Fireside Chat Series
Vital Voices Global Partnership
On Friday, July 26, GlobalWE Connect will hold the seventh edition of our Women’s Empowerment Fireside Chat Series featuring Vital Voices Global Partnership and Senior Vice President of Leadership and Social Impact Zoë Dean-Smith.
For more than 25 years, Vital Voices Global Partnership has been investing in women leaders solving the world’s greatest challenges. They are “venture catalysts,” identifying those with a bold vision for change and partnering with them to make that vision a reality. They scale and accelerate their impact through long-term investments to expand the skills, connections, capacity, and visibility of women leaders.
Vital Voices provided early support for leaders who went on to become Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, U.S. Youth Poet Laureates, prime ministers, and breakthrough social entrepreneurs. Since its founding in 1997, Vital Voices has directly supported more than 20,000 women change makers across 185 countries and built the most powerful global network of women leaders who are daring to reimagine a more equitable world for all.
Zoë Dean-Smith
Senior Vice President, Leadership & Social Impact
Zoë is responsible for driving Vital Voices’ global approach to Leadership and Social Impact, to advance the organization’s mission. The LSI Department develops and manages holistic programs to advance women’s leadership and expand their social impact. LSI also lends its expertise and advice on best practices and subject matters including mentorship, entrepreneurship, and economic empowerment.
She is an international award-winning social entrepreneur and social impact visionary with experience in economic empowerment & entrepreneurship, community development, leadership, and mentoring across the world in sectors including social enterprise, for-profit business, and non-profit organizations around the world, with a driving force to provide solutions and bring positive change.
Since 2008, Zoë has presented the Holistic Life Map – a life-changing personal development workshop – to multiple audiences around the world. She serves on the Boards of the Good Shepherd International Foundation (Italy), the Grassroots Business Fund (USA), on the International Advisory Council of Days for Girls (USA), and has served on the Jury of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards. In 2008, Zoë initiated a young women’s mentorship program in the Kingdom of Eswatini. She has served as a mentor in the EnCompass LLC Advanced Gender Integration and Leadership (AGILE) course for USAID Gender Advisors, the Cherie Blair Mentoring Women in Business program, and the Mandela Washington Fellowship Program for Young African Leaders.
Anika Gray, moderator
Director of the Gender Equity Initiative, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Anika has been at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law since June 2023. She has a rich array of gender, diversity and inclusion experiences spanning the public and private sectors in the U.S. and the Caribbean. She was the Gender and Inclusion Specialist for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) where she advised and supported regional Chief Justices as well as the President of the CCJ to develop gender-responsive programs and policies for the judiciary, including the development of specialised sexual offences courts and gender sensitivity training and protocol for judges. She has also worked for the World Bank Group in Washington DC, advising private sector clients on the business case for investing in gender and with the UN, developing programs to improve women’s economic empowerment and prevent and respond to gender-based violence.
Register Here: Please register via Zoom to receive a virtual link.
Event Details
Date: Friday, July 26
Time: 12:00 PM EST
Location: Virtual (online) event. Open to all! Login details will be sent to registrants upon completion of the registration process.
Cost: While this event is FREE we would appreciate any accompanying donation to help support us in offering events like this throughout the year.
About Fireside Chat Series
Launched in 2021, the Fireside Chat Series features dialogues with senior leaders of organizations serving women and girls worldwide and the challenges and opportunities they encounter in a rapidly-changing world. The first four events in this series featured BRAC and BRAC USA, Women for Women International, CAMFED USA, and Special Needs Initiative for Growth.
GlobalWE Connect is an initiative that connects Harvard University alumni with organizations leading the way globally for women’s empowerment in the arts, social services, education, health, economic development, entrepreneurship, policy, STEM, and other fields. GlobalWE Connect provides a forum for discussion with these organizations and hosts a Women’s Empowerment Expo, which enables these organizations to engage with Harvard University alumni and students as well as professors, staff, and other members of the Harvard University community who seek internships, volunteer, mentorship, career exploration, and charitable giving opportunities.
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