2026 MI ATHENA: LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Track A: Leadership Skills

The Other Kind of Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is a critical driver of both personal well-being and professional success. This interactive workshop explores the skills needed to understand, manage and respond effectively to emotions. Participants will gain practical strategies to strengthen self-awareness, build stronger relationships, navigate change, enhance communication and lead with greater impact. This session provides a roadmap for increasing personal effectiveness, workplace success and overall well-being. 

• Presenter: Jackie Krawczak, Jackie Krawczak, LLC

Track B: Career and Personal Growth

The Civility Code™: Small Leadership Behaviors That Shape Culture and Trust

A leadership experience focused on how leaders communicate, engage and make decisions in moments that test their character. This work moves beyond surface-level professionalism to build cultures grounded in respect, accountability and emotional intelligence. Leaders gain practical tools to strengthen communication, build trust and lead with greater consistency and intention.

• Presenter: Shelley Davis Boyd, Essdee & Co. 

Track C: Wellness and Sustainability

Mindful Leadership: Leading with Presence and Purpose

You’re successful. Capable. Driven. But leadership at a high level often comes with constant pressure, decision fatigue and the feeling that you always need to be “on.” Over time, even the most talented leaders can become disconnected from themselves, their teams and the purpose behind their work. This breakout session is designed for leaders who want to lead with greater clarity, confidence, presence and intention; without losing themselves in the process.

Through practical mindfulness tools, interactive exercises and real-world leadership strategies, you’ll learn how to slow down enough to lead better, communicate more effectively, strengthen team culture and create environments where your team truly thrives. You’ll also walk away with a deeper connection to the kind of leader you genuinely want to be. These are practical, applicable tools you can implement right away to create more meaningful impact in both your leadership and personal life.

• Presenter: Samantha Gutowski, Be Here Now Baby

Track A: Leadership Skills

Release the WAIT: How High Impact Leaders Move Before They Feel Ready

In high-performing environments, women are often taught to prepare, perfect and prove BEFORE they act. And while that may look responsible on the surface, it quietly trains us to wait: for clarity, for confidence, for permission, for the “right” moment. This session challenges that paradigm by exposing the hidden cost of delay in leadership — not only missed opportunities, but diminished voice, stalled influence and ideas that never see the light of day.

With her trademark honesty, compelling storytelling, and incisive perspective, Regina Carey challenges participants to uncover where waiting has taken their lives and leadership hostage. Through relatable examples and real-world application, she introduces a practical framework to help women recognize their patterns of hesitation and shift into purposeful, values-driven action.

This is not about being impulsive or abandoning discernment. It’s about learning to move with uncertainty instead of being managed by it. Participants will leave with language, tools and a renewed capacity to act decisively — expanding their impact, their visibility and the legacy they are here to lead.

• Presenter: Regina Carey, Carey On

Track B: Career and Personal Growth

Pivot with Courage

Change doesn't wait until you're ready. The career shift, the leadership leap, the moment everything you built looks different than you planned. It comes whether you feel prepared or not. In this session, Lisa guides participants through the framework she's used in her own life and with hundreds of coaching clients: how to navigate uncertainty strategically, show up confidently when the ground is shifting, and make bold moves without losing yourself in the process. She draws on her background in corporate and nonprofit leadership, her work as an ICF-certified coach and a lifetime of pivoting under pressure.

Participants leave with the clarity to stop playing it safe, the tools to lead through change and the permission to finally become the leader they've been holding back.

• Presenter: Lisa Tarkington, Lisa Tarkington 

Track C: Wellness and Sustainability

Positively Powering Values: Illuminating What Wires Your Energy and Impact

In leadership, communication isn’t just about what you say — it’s about how you show up. For women leading in complex, fast-paced environments, the ability to communicate with clarity, presence, and intention is what transforms just being heard to truly influencing.

This dynamic, interactive session invites women leaders to elevate how they connect, inspire and lead through communication that aligns words, tone and presence. Participants will explore how subtle shifts in energy — from curiosity to tone to nonverbal cues — can either fuel trust and engagement or quietly erode credibility and connection. Through engaging exercises and real-time reflection, attendees will strengthen their ability to tune into what’s spoken and unspoken, navigate high-stakes conversations with greater confidence and create space for more authentic, impactful dialogue.

We’ll explore what fuels meaningful connection — and what gets in the way — especially when navigating influence, visibility and voice. Designed for women who are ready to innovate how they communicate, inspire through presence and amplify their impact, this session equips leaders with practical strategies to lead conversations with intention and elevate how they are experienced in every interaction. Because when your words, energy and presence align, you don’t just communicate — you influence, inspire and ignite what’s possible.

• Presenter: Nathalie Osborn, Positively Powered Professional Development

8:30-9:15 a.m. | Networking Breakfast

Track A: Leadership Skills

Learning to Love the Dandelions: Resilience in Life and Leadership

Learn to see the stubborn, unexpected moments of life not as weeds to be eradicated, but as wild, persistent signs of strength and possibility. In this interactive session, participants will explore what research teaches us about psychological resilience alongside real, vulnerable stories of surviving cancer and other health issues, mental health struggles, sexism, parenting, business challenges and reinvention.

Together, we will unpack how women navigate leadership transitions, career pivots, the sandwich generation, health issues, ageism, parenting pressures and discrimination, and still show up with courage and heart.

• Presenter: Carrie Rathbun Hawks, Rathbun Public Relations

Track B: Career and Personal Growth

Closing the Gap: How to Advance Your Career

This knowledge sharing session focuses on equipping leaders with strategies to identify and address workforce development needs. It covers methods for assessing current skills, crafting individualized development plans and implementing ongoing coaching aligned with business goals while building a culture of continuous growth, sharing success stories and addressing challenges to empower both employees and organizations.

This topic focuses on how career goals involve, the importance of being able to clearly defining your objectives and more.

• Presenter: Linda Jones

Track C: Wellness and Sustainability

Reinvention Requires Order How to Rebuild with Purpose

Learn how to rebuild your life, career and businesses with clarity, structure and purpose.

This session challenges the idea that reinvention means starting over and instead introduces a practical roadmap for rebuilding on a stronger foundation. Through the O.P.E.R.A.T.E. Framework™, participants will learn how to organize their current reality, prioritize what matters, engineer supportive systems, execute with consistency, activate existing resources, train for the next level, and expand with confidence.

Move from reactive change to intentional reinvention, showing that order is not the end goal. It is the foundation for multiplication.

• Presenter: Algernae King, King Enterprises Unlimited, LLC