Women's Leadership Institute presents "Fashioning Change"

Mount Mary University's Women's Leadership Institute is hosting an inspirational conversation with Carly Fiorina and Lauren Bush Lauren, March 5. Note: Due to weather conditions on the East Coast and flight cancellations, Carly Fiorina will be participating via Skype.

As part of its mission to educate, prepare and encourage women to be transformative leaders, Mount Mary University's Women's Leadership Institute is hosting an inspirational conversation with Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and global ambassador for Opportunity International, and Lauren Bush Lauren, a social innovator, entrepreneur and the founder of FEED Projects. Fiorina and Bush Lauren will share their experiences on Fashioning Change and how they used innovation to forge their own paths on Wed., March 5, 7:30 - 10:30 a.m. at Mount Mary University, Bergstrom Hall, 2900 North Menomonee River Parkway, Milwaukee.

"Carly and Lauren embody the leadership skills and creative thinking that women need to become powerful agents of change," says Beth Wnuk, executive vice president for administrative services and executive director of the Women's Leadership Institute at Mount Mary University. "Our goal for the event is to bring a diverse group of area women together so they can learn how to implement positive change."

Fashioning Change is part of the Women's Leadership Institute's "Voices of Leadership" speaker series that recruits leaders from all walks of life to share their experiences, stories and best practices with business leaders, community members, Mount Mary students and alumnae and others. Last year, the Institute brought Jessica Jackley, founder of Kiva.org, and Nina Vaca, CEO of Pinnacle Resources, Inc., to Mount Mary to address Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Fashioning Change major sponsors include the School Sisters of Notre Dame, Wells Fargo Asset Management and Opportunity International.

Fiorina on Fashioning Change

carly-fiorina.png“In our world and throughout our communities and places of work and worship, we face both vast opportunities and enormous difficulties,” says Fiorina. “We can confront these only through creativity, leadership, empathy, determination, collaboration and problem-solving. We can only fully master our challenges by unlocking human potential.”

In addition to serving as the global ambassador for Opportunity International, in 2008, Fiorina joined forces with Condi Rice, then Secretary of State, to form the One Woman Initiative, a public-private partnership focused on providing access to justice, leadership training, and tools to enable women to assume local entrepreneurial or leadership roles in countries around the world. One Woman fulfilled meaningful projects in Pakistan, India, the Philippines, Azerbaijan, and Egypt funding capacity building projects focused on micro-financing, grassroots agri-business, leadership training, and local education efforts for women.

“Every problem that exists in the world is made better when women get to play,” says Fiorina.

Bush Lauren on Fashioning Change

lauren-bush-lauren.png“At FEED, we believe people's purchases have the power to transform the world,” says Bush Lauren. “It all started with a simple idea I had almost ten years ago, as a college student, to create a tote bag that would feed one child in school for an entire year.”

Since its founding in 2007, FEED has provided more than seventy-five million meals to children globally. This year, Bush Lauren was recognized as one of Forbe’s 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs and in 2013 she received the World of Children Advocacy Award.

Following the Fashioning Change event, Bush Lauren will continue the “change” conversation with 100 Mount Mary students.

About the Fashioning Change Event

A limited number of tickets are still available for Fashioning Change, which begins at 7:30 a.m. Fiorina and Bush Lauren will each speak for 30 minutes about their creative approaches to life, business and social justice. A moderated, 15-minute Q&A will follow both segments.

Fashioning Change is more than a one-time event at Mount Mary,” says Wnuk. “It supports our larger Creative Campus Initiative that strategically addresses the need for educating tomorrow’s women with creative leadership skills. The initiative infuses creative approaches into all areas of our curriculum and the student experience.”

For more information on the Women’s Leadership Institute and upcoming speakers, education opportunities and the Summer Leadership Institute, please visit mtmary.edu.