14th Annual Women's Leadership Conference at Johns Hopkins University - 2026

Delighted to participate in the 14th annual Women’s Leadership Conference at Johns Hopkins University on March 20th. As an alumnus of their Carey Business School, I’m always excited about opportunities to continue to learn and connect with like-minded folks…especially when it comes to one of my favorite topics: 💜 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 💜

As a leadership & organizational innovation enthusiast, this is my kind of conference!

Our keynote speaker was U.S. Senate candidate and alumni Amy McGrath. She’s a national security expert and Marine Corps F/A-18 fighter pilot and weapons systems officer who served three combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. After 24 years in military service, she served as a Congressional fellow, Marine Corps’ liaison to the State Department, AND started a 501(c)(4) nonpartisan organization committed to leadership development for women called Honor Bound Honor Bound, Inc.

🌟 Check out her podcast about national security and politics called “Truth in the Barrel” https://www.truthinthebarrel.com/)

In addition to her keynote, I attended various sessions that deepened my perspective on leadership as a woman, taught me strategies for networking with intention, and helped me better understand technology, brain chemistry, and self-care.

Here's some of what I learned: 

🟣 The most important trait is courage. Have the courage to do the things you “can’t” do. The best leaders were the ones who had the courage to fail and pick themselves back up.

🟣 Don’t beat yourself up about past decisions. It’s what you knew at the time. You live with it. Don’t regret; move on and live with the consequences. You do the best you can, and you make the best decisions you can with the information you have.

🟣 Country first. Country above political party or a person. The right leader will put the country first and foremost above any person or political party. Leaders have integrity.

🟣 Do not take it all on. Press forward. Be competent. Let the chips fall where they may.

🟣 Do the things that rejuvenate you.

🟣 Be uncomfortable. The things you will be most proud of will probably be those things you thought you could not do. But you CAN do it. Do it and work on a plan.

🟣 Women get elected at the same rate as men, but there are less women in politics because they don’t run at the same rate. If you’re interested in running for office; do it.

🟣 FACT: You can improve your mental health, reduce stress, and boost your mood by viewing green scenery, even as an image or photo. Looking at nature scenes still stimulates healthy bodily benefits similar to if you were outside with nature.

🟣 15 minutes is 1% of your day. What can you do in those 15 minutes to put you closer to the most important goal you’d like to accomplish in the next 30 days?

🟣 Kaizen: Japanese for “small good”. The science of small reminds us that tiny actions bypass the brain’s alarm system, which when taken consistently these small steps compound into lasting change.

🟣 Get productive rest; this means an activity that is designed to allow for a cause in productivity that supports the brain such as but not limited to movements, nourishment, connection, nature, and meditation

🟣 When networking (as presented by Nettie Owens of the Sappari Group):

(#1 Intrigue) Ask an engaging, maybe slightly controversial question.

(#2 Interest) Ask about your partner, be curious. Build rapport.

(#3 Introduce) Share about yourself. What do you want people to know about you?

(#4 Invite) Extend an invitation to continue the conversation, and

(#5 Transition) Gracefully exit or deepen the connection

🟣 Conversation Starters:

• 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦?

• 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒?

• 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑗𝑜𝑏 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡?

• 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛’𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔?

• 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑎 10 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑎 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘, 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓, ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡?

• 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑢𝑛?

• 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡?

• 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜?

• This was my first year attending; I'm already looking forward to next year. 

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🪻As a clinical sociologist and educator, I am excited about opportunities to speak and teach!

With 20+ years in organization development and a combined 9+ years of teaching over twenty different courses as a part-time faculty member at four institutions, I welcome opportunities to lead undergraduate and graduate courses in-person or virtually.

DM me today to invite me to (1) give a keynote at your event, (2) serve as a guest lecturer, or (3) teach a course on any of the following topics: 💞 𝐸𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑐 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒, 𝑂𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐼𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 + 𝐵𝑒ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑟, 𝑇𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝐵𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦, 𝐵𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑟 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠.