or $10 for premium members. Light breakfast from Freedom a la Cart & coffee from Conservation Coffee are included, along with a WISE journal & goodie bag, full access to speakers & sessions, snacks, giveaways, and plenty of networking connections for all!
Thanks to our amazing sponsors Barnes & Thornburg LLP, Discover Financial, Wild Goose Creative, Wright-Patt Credit Union, IGS Energy, The Women’s Place at OSU, Conservation Coffee, and The Confident Woman, we are able to offer tickets to WISE for just $15 per person!
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2024 from 8:30-11:30am @ Wild Goose Creative
8:30am: Arrival, check-in, and networking with coffee & light breakfast, sponsored by Wright-Patt Credit Union
8:55am: Opening Remarks
9-9:20am: Inspiration Chat featuring Columbus City Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Padilla
9:20-9:40am: Q&A Session with our speaker, moderated by Sarah Barr, Executive Director of Wild Goose Creative
9:40-10am: Open Networking & Coffee Break, powered by Conservation Coffee
Select one 45-minute session:
10-10:15am (Main Room): Stories of Spirituality featuring Heidi Howes, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Motherful
10:20-10:35am (Main Room): Stories of Spirituality featuring Fran Frazier, Founder of Black Girl Rising
10:35-10:50am (Main Room): Q&A Session with Heidi and Fran, our Stories of Spirituality speakers
10-10:45am (Lounge): Career Workshop Session led by Malka Bendor, Workshop Facilitator/Career Consultant at Jewish Family Services
Select one 20-minute session:
11-11:20am (Main Room): ”Hot Seat” Interview with Julie Wilkes (entrepreneur, yoga/fitness studio concept owner, retail boutique owner, published author, motivational speaker, and certified life coach)
11-11:20am (Lounge): Meditation Session led by Helen Yee, Co-Founder of The American Institute of Alternative Medicine
WISE Wrap-up (in the Main Room):
11:20am: Giveaways & Announcement of next summit theme for April 18, 2024
11:30am: Dismissal
*Speakers and sessions are subject to change. If you have any questions about this event, please contact us.
Summit Speaker Bios & Session Descriptions
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Columbus City Councilmember
Lourdes Barroso de Padilla has an extensive background in youth development and leadership. She has served with City Year, an education focused organization dedicated to helping students and schools succeed for more than 20 years. Barroso de Padilla has helped to found five of City Year’s twenty nine sites across the country, and has worked at all levels of the organization. She is a certified Youth Development Trainer and was awarded the Hewlett Packard Alumni Leadership Award in for her impact and service to the organization.
Barroso de Padilla is a graduate of Project Diversity, Leadership Columbus, and the Academy for Leadership and Governance Executive Fellowship program. She has served as a Commissioner with the Ohio Latino Affairs Commission, as a founding member of the Create Columbus Commission and as a board member for Directions for Youth and Families, the YWCA Columbus, and as a member of the United Way’s Education Impact Council and Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Currently, she serves as Vice Chair of MORPC’s Regional Policy Roundtable, is a member of the New Leader’s Council Advisory Board, and is a Greater Columbus Arts Council board member.
As Senior Vice President of Site Stakeholder Engagement for City Year Inc. Barroso de Padilla oversees the organization’s major gifts, corporate and grant programs. Since its inception more than a decade ago Barroso de Padilla has led and currently serves on the Board for the Latina Mentoring Academy a unique professional development and mentoring program for Latinas in Central Ohio.
Barroso de Padilla was featured in the inaugural editions of The Women’s Book and Who’s Who in Latino Columbus as well as WELD Ohio’s Women Welding the Way Calendar. She has been honored as one of Business First’s 40 under 40, and was named a Distinguished Hispanic Ohioan by the Ohio Commission on Latino Affairs. In November of 2021, Barroso de Padilla made history by becoming the first Latina to be elected as a member of the Columbus City Council.
Lourdes is a bilingual first generation Cuban-American who was born and raised on the eastside of Columbus, and is a product of the Columbus public school system. She resides with her husband, Ernesto, and daughters, Eva and Valentina in Eastmoor.
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Co-Founder and Co-Director at Motherful
A single mother of two children for nearly a decade, Heidi is a Healing Artist, Musician, Writer, and Community Organizer whose passion is to create support and healing for mothers, communities, and the world.
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Founder of Black Girl Rising, Inc.
Fran Frazier is a Consultant and Trainer specializing in issues related to racism and racial equity. She serves as a Senior Associate for Everyday Democracy, a national organization based in Connecticut. Everyday Democracy promotes public dialogue and civic engagement in communities and workplaces that want to build capacity for action and change on issues where inequities exist. Fran consults with organizations and communities across the country.
Ms. Frazier is also an adjunct professor. She developed and teaches a course: Developing Cultural Competence-Strategies for Urban Public School Teachers. This is a graduate level course for Columbus, Ohio City Schools’ teachers in partnership with Ashland University.
Fran Frazier is an ardent advocate for the transformation of African American women and girls. She promotes the role of African American women as change agents within the Black family and the Black community. Since 1979, Fran has established programs, conducted retreats and given presentations on issues of sisterhood, spiritual development and self-empowerment.
Fran’s area of expertise is her ability to present creative and insightful approaches to issues of high sensitivity. Her work in the area of cultural competency in the workplace, cultural awareness training and the creation of culturally specific programs in the Social Services field earned her the YWCA “Woman of Achievement Award” in Racial Justice and recognition from the State of Ohio for engaging state employees to participate in workplace dialogues on racism and its impact on service delivery to Ohio’s families.
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Malka Bendor is a Career Consultant and Workshop Leader at Jewish Family Services in Columbus Ohio. Malka brings 10+ years of experience in assisting Job Seekers to reach economic self-sufficiency by providing Job Search Strategy tools and infusing positive energy to their job search. In her capacity as a Career Consultant Malka has worked with multiple generations and ensured their journey would be filled with emotional and professional support. She is very proud of the JFS Job Search Community which meets Virtually for continuous growth opportunities and meaningful networking. Malka is part of Project EM, a national initiative to serve job seekers across the country , an OhioToWork coach ( 2022) and previously managed “Growing Professional Columbus”, a unique program dedicated to assisting Juniors and Seniors at The Ohio State University to prepare for the world of work. Prior to Jewish Family Services, Malka worked for The Printing Network as an Account Executive in a female owned small business. She was tasked with landing new business accounts, managing relationships with print vendors across the country, and locating best sources to guarantee her clients cost savings and a product they loved. This experience helped her understand and more deeply appreciate the complexity of a crucial manufacturing sector and how businesses determine best way to spend their marketing dollars.
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Born with a heart condition so severe, the doctor's pronounced her dead at birth, Julie Wilkes has overcome all of her life expectancy predictions and now dedicates her life to paying forward on the second chance at life by helping others to find light in their life. She is an entrepreneur, yoga/fitness studio concept owner, retail boutique owner, published author, motivational speaker, certified life coach, aromatherapy line creator, and fitness/yoga presenter.
Julie has spoken and presented across the globe, including at the Tower of London, the White House, the US Chamber of Commerce, TED Talks, Solutions at Work Live, Health 2.0, the National Business Group on Heath, International Women’s Day, and the US Department of Defense. In 2016, she was selected a one of “25 Remarkable Women” from Role Model Magazine and one of 12 ‘Women You Should Know’ in Central Ohio by Women for Economic and Leadership Development (WELD).
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Co-Founder and Co-Owner of the American Institute of Alternative Medicine (AIAM)
Helen co-founded The American Institute of Alternative Medicine in 1990. The school offers accredited programs in acupuncture, massage therapy, and nursing, as well as a student and professional clinic.
She also teaches Tai Chi and Qi Gong at AIAM, and at various martial arts camps and seminars in the US and abroad.
In addition to her work at AIAM, Helen served on the Accreditation Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM) site visit team for the evaluation of acupuncture schools across the country, and is currently an Executive Board member for the Asian American Commerce Group.
A Co-Founder of Opawl-the Ohio Progressive Asian Women Leadership, and is on the Board for the Lesbian Business Association.
She has also served as Past President on the Board for the Pacific Association of Women Martial Arts, Past Vice President for Stonewall Columbus, an LGBTQ organization, and Board Member for State of the Arts Theatre Company.
Since 2020, Helen serves on the Columbus Community Relations as a Commissioner. Helen has been recognized for her achievements by The International Role Model Magazine Inc., featured in 2019 as Columbus CEO spotlight for small businesses and also awarded the 2018 Business Entrepreneurial leadership award by the Asian American Commerce Group, an Olympic Alternate on the US Tae Kwon Do team in 2018, 2 time National Champion, a silver medalist in the 1990 Tae Kwon Do World Cup and inducted into the Bruce Lee Hall of Honor in 2015.
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WISE Host Committee, Co-chair
Rachel Will has experience teaching and performing various genres such as classical, musical theatre, jazz, swing, and contemporary church music. She is a music director as well as a creative arts director, overseeing arts marketing, creative design, production, and vocal/instrumental performance. She is passionate about helping individuals discover and explore their own voice through music and the arts. Rachel is a champion for others, passionately empowering women to find their creative purpose. In addition, she has extensive knowledge in career guidance, leadership development, and strategically fosters community and organizational partnerships to further support inclusivity through community connection.
Freelance Vocalist + Performer | Music + Creative Arts Director at Legacy Church | Private Studio Coach for Voice + Piano | Music Educator Multi Age PK-12 | HS Stage Director | Director of Advancement + Cooper-Bing Associate Producer at Opera Columbus | Leadership Development | Master of Arts in Performing Arts Administration | Bachelor of Arts in Music Education + Vocal Performance | Women's Leadership and Empowerment Conference Chair + Communications Director
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WISE Host Committee, Co-chair
Daryl Griffith is Coordinator for Corporate Racial Equity and Equitable Economy team at PolicyLink, in addition to being part-time as an Event Coordinator for the CYP Club. She graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and minors in Global Public Health and Business.
Prior to that, Daryl was Program Manager at The Women’s Place (TWP) at The Ohio State University. Her role with TWP included participating with the President and Provost’s Council on Women and TWP affinity groups on program planning and supporting central communication channels. Daryl has an extensive background in nonprofit and equity work.