The fifth annual Women|Future Conference brought together hundreds of ambitious, forward-thinking women across industries and career stages to connect and discuss key issues that impact their industries, careers, and lives.

The agenda featured more than 25 discussion panels and breakout sessions hosted by 80+ women CEOs, founders, small business owners, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, coaches, and executives from organizations such as Accenture, Goldman Sachs, Hilton, IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Nestle, T-Mobile, and others.

Attendees gained powerful insights to help them in their professional and personal lives through sessions ranging from entrepreneurship to workplace diversity, mental health, overcoming imposter syndrome, how to think like an investor, social media best practices, and more.

The #WomenFuture22 agenda was divided into seven tracks: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Entrepreneurship, Future of Work, Leadership, Marketing, Personal Development, and Technology.

The Opening Keynote
Rashmi Verma, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at HUGO BOSS, was the 2022 Opening Keynote Speaker. HUGO BOSS is one of the leading companies in the premium segment of the global apparel market, employing 13,800 individuals representing 112 nationalities. As the Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Rashmi develops creative methods to increase team engagement while establishing an inclusive culture across the company globally.

Keeping with our tradition of past Stevie® Award winners keynoting the conference, HUGOBOSS is a multiple-time Stevie winner in the Stevie® Awards for Great Employers for COVID Response and HR Achievement in 2019 and 2020.

In her Women|Future Conference Keynote, "Dream Big & Chase It," Rashmi shared how she navigated these work and life challenges, including managing cultural differences and experiences, and ways to carve out possibilities and dreams along the way.

Rashmi’s life and career have spanned continents. She grew up in India in a conventional family yet managed to excel in the tech industry. She started her career working for General Electric (GE) where she led and drove multiple high-profile strategy projects within various GE businesses. She also launched her own business recently called YogaDaan, a charitable organization that offers yoga classes to raise money for a school for the underprivileged and differently abled children in India.

Rashmi walked attendees through this journey, explaining how she navigated through each challenge that brought her to where she is today.

Top Attended Sessions From the Week​
Throughout the three-day conference, Women|Future Conference attendees heard sessions about business networking, work-life balance, wealth attraction, overcoming adversity, mentorship, and more.

Below were the top conference sessions at #WomenFuture22:

• Building Your Community of Mentors
• Find Your Voice: Insider Secrets from Seasoned Speakers
• Dream Big & Chase It!
• Think Like An Investor: How to Get the Funding You Deserve
• Resilient Leadership in a Changing Business Landscape
• The Ever-Changing World of Social Media

On Tuesday, November 8, in the opening session “Building Your Community of Mentors,” speakers shared  their stories and wisdom on how to find a mentor, types of mentors, creating a community of mentorship, and getting the most from a mentor relationship—whether as the mentor or mentee.

Brenda Jimenez, Chief Executive Officer of MENTOR (New York, NY), noted that “one in three individuals in this country grow up without a mentor.” She said we need to step up for those younger women, but the onus is also on young professionals to seek out mentors and maintain the relationship.

Brenda acknowledged that there is a cultural aspect around asking for help, and some may feel like they are seeking a mentor out of weakness, to which she asserted: “When you're asking for a mentor, you're asking for an additional superpower to the superpowers you already have.” This superpower, though, is contingent on the mentee’s attitude and openness. The mentor relationship must be built on trust and integrity on both sides if women hope to have their mentor go the extra mile for them:

“For someone to activate their social capital, they have to value not only who you are but trust that you're going to be a good steward of that relationship that they're activating on your behalf, so you have to be authentic–you have to be very clear on what you're moving toward and you have to show up with dignity, integrity, and authenticity.”

Director of Brand Personality at Hilton, Whitney Knight, MBA, shared another type of mentor relationship she initiated with her close friend and fellow business woman. “I have a mentor who serves as my accountability partner. We were friends for over a decade before we said we'd like to have more conversations about our careers. We started having dedicated time together each month to focus on what are you doing this month, what are the challenges you’re having and maybe I can help.”

Brenda reiterated: “The magic sauce is the relationship, and that's always complex because relationships themselves take time and evolution.” No matter the type of mentor relationship, she encouraged attendees to reflect on their needs and bring their authentic selves to networking and mentorship relationships.

In another popular panel session on Wednesday, speakers discussed “Strategic Storytelling: Advertising and PR Tactics for Your Business.” The conversation centered around storytelling as it relates to a company value proposition as well as individuals’ personal story and brand.
Research shows that, when people are in storytelling mode, their brains are in a different space where they are more likely to receive and remember information. “When you have your own story and when you own that, people pay attention….There is a way to create commonality in a room of diverse people and beliefs through that storytelling,” noted Star Bobatoon, Business Storytelling Coach and Founder of Own Your Stage Training.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Why Group Inc., and Ciara Ungar Coaching & Consulting, Ciara Ungar shared that businesses and individuals often need to take a step back and really reflect on their core purpose. “People can feel how authentic you’re being. You’re always performing….If you’re not understanding that first ‘why,’ then it will be hard to deliver that authenticity and form a true connection.”

Star explained that we need to adjust our thought habits to draw from our authentic self:

“Because we are so often making ourselves small and taking the back seat, we are not comfortable sharing the wonderful things about us, and that starts to become normalized within us….The way we live our lives is a result of the stories we believe about ourselves…there is the story that we are repeating inside our minds all the time and that story is directing our work,” she said.

Women-Owned Business Pitch Competition
The third annual Women-Owned Business Pitch Competition at the Women|Future Conference provided a platform for five women-owned businesses to compete for a chance to win funding. Pitch Competition finalists included Equability, Good Mood Treats, The Village App, Tiny Fish Co., and XpertPatient, LLC.

During this live, “Shark Tank”-style competition on November 9, a panel of judges and attendees watched each finalist present a three-minute pitch and then answer questions from the judges about their business model, target market, and operations strategy

Judges ultimately determined that Equability was the winner, an online clothing modification service for individuals with disabilities. It was launched in 2020 after their research had identified lack of adaptive clothing as a barrier to social and professional participation. Equability gives people the ability to conveniently modify clothes to suit their style and lifestyle.

Founder and CEO, Hilary Pham, won a $5,500 cash prize funded by the Stevie Awards and Autumn Consulting, LLC, as well as a certification from Certify My Company (a $4,800 value).

Access the 2022 Conference Sessions On-Demand
Did you miss this year’s conference? You can register to watch the replays of over 25 panels, workshops, including our opening keynote for just $39.

On-demand attendees will have access to the 2022 virtual Women|Future Conference platform through November 2023. The platform includes three days of sessions and lists of speakers, attendees, and sponsors that participated in #WomenFuture22.

Special Thanks to Our 2022 Sponsors and Partners​
We are proud to partner with the following publications, media outlets, and organizations that share our mission in supporting women in business.

If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities for the 2023 Women|Future Conference, sign up here to get notified of the 2023 prospectus release.

 

We are pleased to welcome two new representatives to the Stevie® Awards team: Emre Gulecoglu, Founder of Digitallica, and Saynur Onen, Senior Consultant. 

Based in France and Greece, respectively, Saynur and Emre will serve as representatives for international Stevie Awards programs. Both Saynur and Emre are multiple award winners and have been working with international award organizations as participants, consultants, and judges for approximately 15 years. 

Saynur is an independent entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in learning, leadership development, talent management, succession planning, employee engagement, and performance systems. She has a proven track record in the transformation of organizations and cultures through analyzing business needs to provide innovative solutions that contribute to the overall strategic agenda. She operates her own consultancy firm in France.

Emre founded the digital learning company Digitallica in 2015. He has more than 20 years of experience in learning technologies and 8 years of experience in award consultancy. He has developed a wide business network through business ventures in Turkey and Greece, and also works with local and international companies, focusing on those in France, Greece, and Azerbaijan.

Stevie Awards President Maggie Miller said: “We are thrilled to have Saynur and Emre join the Stevie Awards team to help reach outstanding organizations in Greece and France. With their combined experience and business networks, we know they will spread the message on what winning a Stevie Award in 2023 can do for brand recognition, employee happiness, and more. We look forward to working together on our international competitions."

Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 70 nations, honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them. Stevie Awards representatives work across the globe to discover and help innovative companies and leaders enter the global arena and elevate their brand recognition.

We look forward to recognizing more innovative companies in France and Greece this year!

Sign up for the Stevie Awards Update Newsletter to get updates on awards competition openings, deadlines, winner listings, and ceremony event details. 

Stevie-winner Nurch is looking to enhance the stability and consistency of learning environments in the Australian childcare market through a loyalty rewards program for families.

Nurch founders Brent Thompson, Glenn Noy, and Kara Smyth have over 15 years of experience in childcare each. They all agreed that the common promotional strategies used by childcare centers are antiquated, and the strategies typically only benefit a new family, never an enrolled family who has been continuously supporting the childcare center.

With this in mind, they developed and launched a loyalty rewards program in 2019 that would not only help centers increase enrollments but also help centers retain their most loyal families through rewards. With no sign-up fee, there are only benefits for families in this program as well.

How It Works
Partnering childcare centers invite families to sign up for the Nurch loyalty program at no cost. The high-tech platform synchronizes with each center’s software to automatically download the details of enrolled families, including attendance records and fees. After signing up, families automatically earn 1 point for every $1 they pay to the childcare center. Loyalty reward points can be redeemed at leading Australian retailers.

This model organically attracts new families to participating childcare centers and helps centers maintain current enrollment. More consistent enrollment allows centers to better plan for fluctuations and frees their time to focus on enhancing the quality of childcare services. This contributes to better consistency of care and more stability for children, providing a better environment to improve their learning, development, and wellbeing.

Nurch is 100% compliant with childcare subsidies and Australian consumer laws. It is constantly updated and automated to meet government regulations, laws, and changes. With the Nurch platform and collaborative model, children, families, childcare centers, and the broader community all benefit.

Growth and Values
Nurch takes an ethical and transparent business approach by providing a Childcare funding declaration. Center groups can do their own risk assessment and have fair terms and conditions that allow centers to freely operate. For example, they have a 2-year agreement term, but centers can cancel anytime.

In addition, Nurch aims to promote diversity and healthy labor practices. Employees are respected and provided with the flexibility they need to balance work and home life. Employees are given the option of where they prefer to work and what hours. Career development is highly supported by adjusting roles to specific interests.

Since receiving their Stevie awards, Nurch has now assisted over 8,000 families and more than 50 childcare centers across Australia in retaining and growing enrollments. 

In a recent study, Nurch found that 67% of members would choose a Nurch-partnered childcare center or remain enrolled at their current center due to the Nurch program. Also, 80% of users saw more value in the Nurch program compared with leading retailer loyalty rewards programs. Nurch is currently on track to partner with 300 centers and have over 30,000 members by 2025. 

Nurch won a Gold Stevie Award for Most Innovative Startup of the Year – Business Service Industries, and a Silver Award for Most Innovative Startup of the Year – Business Product Industries in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?

Stevie-winner Agribid Private Limited is a farmer-friendly business-to-business marketplace specializing in the sale and purchase of agri-commodities with every stakeholder along the agribusiness chain, including farmers, traders, corporate consumers, and global buyers.

Launched in late 2020 by Ashutosh Mishra, Manoj Suvarna, and Chetan Suvarna, it is their company vision to be the most preferred marketplace for agri-products globally. Since launching, 300 farmer producer organizations (FPOs) have signed up to benefit from Agribid’s business model.

Agribid sees that the plight of small farmers across India is due to fragmented land holding. In the market, a small farmer does not have any control on price—not due to a lack of trading options—but in accordance with the concept of economies of size: the average cost per unit of production decreases as the size of the farm increases. With an average land holding of 2 to 3 acres each, a small farmer can produce a crop of 2 to 5 MT. Such a low quantity would never interest a big trader who is looking for 1 truck load (10 MT) minimum size for optimizing logistical costs.

According to Agribid, the solution is aggregation. Using their integrated platform, they seek to empower farmers by aggregating them in order to achieve the best price from buyers across India and globally.

In addition, as a company policy, Agribid does not charge farmers for their services—aggregation will be free for life to all participating farmers. In fact, the company has committed to sharing a portion of revenue with the FPOs who have joined. Agribid expects the farmers to utilize these extra funds to improve farmer welfare, machinery, and storage facilities.

Agribid plans to expand the Indian base from 11 to 23 states and its global presence from three countries to nine. Since winning their Stevie Award, they have been named one of the 20 Most Promising Startups to Watch in 2022 by Business Connect. 

Agribid won a Bronze Stevie Award for Most Innovative Startup – Business Services Industry in the
2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?

 

 

Stevie-winner BCW is the global communications agency built to move people. BCW partners with clients in the B2B, consumer, corporate, crisis management, healthcare, public affairs, purpose and technology sectors to set strategic direction for all communications and create powerful and unexpected ideas that earn attention.

Through an “earned-plus” offer—earned media plus paid media, creative technology, data, AI and an expanding suite of innovative capabilities—BCW moves people with power and precision to move its clients forward.

One such client is Chinese laser projection specialist Formovie. Formovie planned to launch its “T1” flagship laser projector in an effort to reinforce its leading position in the highly competitive China laser market. Formovie and BCW came together to develop a comprehensive marketing campaign, which earlier this year won a Bronze Asia-Pacific Stevie Award for Innovation in Cross-Media Marketing.

Considering the wide array of existing product choices and increasingly discerning consumers, Formovie faced some big challenges in building a unique product story and developing effective touch points with consumers. What they did was initiate a cross-media launch campaign that aimed to:

• Exposure goal—generate 30 million impressions total.
• Engagement goal—engage with 40 key media & influencers in the consumer projection segment with positive endorsement on product experience.
• Business goal—help with T1 product sales on e-commerce platforms.

According to research, more than 60% of potential laser projector consumers are enthusiastic about an “exquisite lifestyle” that integrates history, art, symphony, etc. Based on this insight, instead of a traditional press event, Formovie launched a cross-over campaign titled “Breathing life to Dunhuang” integrating imagery and connotations of one of the most famous cultural relics in China: The Mogao Caves in Dunhuang. Dunhuang was the first trading town reached by foreign merchants entering Chinese-administered territories along the Silk Road from the west. The city is the site of the renowned Mogao Caves, which form a system of 500 Buddhist temples, some of which were dug out as early as AD366, which were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

Dunhuang was the first trading town reached by foreign merchants entering Chinese-administered territory from the west. The city is the site of the renowned Mogao Caves, which were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

At its foundation, the marketing campaign was a tech-centric, projection-based mini-art show. Commercial laser shows are often used for illumination projects like this; instead, Formovie’s new cinema-pro quality, consumer laser projector T1 was utilized to reproduce the historical relics of frescos from Dunhuang.

By merging the most advanced laser technology with traditional Chinese culture, the team created an appealing product story across media channels, including traditional media, digital platforms, advertising, as well as e-commerce channels.

As a cultural icon with nation-wide recognition, Dunhuang successfully helped attract attention from audiences with large-scale advertising placement. Dunhuang images were also utilized to produce the boot screen picture, product packages, and a scarf gift as exclusive incentives to boost sales. Riding on the momentum generated from media and influencers, the topic “digital representations of Chinese cultural heritage with T1” led to larger scale exposure and discussion as a result.

The campaign was a success, surpassing all targets:

• Exposure goal— 32 million impressions were generated from all media platforms; search engine data show that the number of searches about T1 increased 1,378% within a month.
• Engagement goal— More than 60 key influencers in the consumer projection industry shared articles, videos, or posts with positive endorsement, generating 100K+ engagement.
• Business goal— Dunhuang-themed packages and gifts helped drive sales by more than $500k within 24 hours on Tmall (formerly Taobao Mall), a Chinese-language website for business-to-consumer online retail, operated in China by Alibaba Group.

The integrated campaign “Breathing life to Dunhuang” created a unique story of how traditional Chinese culture from centuries ago can be revitalized today by innovative Formovie products. Cross-media approaches including traditional media, digital platforms, advertising, as well as e-commerce channels were utilized to communicate with audiences throughout their decision-making journey with excellent results.

BCW won a Bronze Award for Innovation in Cross-Media Marketing in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?

 

 

Stevie-winner Aussie Broadband is a rapidly growing, Australian internet service provider with a reputation for providing high-quality internet and transparent customer service. In 2020, Aussie Broadband launched Carbon, a free self-service portal that allows customers to control all of their Aussie Broadband services from one central location.

Carbon is designed to take the delays and confusion out of ordering new services, with many products and services able to be ordered directly in the platform and with transparent pricing displayed.

Rather than wait for months to order and receive new business services, Carbon users can access free quotes, place their own orders, and control everything from hardware dispatch to service activation, all from a central portal. Carbon enables businesses to turn on a service at any location where NBN (Australia’s National Broadband Network) has been before; activation is extremely fast thanks to Aussie's clever, efficient integration with NBN's systems. 

Customers using Carbon can now:

• Purchase and customize their products and services online, including internet services, data center connections, MPLS networks, SD-WAN networks, hosted PBX and more. 
• Manage and test their services at scale, allowing them to create simple internet services, while managing billing, technical support and ordering. 
• Apply configurations to their services within seconds, as well as take advantage of single-click tests and diagnostics, real-time monitoring of bandwidth and data use, and centralized notifications, billing and support. 
• See immediately if there are any known outages affecting their service.

In addition to simplifying and shortening the ordering process, Carbon also provides users with a bevy of features for managing existing services, as well as handling billing and troubleshooting issues without the need to call customer support. Users can apply their preferred custom configurations to business telco services, which is especially useful for enterprise customers looking to build and manage their own networks and cloud platforms.

Aussie Broadband engineered Carbon to tackle some of the biggest pain points experienced by business and enterprise customers, and the company believes they are the first telco in Australia to offer account features and self-service at this level.

Carbon is not the only tool that Aussie Broadband offers to customers to enhance the customer experience. The MyAussie App offers a range of innovative features for customers that had never been seen before from a major player in the Australian telco industry. Among many other features, MyAussie offers customers the ability to “kick” their internet connection all the way back to the network, which would have required assistance from a technical support staff previously.

Another tool developed by Aussie Broadband is The Proactive Fault Detector, an in-house designed and developed software that automatically detects faults and proactively resolves them before a customer contacts Aussie's support team. They found that more than 50% of dropout and speed faults were identifiable before the customer contacted support. One of the main benefits is that it significantly reduces both the duration and volume of calls, giving their support staff more time to focus on better customer experience. If a fault is detected with a customer’s connection, the system begins running troubleshooting tests and attempts to restore services immediately. The automated fault identification system is currently identifying and triaging over 200 faults per day. 

Since winning their Stevie Award, Aussie Broadband has completed the acquisition of Brisbane Telecommunications and IT solutions provider Over the Wire (ASX:OTW) for $344 million dollars. In addition, they have signed a 3-year deal with Mitsubishi Motors Australia to provide Enterprise NBN and on-net services to its corporate and regional locations across the country.

Aussie Broadband won the Gold Stevie Award for the Innovative Use of Technology in Customer Service - Telecommunications Industries in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?

 

 

The Women|Future Conference has selected five women-owned businesses to compete in the Women-Owned Business Pitch Competition this year. Registered attendees can watch the competition live on November 9 at 12:00 PM ET.

This “Shark Tank”-style pitch competition provides a platform for a select group of women-owned businesses to compete for a chance to win funding support for their businesses and initiatives, and provides the opportunity for international exposure to hundreds of attendees.

Over 200 applicants applied for entry, but only five finalists were selected by the Women|Future Conference leadership team to present their pitches, face questioning, have their pitch evaluated by a panel of judges, and win funding! The winner of the competition will be announced at the conference November 10 at 2:25 PM.

The 2022 Women-Owned Business Pitch Competition finalists are:

Equability
Equability is an online clothing modification service for individuals with disabilities. It was launched in 2020 after their research had identified lack of adaptive clothing as a barrier to social and professional participation. Equability gives people the ability to conveniently modify clothes to suit their style and lifestyle.

Good Mood Treats
Good Mood Treats specializes in curating baked goods that uplift customers’ mood by infusing them with healthy ingredients. Each treat box includes a positive affirmation in hopes of combating issues with mental health and providing a good mood boost. Their mission is to spread love, positivity, and mental health awareness through their treats.

The Village App
Born out of necessity during the COVID pandemic, The Village App seeks to redefine how people use technology and create a modern-day equivalent of a healthy, happy village community. The app encourages collective coordination, enabling users to connect with others in their community who are offering or seeking neighborly assistance and connection.

Tiny Fish Co.
Tiny Fish Co. aims to inspire the canned fish industry by sharing products that are sustainable, flavorful, and tell the fish’s story from water to tin. Their focus is on the tiny fish from the Pacific Northwest and encouraging consumers to create environmentally conscious eating habits.

XpertPatient LLC
XpertPatient was founded to help people new to a cancer diagnosis feel empowered through personalized education and support. With all education developed from authoritative sources such as the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines, XpertPatient has been purposely designed by nurses, doctors, and patients to help individuals with cancer achieve the best treatment results possible, clinically and financially.

The Pitch Competition will be hosted by Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Sharon Delaney McCloud, a TEDx Speaker, a Certified Executive CDE, Adjunct Professor, agency owner, and a cancer survivor. With over 30 years of experience on local and national stages and online, Sharon’s goal is to help people make an impact by understanding and embracing the power of storytelling in business to move hearts and minds, and to drive better results in their business.

Sharon is a fierce advocate for women in business and develops programs designed to elevate their career trajectory. Featured in Thrive Global, Enterprising Women, Sheryl Sandburg’s Option B platform, and co-author of Keep Going, Memoirs of Strength, Courage & Perseverance, Sharon shows people how they can inspire, influence, and ignite change. Her diverse client list includes Cisco, Lenovo, Eaton, 7-Eleven, Duke University, UNC Health, Florida State University, SAS, Biogen, Merz, and many others. 

Pitch Competition Format and Judging Criteria

The format of the pitch competition is inspired by ABC's critically acclaimed, entrepreneurial-themed TV show, Shark Tank. Each finalist will present a live, three-minute virtual pitch about their product/service, business model, and target market.

A panel of four judges will evaluate each pitch using a five-point scoring rubric provided by the Women|Future Conference. The judging rubric takes into account criteria such as leadership capabilities, innovativeness, competitive advantage, maturity of the technology or product, business model, prospects, growth, response to the live questions, and preparedness for the competition.

The judges of the 2022 Women|Future Conference Pitch Competition are:

• Kim Roxie, Founder, LAMIK Beauty, and first-place winner in the 2021 Pitch Competition
• Heather Cox, President, Certify My Company
• Sree Kanuri, Senior Product Manager, DELL Technologies
• Shubhi Nigam, Product Lead, Carta Inc.

Pitch coaching and mentorship is being provided to our finalists prior to the pitch competition by Dusty Welsh, Executive Director and Lead Program Instructor at the Sister Sprout studio, which offers business and nonprofit development frameworks to guide women founders through each step of the startup process. With over 15 years of experience, Dusty Welsh provides startup founders from around the world with a 3-step magic formula for wowing judges, impressing audiences, and delivering a killer startup story. 

Funding for the Pitch Competition Winners

At the close of the competition, the winner will receive a prize package of $5,000 cash prize to grow their business, as well as a certification ($4200 value) from Certify My Company.

If you are interested in joining us as a sponsor, judge, or participant in the 2023 Pitch Competition, sign up for event updates to get notified when entries open for next year.

Sponsor the Pitch Competition and Support Women-Owned Businesses

Sponsorships are still being accepted! Sponsorship offers visibility among a demographic of women business owners, executives, and professionals.

We love working with organizations that are aligned with our mission of supporting women in business. The Pitch Competition is funded entirely through the generosity of our sponsors. Available sponsorship packages can be requested at the Sponsorship and Advertising Page.

What Else to Expect at the 2022 Women|Future Conference

Hundreds of ambitious women in business will gather virtually for the fifth annual Women|Future Conference taking place from November 8-10, 2022, with pre-conference sessions on November 7.

Hosted by the Stevie® Awards, the world's premier business awards, the Women|Future Conference is a professional and personal development, learning, networking, and mentorship conference for women around the globe. 

We are pleased to highlight Opening Keynote speaker Rashmi Verma, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at HUGO BOSS, one of the leading companies in the premium segment of the global apparel market, employing 13,800 individuals representing 112 nationalities. The Opening Keynote will take place Tuesday, November 8, at 12:00 pm ET, followed by a live Q&A with attendees.

Conference sessions are designed for ambitious, career-driven professionals to learn and share what’s working in their organizations, troubleshoot the challenges they collectively face, and make meaningful connections. View the Full Agenda here.

Sessions fall into seven main tracks:

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Entrepreneurship
• Future of Work
• Leadership
• Marketing
• Personal Development
• Technology

The 2022 agenda includes over 80 women CEOs, founders, small business owners, entrepreneurs, coaches, and executives who will share their expertise. Conference speakers are from small businesses as well as Fortune 500 organizations including Accenture, Goldman Sachs, Hilton, IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Nestle, T-Mobile, and others.

Registration for the Women|Future Conference is open. Attendees save 10% when groups of three or more individuals register together. Students may register for the Women|Future Conference at a discounted rate of $39 (with proof of a valid current student ID). Sessions are recorded and available for replay through 2022 for your convenience.👍 Get Social With the Women|Future Conference 

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Questions about the Conference?

Conference Registration and Sponsorship Opportunities
Ruslana Milikhiker, Senior Manager, Events
Ruslana@stevieawards.com

Conference Marketing and PR 
Nina Moore, Director of Communications
Nina@stevieawards.com

We are excited to announce that Rashmi Verma, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at HUGO BOSS, will be the 2022 Opening Keynote Speaker for the Women|Future Conference. The Opening Keynote will take place Tuesday, November 8, day one of #WomenFuture22 at 12:00 pm ET, followed by a live Q&A session with attendees.

The 5th annual Women|Future Conference brings together hundreds of ambitious, forward-thinking women across industries and career stages to connect and discuss key issues that impact their industries, careers, and lives.

HUGO BOSS is one of the leading companies in the premium segment of the global apparel market, employing 13,800 individuals representing 112 nationalities. As the Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Rashmi develops creative methods to increase team engagement while establishing an inclusive culture across the company globally.

Rashmi’s life and career have spanned continents. She grew up in India in a conventional family yet managed to excel in the tech industry. She started her career working for General Electric (GE) where she led and drove multiple high-profile strategy projects within various GE businesses. Rashmi paused her career around 2008 to focus on raising her son. The family moved to Germany soon after, and Rashmi navigated the difficult task of raising her child in a strange country with a drastically different culture and language.

Rashmi spent the next 10 years at SAP, a German multinational software company, serving in multiple positions of increasingly higher levels of responsibility. During this time, she expanded her personal and professional networks in Germany and pivoted to her current role at HUGO BOSS.

But being a mother and holding a high-level role at a global fashion giant were not enough; Rashmi also launched her own business recently. YogaDaan is a charitable organization that offers yoga classes to raise money for a school for the underprivileged and differently abled children in India.

In her Women|Future Conference Keynote, "Dream Big & Chase It," Rashmi will share how she navigated these work and life challenges, including managing cultural differences and experiences, and ways to carve out possibilities and dreams along the way. The session aims to inspire attendees to dream big and show them how to chase those dreams wholeheartedly.

Keeping with our tradition of past Stevie® Award winners keynoting the conference, HUGO BOSS is a multiple-time Stevie winner in the Stevie Awards® for Great Employers for COVID Response and HR Achievement in 2019 and 2020. The organization also won three Gold Stevies in the 2021 German Stevie® Awards.

What to Expect at the 2022 Women|Future Conference

Hundreds of ambitious women business leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives from around the world will be tuning in to the fifth annual Women|Future Conference November 8-10, 2022. The Women|Future Conference is a professional and personal development, learning, networking, and mentorship conference hosted by The Stevie® Awards.

The agenda features over 20 panels, workshops, and breakout sessions hosted by 70+ women CEOs, founders, small business owners, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, coaches, and executives from organizations such as Accenture, Goldman Sachs, Hilton, IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Nestle, T-Mobile, and others. 

Below is a partial list of the 2022 Women|Future Conference panels, sessions, and workshops.

• Building Your Community of Mentors​​​​​​​​
• Crafting and Delivering the Perfect Pitch
• Cultivating an Inclusive Workplace: How Diversity Creates Opportunity​​​​​​​​
• FearLESS: Facing Adversity ​​​​​​​​
• Generational Work Styles: Understanding the Old and the New​​​​​​​​
• “Shark Tank” style pitch competition for newly founded woman-owned businesses​​​​​​​​
• Silencing Self Doubt: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome​​​​​​​​
• Strategic Storytelling: Advertising and PR Tactics for Your Business​​​​​​​​
• The Balancing Act: Self-Care and a Sustainable Work Life
• The Next Generation of Tech​​​​​​​​
• The Ever-changing World of Social Media
• The Evolution of Connection: In-person vs Virtual Networking
• The Snowball Effect: How Women-Led Businesses Create an Impact
• Think Like an Investor: How to Get the Funding You Deserve​​​​​​​​
• Turning Passion into Profit
• ...and many more.

To learn more about the conference, keynote, other speakers, and registration, visit www.womenfuturconference.com.

Registration for the Women|Future Conference is OPEN.

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• Student tickets are $39, with proof of a valid student ID

The Stevie Awards are pleased to announce Stella Wong, Founder and Brand & Marketing Strategist of Brand Soul International, as our representative in Malaysia. Stella will serve as a representative for all eight Stevie Awards programs, but particularly for the 10th annual Asia-Pacific® Stevie Awards, which opens October 3 for nominations. These are the only business awards to recognize innovation throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region. We look forward to recognizing innovative companies in Malaysia this year.

Stella’s company, Brand Soul International, is an independent and innovative brand strategy and design consultancy that specializes in brand development, brand strategy & architecture, digital development, public relations, and content development including storyboarding, animation, and video production.

Before embarking on her journey of entrepreneurship, she was the Corporate Communications Manager of Baker Tilly, the eighth largest accountancy and business advisory network worldwide. Now with over 14 years of practical experience in brand strategy and digital marketing, Stella caters to multiple industries, including financial institutions, corporate organizations, food and beverage, technology, fashion, and logistics.

Stella has been featured in newspapers and magazines, including Marketing in Asia and on the Go-Ecommerce portal by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). The Klang Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCCI) also invited Stella as a guest speaker to share best practices in branding & marketing for SMEs. She has also been featured in the book Successful People in Malaysia.

Stevie Awards President Maggie Miller commented, “We are thrilled to have Stella join the Stevie Awards team to help reach outstanding organizations in Malaysia. With her branding and digital background, and winning business awards herself, we know Stella will spread the message on what winning a Stevie Award in 2023 can do for brand recognition, employee happiness, and more. We are very excited to work with her for the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards and all of our other international competitions.”

"The Stevie Awards have been recognized as the world’s premier business awards for many years. By partnering with the Stevie Awards team to represent Malaysia at the Stevie Awards, we firmly believe that we are in a strong position to achieve our aspiration to help innovative companies enter the global arena and elevate their brand recognition,” said Stella Wong.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards focus on recognizing innovation in all its forms, wherever it is achieved in the workplace. The competition is open to all organizations across 29 nations of the Asia-Pacific region: large and small, for-profit and nonprofit, public, and private. 

Some of the Asia-Pacific region’s most innovative organizations have won Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, including ABS-CBN Global, Cisco Systems, Delta Air Lines, Dentsu, DHL Express International (Thailand) Ltd., EventsAIR, Freelancer.com, Google, Great Eagle Holdings, Globe Telecom, HLC Group, Hong Kong Tourism Board, HP Inc., KEB HANA Bank, KEPCO, KT, MSLGROUP China, Ooredoo, PT Petrokimia Gresik, Seoul Metropolitan Government, Singapore Power, SM Supermalls, Sony, Strategic Public Relations Group Limited, Telkom Indonesia, VNPT Vinaphone Corporation, Viettel, Xiaomi, and more.

Nominations will be accepted in the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards starting October 3, 2022.

Stevie^®-winner Kacific Broadband Satellites Group is bringing reliable, high-speed broadband access to rural and suburban communities across Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Founded in 2013 by a core team of senior satellite professionals, Kacific is backed by a group of investors with experience in global telecommunications and infrastructure. Kacific uses advanced, multi-beam space and ground communications technologies to provide high-quality service to businesses, governments, and communities.

Their distribution model is based on a new product called Gigstarter, a flexible, prepaid, prepackaged, broadband plan on a monthly model. Internet service providers sell bandwidth to end-users plan-by-plan, site-by-site, tailoring it to each customer and packaging it without heavy infrastructure investments or wholesale contracts. The plan includes unlimited data and full service management, which is appealing to smaller enterprises and entrepreneurs.

A second new product, Community Wi-Fi, supported this new distribution model. A fully managed service, it allows anyone in a village to access high-quality, affordable satellite broadband internet by purchasing prepaid Wi-Fi vouchers for less than $2 USD for 1GB. While the pandemic raged, Kacific could rapidly deploy Community Wifi sites within weeks to communities that most needed them.

Today, Kacific has over 9,000 sites in 25 countries, less than two years after the Kacific 1 satellite was launched. Kacific has reduced the price per GB and cost of each remote satellite terminal by at least 50%, revolutionizing the cost of connectivity in various markets in the Asia-Pacific region, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and others.

More recently, Kacific has launched a new product that aims to provide critical connectivity in times of disasters and emergencies—the Kacific CommsBox. Being pre-configured and solar-powered, the CommsBox is designed to provide broadband access instantly and reliably in emergency or disaster zones without effort. It is designed to be an all-in-one emergency communication product that can be instantly activated to establish connection in disaster areas. 

Kacific Broadband Satellites Group won two Gold Stevie Awards for Most Innovative Tech Startup of the Year - Services and Most Valuable Technical Innovation, and a Silver Stevie Award for Innovative Achievement in Sales or Revenue Generation in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. 

Entries open for the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards on October 3, 2022.