If Women Ruled The World, How Would It Look?

We know what the world looks like with men in charge. So what would the state of the planet be if women ruled the world?

The Connecticut Women's Alliance will explore that intriguing and thought-provoking idea with a panel of influential women at the 2013 Annual CT Conference Women’s Conference on April 25th at the Crown Plaza Hartford-Cromwell, 100 Berlin Road, Cromwell. This year's conference theme is “A Million Circles…” based on “The millionth circle” which refers to the circle whose formation tips the scales and shifts planetary consciousness.

The panel titled, “If Women Ruled the World...,” will discuss the challenges and opportunities for women in a post-patriarchal society. The panelists will share personal insights into their own struggles and ideals when it comes to leading in areas of business, government, community, family and relationships. They will offer tips and suggestions on how women can support each other in building a more just and peaceful world.

The panel's moderator is Kathy McAfee, America’s Marketing Motivator and the panelists are:
Stacy Smith Walsh, attorney and Director of Human Resources at Day Pitney, LLC and chairperson of the YWCA Hartford Region; Natalie Thompson, a civic-minded activist and executive associate at The Connecticut Forum; Tiffany Ho, founder of ReadySetLaunch, a nonprofit organization, and Mary Jones, host of The Mary Jones Show on WDRC-AM.

As director of Human Resources at Day Pitney LLP, a full-service law firm, Stacy Smith Walsh oversees all of the firm’s HR functions, ensuring compliance with workplace laws in all jurisdictions in which the firm operates. She was also a labor and employment attorney in private practice and volunteered with the Pro Bono Partnership in Connecticut. She has contributed to addressing issues regarding gender equity, especially in the legal profession. Smith Walsh has also volunteered for organizations working on gender equity, including YWCA Hartford Region, where she chairs the Board of Directors. She holds a special interest in the history of the early women’s rights and suffrage movements in the U.S. Smith Walsh received her B.A., magna cum laude, in Speech Communication from the University of Alabama, her M.A. in Rhetoric from the University of Maryland, and her J.D., cum laude, from Cornell Law School, where she was an editor of the Cornell Law Review.

Natalie Thompson, an alumna of Howard University, is a civic-minded marketing professional in the nonprofit sector. She is an active member of the Urban League of Greater Hartford Young Professionals and other groups, and  was the 2008 recipient of the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) internship and a 2008 participant in The Washington Post’s Young Journalist Development Program. Her experiences include editorial internships at NBC Universal and Essence Magazine. Thompson is an executive assistant at The Connecticut Forum.

Tiffany Ho, a recent graduate of Yale College, is a serial entrepreneur, sociologist, and community builder. She is authoring a sociology-based book on decision-making in venture capital – exploring why integrity and authenticity matter in business. It is an expansion of her undergraduate senior thesis, which is now taught at the Yale business school as required reading for David Cromwell’s “Venture Capital and Private Equity Investments.” Ho was recognized as a notable woman in business in 2010 by the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame for her work creating ReadySetLaunch, a 501(C)3 organization dedicated to providing college admissions counseling to low-income high school students.
She works for the New York Stock Exchange and her division focuses on cutting-edge technologies and infrastructure within the financial services and capital markets industry.

Mary Jones, is host of The Mary Jones Show on WDRC-AM, The Talk of Connecticut. She had done a weekly segment on NBC CT for 4 years, and is co-author of Incredible Life, co-editor of Women & Friendship, and contributing writer of The Power of Persistence, which reached number one on Amazon's self-improvement list.

Moderator, Kathy McAfee, is a marketing motivator, professional speaker and executive presentation coach. Her mission is to help business leaders more effectively use their energy, influence and resources to create positive changes in the world. Her company, Kmc Brand Innovation, LLC, enables entrepreneurs to become recognized leaders in their fields by mastering the art of high engagement presentations and more effective business networking. She is the author of, Networking Ahead for Business, and an upcoming presentation skills book, Stop Global Boring. McAfee is a certified Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and a certified Blind Spots Profile Coach; she is a co-founder of Power Up Your Professional Image™, a professional development consortium designed to help career-minded women get an edge in the workplace by polishing their image, bolstering their confidence and expanding their networks. She also has 20 years of leadership and marketing experience with global organizations, including living and working in England for an international vision care company. A graduate of Stanford University, she is a member of the National Speakers Association, a board member for the YWCA of the Hartford Region and active member of Soroptimist International of the Americas. She is an ovarian cancer survivor and holds a second-degree black belt in the martial arts of Tae Kwon Do.

Proceeds from the conference are donated to nonprofit charitable organizations that share CT Women's Alliance's mission of helping women and girls. To learn more about the organization and to register for the conference, go to  www.ctwomensalliance.com.