Page 16 - BusinessWest Macrh 6, 2023
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT >>
 Fired Up
Bay Path’s
Women’s
Leadership
Conference
Returns on April 6
BY ELIZABETH SEARS
The Women’s Leadership Conference is turning up the heat this year.
When Bay Path University’s signature annual conference returns to the MassMutual Center on Thursday, April 6, the theme will be “Ignite” — an extension of last year’s theme of “Reimagine.” The goal, simply put, is to ignite the post-pandemic professional plans of confer- ence attendees and help turn them into reality.
“Last year, it felt important to bring the community back together to reimagine what may come next that may have shifted
   Betsy Allen-Manning
   Tunde Oyeneyin
  “It’s very much experiential. Some people describe it as transformative. Some people describe it as the only conference they go to in any year because of the value that it brings to them personally as well as professionally. “
over COVID and from being away from the office place,” said Melissa Welch, Communications and Content director at Bay Path and co-chair
of this year’s Women’s Leadership Conference (WLC). “That went so beautifully last year, with people in the community coming together to reimagine what came next for them. So this year, how do we build on that? How do we bring that same excite- ment and motivation back to the community?”
Bay Path President Sandra Doran echoed this sentiment.
“We want them to reignite their passion,” she said. “They’re profes- sional women looking to further their career, looking to further their own professional journey, whether it’s in their existing career or looking out- side of that. And this is the place to do it.”
   Robin Roberts
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MARCH 6, 2023 << PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT >> BusinessWest
The university’s 26th annual conference will feature TV host Robin Roberts and several other speakers (more on them later). The conference typically draws attendees not only from the Pioneer Valley, but from Eastern Mass., Connecticut, New York — anywhere within driving distance, due to the power of the speakers and the power of community.
“This is a new group, a new community ... they’ve got their work community, they’ve got their family community, but now maybe they have a professional-development community. That












































































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