Rise and Thrive: Dress for Success’ full-day Women’s Leadership Summit on Friday has all-star lineup

2nd annual summit aims to inspire women, will raise money for yearlong mentoring and networking programs

By
Tom Bergeron
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Numerous studies and anecdotal evidence show the COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on women in the workplace. Simply put, women are leaving the workforce in droves.

Dress for Success Northern New Jersey is trying to help.

Executive Director Kim Iozzi said the organization has worked with more than 1,000 women since the onset of the pandemic — assisting on wide range of women through numerous initiatives.

“Though many of the women we work with are from low-income backgrounds, the pandemic has highlighted the challenges of women from a broad array of socioeconomic backgrounds facing sudden job loss, domestic violence, caregiving responsibilities and more,” she said.

This Friday, the group will host its second annual Women’s Leadership Summit, entitled “Rise and Thrive.” Atlantic Health System is the top sponsor.

Register here.

The all-day virtual event is intended to inspire women across the region while raising funds for the group’s initiatives.

“We are extremely excited to offer a day of learning and networking that will inspire and encourage women and allies across the region, while raising the funds so that we can continue to provide networking opportunities, programming and training,” Iozzi said.

Funds raised from the event will directly support Dress for Success Northern New Jersey career programs, including its job-readiness and retention programs, Professional Women’s Group and Career Center.

Fashion icon Nicole Miller will deliver the keynote, moderated by Carol Alt, one of the world’s first supermodels.

This full-day summit, moderated by Patricia Stark, combines powerful content, TED Talks, a panel discussion, vendor showcase and an opportunity to forge connections with prominent women leaders, including:

  • Tahesha Way, New Jersey secretary of state;
  • Nikki Sumpter, senior vice president, chief human resources officer, Atlantic Health System;
  • Precious Williams, founder and CEO, Perfect Pitches by Precious LLC;
  • Patrice Tanaka, founder and chief joy officer, Joyful Planet LLC;
  • Shennell McCloud, CEO and executive director, Project Ready;
  • Tamsen Webster, keynote speaker and chief message strategist;
  • Paula Gutierrez, director of diversity and inclusion, RWJUH Somerset;
  • Jeanniey Walden, chief innovation & marketing officer, Daily Pay;
  • LaTanya Ford, commercialization manager, GSK;
  • Jennifer Wagner, senior director of sales operations, ADP;
  • Pamela Zapata, director, global equality, diversity & inclusion, PTC Therapeutics Inc.

The sponsors:

  • Empowerment sponsor: Atlantic Health System;
  • Programming sponsors: ADP, Daily Pay, GSK and RWJBH;
  • Partner sponsors: PTC and Instacart;
  • Emerging sponsors: PNC, SKC, Strategies for Success and Wyndham.

Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available here.