What Event Producers Really Want From Speakers

In this episode of She’s Got the Mic, host Lauren Chapnick sits down with Laura Bagnarol and Louisa Vilardi, the powerhouse women behind the She's the Boss Conference—a curated women’s leadership conference taking place March 22, 2026 in Lagrangeville, NY 

Laura and Louisa are entrepreneurs, speakers, educators, and event producers who share a deeply intentional approach to building community, amplifying women’s voices, and creating conferences that actually serve the audience. In this candid conversation, they pull back the curtain on how She’s the Boss came to life, what they look for in speakers, and why thoughtful curation matters more than ever in the speaking and events industry.

In this episode, we cover:

• How She’s the Boss Conference was born out of frustration with surface-level networking events
• Why Laura turned a moment of gender bias into a thriving youth empowerment business
• How Louisa transitioned from high school English teacher to sought-after photographer and mentor
• The powerful role speaking has played in both of their careers—and why reps matter more than perfection
• Why not every conference has a call for speakers (and what to do instead)
• The biggest mistakes speakers make when pitching events
• How to build genuine relationships with event producers (and be remembered)
• Why attending conferences strategically can open future speaking opportunities
• The importance of intuition, confidence, and using your voice—on and off the stage

This episode is a must-listen for women who want to speak more, produce meaningful events, or simply feel inspired by women who took action instead of waiting for permission.

About She’s the Boss Conference

She’s the Boss is a women-centered leadership conference designed to inspire, energize, and connect women from all walks of life—entrepreneurs, creatives, professionals, stay-at-home moms, and future change-makers alike.

Rather than hosting an open call for speakers, Laura and Louisa intentionally curated four women whose stories, impact, and presence create a powerful collective experience for attendees.

Featured Speakers at She’s the Boss:

• Allie Stroker – Broadway actress and Tony Award winner, sharing a keynote on resilience, possibility, and redefining limitations
• Leah Feldman – CEO of Family Services and the organization’s first female and youngest leader
• Kelly Lingard – CEO of Unshattered, empowering formerly incarcerated women through employment and entrepreneurship
• Jeannie Ocasio-Hampton – Co-owner of Hampton Health, speaking on leadership, aesthetics, and building a business with your spouse

Together, these women model confidence, impact, humility, and leadership—without pitching from the stage.

Event Details:

Website: https://shesthebossconference.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shesthebossconference/

If you loved this episode, make sure to follow, rate, and review She’s Got the Mic—and share it with a woman who’s ready to use her voice.

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Transcript

Welcome And Guest Intros

Lauren Chapnick 0:47

Welcome to She's Got the Mic, the show for women speakers and entrepreneurs using their voice to grow their business. I'm your host, Lauren Chapnick. Let's go. Welcome back, everybody, to She's Got the Mike. I'm Lauren Chapnick. I'm your host. Today I am welcoming two fantastic women. Their names are Laura Bagnerall and Luisa Villardi. They are business owners, entrepreneurs, and they are speakers, and they are event producers. They will tell you all about it, but they are producing an amazing conference coming up in March in the New York Hudson Valley area called She's the Boss. And they will tell you all about it, including what they were looking for in their speakers. So I would like to welcome to the show Louisa and Laura. So Laura and Louisa, welcome to She's Got the Mic. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having us.

Laura’s Journey To Be Big Be Brave

Laura Bagnarol 1:59

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Lauren Chapnick 2:00

Yeah. So whoever wants to jump in first, if you want to just introduce yourself and maybe just talk about your business a little bit, what you do and how you came to start it and all of that stuff.

Laura Bagnarol 2:13

Okay. Um, so I'm actually a social worker by day. Um, but I started my business. It's um it's funny because I was listening to your podcast, and um my company's Be Big Be Brave. And I know you're all about living your biggest, best life. Yes. Before it was she's um got the mic. So um, yeah, we run basically um youth empowerment programs and also programs for adults now, and it's all about just um encouraging kids and adults to lead big, brave lives. So um it started in 2014 when I was home with my kids and um I had left, I was in the field of victim services before that. I had left my career to start raising my kids in in 2008. At the time, I was looking for a little summer camp for my then four-year-old daughter. She was into dance at the time, and I was just I always grew up loving sports, playing sports, and I was just looking for something different. She tried soccer, she didn't love it. So um I basically enrolled her in a program out of state for it was a little across a little across camp for four-year-olds. I couldn't find anything for four-year-old girls.

Speaker 3:28

Yeah.

Laura Bagnarol 3:28

Everything started at five and up. So I enrolled her in this program. It was an awful experience. They basically treated her differently because of her gender. Like it was for boys and girls, but the girls that were enrolled were all like eight, nine, and ten. So they didn't know what to do with a four-year-old girl.

Speaker 3:45

Yeah.

Laura Bagnarol 3:45

So, and I saw them treating her differently, literally just because she was a female. So I kept saying to myself during that whole time, I can run a better program myself. Like I kept hearing myself saying, I can do uh so much like better. I can I can do this myself. So then I started the Pigskin Princess Project, and it's a football, um, flag football empowerment program for little girls ages three to 11. And you love it. Yeah, and so that was just a little program that grew into a business because I was running that and then it kind of like blew up. And I wanted just a little, I just wanted to get out of my house at the time because I had a five, a three, and a one-year-old when I started my business. They're not, they're now 17, 15, and 13. And I just um wanted to be around adult humans again. I missed, I missed people. So yeah, and then from there, I I I have a couple different programs. Um, just again, they're just about encouraging people to lead boldly, you know. And they're all for young women. So, no, actually, they're for little boys too. I started when I started running my program, I had moms of sons come up to me and say, We love what you're doing with these girls. Can you do a program for boys? And I said, they have football for boys. Right. They were like, well, not like what you do. So um I started like two years later in 2016, I started um the Pig Skin Prince project. And it's for little boys ages three to six, because then after six, they can go on and find a flag program. There's so many out there. But um, and it's just really about empowering them. So with the little guys, we talk about what bravery looks like off the football field. So it's not all about scoring touchdowns, it's about living, just being a good human. So we do a lot of work with them around, it's a lot of because I'm a social worker, social emotional um learning that I tie into. So after football, we all sit down, we read a book, I'll highlight a brave boy that's, you know, you know, I used to say, like, you know, he's using his um kind heart to perform noble deeds, like off the field, you know. So um with the girls, I at the time before I started my business, I was reading um Peggy Orinstein, uh Peggy Orinstein's book, um, Cinderella Ate My Daughter. And it was all about princess culture. And my daughter at the time was like, she's love, she was loving the princesses. And I was like, I just after I read this book, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm like, I'm gonna take the most masculine sport on the planet and infuse with princesses and fuse the two together and figure out a way to just um, you know, get girls interested in this sport. So we had we don't do this anymore, but in the beginning, I would we do an hour of football and then I'd sit down with the girls, and for the next hour, we would literally just we'd look at a princess and we'd talk about what made her powerful. So what made her smart, strong, brave, capable, and then we do like a craft around that basically.

Lauren Chapnick 7:00

Um I can see why the the moms of the sons wanted you to do that for their boys.

Laura Bagnarol 7:08

Yeah, yeah.

Lauren Chapnick 7:09

Incredible.

Laura Bagnarol 7:09

I love that. It was really cool. The boys would watch at practice and they'd be like cheering for their sisters and want to play, you know. It was very, very cool.

Empowerment Through Football For Girls And Boys

Lauren Chapnick 7:19

So did you always want to start a business? Even you were working as a social worker. Like, have you always been the kind of person that just wanted to be doing something else, also?

Laura Bagnarol 7:31

Um, I've always been pretty creative, just a million ideas running through my head all the time. And I think kids, when I was home with my kids, I was um they're just so fun and inspiring, and I just wanted more. And um I was, you know, it's hard when you're home for, you know, all these years and years and years, and you're like, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do now? And then I just um, you know, the idea from my daughter and just being so disheartened at the programs that existed, just got the idea, and it was kind of an accident. I didn't really see myself, I just wanted to start a program for her. And then it turned into an LLC because I was like, oh my gosh, so much of my career can inform this work, you know. So I just ran with it. And now, um, you know, we have a uh I got certified in self-defense because I met a mom through Pigskin who was like, I love what you're doing with these girls. She's one of our speakers, she's gonna be one of our speakers that she's the boss. And she's like, let's start a program together. And I was like, Okay. And so started the Brave Project. It's a youth empowered, it's a it's a self-defense safety awareness program for middle school and high school age girls because my background was all about working with um survivors of abuse. So um, in all of this work, I never forgot the overwhelmingly female victims of abuse that I worked with. And it's just about like giving girls the chance to just live loudly and to just be to never let their gender inhibit them from trying something that the culture may label like not feminine or too masculine or whatever. I just I it's all about I guess like just combating gender stereotypes because I've seen so much damage done when we when we um put boys and girls in boxes and say you have to act a certain way because you're female or male. So so much of that came from working with you know victims and just experience with you know uh traditional gender roles and how harmful they can be for people for both boys and girls, you know.

Lauren Chapnick 9:39

Yeah. Awesome. Thank you for sharing that. Um, Louisa, what about you? Can you tell us about your photography business and how you came to start that?

Louisa Vilardi 9:50

Absolutely. I'm doing a little BTS here, so my son keeps making a special appearance.

Lauren Chapnick 9:55

It's all good.

Louisa Vilardi 9:56

Uh so I am my educational background is all education and English. So I was a high school English teacher for over a decade, and then I wanted to stay home and raise my kids. And while I was deciding to stay home and raise my kids, my mother passed away right after my first son was born. So I had a lot of decisions to make very quickly. I think it my mother passing away changed the trajectory of where I thought my life was going to be professionally. So uh at that time and throughout, like so from high school, college, and you know, my younger, my way younger years, I have always been interested in photography, but it was a hobby and it was something that was always labeled as a hobby. And um, I just took it more seriously after I decided that I was gonna resign from teaching. The district was great, it ended up giving me one year and then another year on top of that. So I really had two years to kind of make the decision of whether I was gonna stay home, go back. You know, I really wanted to raise my kids. So I slowly and very secretly was starting a business and it all worked out. So now, about 10 years later, I have a very blooming photography business. I'd like to say it's bloomed, but it's really blooming. I feel like it's it just keeps kind of getting better year after year. Um, the last few years I've leaned into photography education where I've been running some workshops and retreats and been mentoring like one-on-one. And that's like really where my heart's at, because I'm able to fuse education and all my practices into photography.

Lauren Chapnick 11:42

That's great. You mean with up-and-coming photographers?

Louisa Vilardi 11:45

Up-and-coming or fully, fully, fully established photographers who just need to revamp business strategies or you know, they're stuck making a certain income and they can't increase it. Uh, you know, so they'll come to me for some strategies on how to increase revenue or get new clients or expand or whatever.

Lauren Chapnick 12:05

Okay, that's great. And then how do both of you use speaking in your business to grow your business?

From Victim Services To Self‑Defense Education

Laura Bagnarol 12:12

It's so funny because I I realized in thinking about, you know, speaking with you that I, when I was 24 years old, I was presented with a job opportunity to be a public speaker. I was um at the agency that I worked for at the time I worked with um crime victims, and it was a community educator position. So it's so crazy to me that I've been speaking for, you know, oh my gosh, I don't even want to give away my age, but a very long time. And it all started when I was 24 and I did not want that job. My father's like, it's a step up, like you have to take it if you want to make any money. You know, it was a world of nonprofit, and he was like, so it was like the rape crisis community educator, and I had to go into schools across Westchester and talk to kids um as young as five years old. We do like safe touch talks, and then with older kids, we talk about, you know, date rape and and um, and then we would go to the police academy and educate newly uh officers, new officers, recruits on how to investigate sexual assault cases. I actually ran the um forensic rape uh nurse examiner program. So when I saw you were a nurse, I was like, oh my god, such a respect for nurses because these women were incredible. They'd leave their homes in the middle of the night and um do the forensic rape exam on survivors, sexual assault. And um, so I've been speaking in my career literally for 25 years now. And um, it's everything, it's it's made me so confident and I've grown so much. And I can't believe I started so young. And then today, like we I do gigs with um Girl Scouts. So um that's so fun. So speaking to Girl Scouts, I've spoken to women in business. Um, there's some Hudson Valley women organizations where um I've spoken to women in business about being brave, how to be brave in your business. Um, that's been a lot of fun. So, and just every day, like my nine to five job, I go into classrooms and I do some read alouds with children, and we speak about um just lots of different subjects that all has to do with, you know, like I said, social emotional learning. So I'm speaking all the time. You you can't get me to shut up right now, but I won't stop. No, never. And it's um it's an amazing thing. Like my daughter's taking a public speaking class right now in high school, and I'm like, this is incredible because I didn't do that until college. Um, the fact that they're doing it in high school is huge, it's everything because it really that's great, yeah. So I love what you're doing, by the way. I think it's incredible. So much of what I've read about you is right in line with like everything Luisa and I trying to do through this conference and just how everything you say. I know I feel the same way. Yeah, incredible.

Lauren Chapnick 14:57

So yeah, that's great. So I'm just curious when you were 24 and you got offered that position, were you why didn't you want to do it? Were you just intimidated? You were scared.

Laura Bagnarol 15:07

Yeah, I was like in the field with, you know, I was one of the youngest in the field, and my dad was the one that was just like, you have to take this job. Like you have to. There's it's not even a question. I was I was scared because, you know, uh being new to the field, um, you know, I just wasn't, you know, I didn't feel ready. And then you just like anything else, the more you do it, you just get better and better at it, you know. And um You were thrown into it.

Lauren Chapnick 15:34

I mean, like, what better way to do it than to just totally do it?

Laura Bagnarol 15:37

You know, I had to, and you know, there was like a lot of bumps in the way. I had a wonderful mentor. My boss was like incredible. She did a lot of modeling, and um, I had a shadow her and watch her and learn from her. But the more you work, you know, the more I worked with um people, survivors, the more passionate I became about the work that I was doing. And I would go out there because, you know, you want to prevent this crime from happening. So um I would tell them what I saw. And, you know, we teach a lot about even now, um, a lot of my um everything I do involves speaking. Like we run these groups for women, these self-defense programs, and um we talk about intuition all the time and how it's your superpower. Like it literally can save your life if you listen to yourself. And you know, as women, we are constantly like second guessing sometimes or shutting it down, or you know, so just reminding women to always trust their gut and listen to that inside voice, and it could it could save your life, literally.

Lauren Chapnick 16:41

Yeah, for sure. We had a self-defense expert as one of the speakers at my event in November. And that was we were all thinking she was gonna teach us how to punch and everything, and she said, No, I'm gonna teach you how to trust your gut and use your voice before you get into that situation.

Speaker 4 16:57

Yes.

Lauren Chapnick 16:57

So it was it was pretty eye-opening. Um, and then Louisa, how about you? How do you use speaking in your business?

Louisa Vilardi 17:03

So uh really most of my experience prior to having a photography business was me speaking at schools and universities about writing. So that is actually how it started. I really spoke about writing and literature and creative writing and publishing and anything that falls under the umbrella of words. Um, and then when I became a photographer, I was still speaking about writing, but then I showed up at it was Saddlebrook High School, which is where I went, and they had invited me to come speak. And when I showed up the sign, which always said Luisa Villardi author or Luisa Villardi writer, this said writer and photographer. And I was like, Oh my God. You know, I was like, wait a minute. And at that point, I had kind of created some lessons and activities on like fusing photography and writing, using photography as prompts and things like that. But now, many years later, I'm I'm speaking a lot about photography and the business of photography, really, versus the technicality, you know, of photography. Yeah, it's really the business of it. Um, if it gets into actual photography learning, I teach about posing and things like that, but that's as far as I go.

unknown 18:18

Yeah.

Louisa Vilardi 18:19

I won't teach the ins and outs of a camera or anything like that.

Lauren Chapnick 18:23

Yeah, it's basically how to market yourself as a photographer, if I'm understanding. Yeah, I love that. That's so needed.

Louisa Vilardi 18:29

Yeah.

Lauren Chapnick 18:29

So I have to know how did you two meet and how long have you been friends?

Laura Bagnarol 18:34

Okay. Was it 2019 conference? It had to be because it was before COVID. Yeah. So I was involved in a project, um, organizing a conference. I'm always looking to do something through my business speaking events, or and I partnered with um some local uh moms, and Luisa was one of our speakers at that event. And and I spoke about writing.

Louisa Vilardi 18:58

I spoke about five ways to incorporate writing into your family life, like with your kids.

Laura Bagnarol 19:04

And it was wonderful. And she was so um like helping, like very hands-on, offering her help at the day of the event, and just um wonderful. And then we learned literally like after this that she lived on my road. Like I had no idea that she lived on my road because I was new to I only moved there, like I had just moved there, so I didn't even realize that.

Louisa’s Pivot From Teaching To Photography

Louisa Vilardi 19:26

And then yeah, it's not like it helps with scheduling, by the way. I just want to make that people think because we live a few doors down from each other that this is like easy and we like live in the same, like on the same in the same hallway at college and we have meetings. Meanwhile, it's actually more difficult, you know.

Lauren Chapnick 19:45

So I'm sure, yeah.

Laura Bagnarol 19:47

The other day we were like, who approached? We don't even remember like how she's the boss really came to be like who approached who. I we just at the same time, I think, right? We're we're like, do you want to do something together?

Speaker 20:02

You know, I just I think we had like a conversation about just the lack of good conferences, yeah, events for women.

Lauren Chapnick 20:11

Yeah, that was my next question. Was because you are producing this women's leadership conference in March called She's the Boss. And so that was my question. How did it come to be? How did you decide we are going to put on this amazing event?

Louisa Vilardi 20:27

I mean, my so from my perspective, I just was unhappy with the offerings out there for women. And I felt like a lot of the networking events were really more like mixers, you know, and mixers are fine. But they were marketed as they were marketed as networking, but you would show up and it was just like this just hundreds of people. And by the time you had a conversation with someone, you realize that they're not anyone you really want to network with. Yeah. And then you've moved on, but that person has like 10 business cards in their pocket. So they don't really want to talk to you. And I have a big background in production, like theater production. So when I show up and something is not organized, I'm just cringing inside.

Lauren Chapnick 21:10

Yeah. I could do this so much better.

Louisa Vilardi 21:12

Yeah. But I want to help those people. That's my issue. Is that I leave and I come home and I tell my husband my experience. And he's like, do not email them. And I'm like, no. Okay, give me some notes. Yes, but I but I my notes are so I think like critical in a way that will only improve the experience of everybody else. Um, or I might be delusional and I might be in the minority, you know, and I might be the only person that felt that way. But I knew that whatever we did together, I just wanted to be organized and curated in a way that will be helpful for anybody that comes. That's that's how I felt. You know, and I trust Laura. We've talked a lot about writing. Laura's also a writer, she's published. I mean, so we I feel like we jive that way. And um, but we also have what I feel like we're also very different. Yeah. I I feel like we're very different, but yeah, like you complement each other really well.

Lauren Chapnick 22:09

So tell everybody listening what is she's the boss? When is it? Where is it, and what can people expect?

Louisa Vilardi 22:18

Okay, so she's the boss is a conference for women, but we won't turn away men, right? Like if a man wants to buy a ticket, you know, it's just totally welcome. We just might be talking about nipples and vaginas, you know, for four hours. So they just have to deal with it. Um but I don't think that's on the agenda. It's not on the agenda, but they might hear those words. Uh and it is on Sunday, March 22nd. Uh, it is at the links at Unionvale, which is in LaGrangeville. Yeah, I was gonna say it. Oh doors open at 9:30. It officially starts at 10 o'clock. We end at two. We have four, we have a keynote speaker and three other speakers that are joining us. We have a ton of sponsors and just an amazing amount of support from people like we didn't know even knew us.

Speaking As A Growth Engine

Laura Bagnarol 23:05

Yeah. And like like you, um, Lauren, we just we want to amplify women's voices. We want to hand her the mic, and we want like um, we just want we the the four speakers we have, like Louisa is friendly with two of them, I'm friendly with two of them. Well, we're friendly with all of them, but like Louisa has special connections to two, and we actually sought them out because I'd had I heard two of them speak, and I was like so blown away. I remember like looking around me, being like, did anyone else feel that? You know, like when I heard speak. And I was like, I want the whole world to hear these two women, you know? And um and this was years ago, but I was like, I would love to just and everybody I know, you know, through professionally, I've always said, like, have you know so-and-so? She runs this organization. So we just we're surrounded by so many powerful women in our community, but I feel like people, you know, everyday women don't get to like experience them, right? You know, so this is giving them a chance to, and you know, at first we were like, well, maybe this is for women in business, but we really shifted from that to really, you know, this really is for the mom who's home, who I hate the term stay at home because I've never worked harder in my life. Those 13 years that I was home with my children, like it was the hardest work. And I just, it's so isolating, you know. And I just I wanted um a conference for women to just, you know, first of all, to have a day out and just to become inspired and motivated. And they might not be thinking today about something they want to do, like five years from now when their children are grown. But even if we could just plant a seed, or if not even a seed, just give them something that they can just walk away from feeling like awesome to be female. Do you know what I mean? And empowered, right? Yeah.

Louisa Vilardi 24:57

Like just like they can, you know, seize the day kind of thing. And the other thing that I think is interesting about our conference that really touches on your program is that we did not do a call for speakers. We were pretty like adamant that, especially because it's our first conference, that we would choose our, we would select them. And it wasn't like we just knew it was going to be these four. I mean, we really had lengthy conversations about it. But I think that for anyone who's listening who wants to be a speaker, if I if I may, I would like to say a few things. So um, so if a conference does not have a call for speakers, don't submit to be a speaker because they are not looking for speakers. And it's almost like you're just not even looking into, like if anyone looks at our website, they know that our agenda is done. We have our speakers, but we still get emails asking if they could speak. And I think that that is something that women or men or whoever is in the speaking world should understand that you should do your research. And if you are interested in speaking, for example, if you look at she's the boss conference.com and you know we have speakers, but you're like, wow, this looks amazing. I want to speak at this. You should pitch us something for like 2027, you know. Um, or the other thing, right?

Lauren Chapnick 26:20

Like I see you have your speakers lined up, they look incredible. I just wanted to pass this along in case for 2027. Yes, that would be doing your due diligence.

Louisa Vilardi 26:31

The best thing to do, I think, is to just come, you know. So if you want to speak and you and you want to speak at this conference next year, if we do this next year, we're still undecided because we have to get through this one. But um, I think coming and experiencing it, and then at the end being like, I really love what these women have done, and like shaking our hand and saying, you know, I'm a speaker, I'd love to connect. That's a great, that is that that's like true networking, because then we remember when we have a post-mortem and we're like what worked and what didn't, I can say, Oh, I met, yeah. And she's and Laura will say, I met her too. She was lovely. And then we remember that. The other thing, too, when there is a call for speakers, because I've been on the end of conferences where we I have, you know, we have done call for calls for speakers. People are not doing their research, they're applying to speak at conferences that actually have nothing to do with their experience. So, and then that happens with like writing submissions as well. People don't follow guidelines and then they submit to a publisher or an agent and they just toss it right to the side because they're like, why are you sending me like a rom-com when I only on my website have said clearly that I publish only like R. Like, you know, so I think that in in your world, anyone listening that does want to speak, I I that that is my honest opinion and piece of advice. You know, do your research, and if you really want to speak, you need to know what your who your audience is and and you know, yeah, where you're replying to.

Lauren Chapnick 28:03

Yeah. Did you get anybody emailing you that you would be open to speaking to for next year if you do it? And what did they do right?

Louisa Vilardi 28:13

Um, so some I don't well, some I don't reply because they're stock, they're stock. I could tell that they're just like stock emails that they send out to like 16 people that morning. Yeah. And if there's too many m-dashes, I know it's just been generated by chat, you know, so I just know that. Um I don't know if something has like blown me away.

Lauren Chapnick 28:35

Yeah, yeah. I was just curious. But that is that's a really good feedback, that's good information. It seems like common sense, but sometimes it's not that common. Common sense, and I think that's great advice. And to just come and immerse yourself in that world if you can is very smart.

Laura Bagnarol 28:54

I think these are women too, all four of them, that really aren't trying to sell you anything.

Lauren Chapnick 28:59

Yeah, literally just want to tell their story.

Laura Bagnarol 29:01

Oh my gosh, and they're so passionate and they're leading such impactful lives, but they're also so humble. Like you would never, I mean, they're making they're such change makers, you know, but they're also everyday women. They're, you know, moms, some of them, and they're just they're really they're like definitely movers and shakers, you know, and we're so excited to like bring in the world.

Lauren Chapnick 29:23

So can you just tell us who like who are the four speakers? What are their names, and maybe just like a a little bit about each of them, and what was it that made you choose them?

How Laura And Louisa Met

Laura Bagnarol 29:33

Okay, so Leah Feldman is the CEO of Family Services, it's a huge social service organization and duchess, and she's the mom that I met through my football program. And um, she was actually there with her niece. Uh, she didn't even have kids yet. And she was like, I'm an aunt of one of these girls. I love what you're doing. Let me tell you about myself. And at the time, she was um not the CEO of the agency. So I've watched her, you know, grow. And she is the she was the first female CEO of this agency and the youngest. And she's just such a force of nature. She's incredible. She for fun runs. She's like this, I forgot what they call those crazy runners that run like 50 miles. They call them crazy runners. That's what they call like Spartan racers or something. Yeah, but she she started this 50 to N stigma fundraiser for family services where she literally runs 52 miles. 52 miles, Lauren. Who does that? I know she gets up at like 3 a.m. and she goes until like six at night, and she's just she's incredible. So she's gonna share her story. And then Kelly Lingard is the CEO of Unshattered. It's an organization. They create these beautiful handbags and purses and bags of all kinds. Um, and their employee their employees are formerly incarcerated women who have these um, you know, histories of trauma that have completely reclaimed their lives. They're bosses in every sense of the word, these women. They've turned their lives around and she's doing amazing work right here, like in our community. Um, and then did you want to speak to um yeah?

Louisa Vilardi 31:10

Um, Jeannie Ocasio Hampton is our other speaker. She owns a co-owner of Hampton Health. I thought that having somebody in the aesthetics world is would be important just because I feel like anywhere on social media, aesthetics is like taking over the world, you know, and her practice is really amazing. It's a medical practice with, you know, there there is a you know a spot for aesthetics as well, but it is a medical practice and it's beautiful and new, and she co-owns it with her husband. So I thought, what an amazing story to tell these women what it's like to, because many business owner, many females own businesses with other women or other men, or did they co-own something? And I thought, wouldn't it be great to talk about co-owning something but now co-owning something with your husband? You know, what are what are the pros and cons of that? How does that work? You know, kind of thing. Um and Allie Stroker is our keynote speaker, and she's Broadway actress, Tony Award winner. So having somebody as our keynote speaker with a disability is I think just really amazing that she can speak to like turning your limitations into possibility, really. And that's exactly what she did. You know, there's certain things that people just like don't realize. Like if you've ever been on an audition in New York City, right? Like you get to this building, it's 47 floors, the elevator doesn't work, you know, and it's it's like little things like that that like people just don't even think about. And obviously much bigger struggles that she has been through, but it's like little things like that, you know, feeling like you are motivated enough to make it to Broadway, and then you encounter all of these challenges throughout your life, and and then does make it to Broadway and then wins a freaking Tony Award, you know.

Laura Bagnarol 32:56

Um, and she's just amazing. So she's so like like you say, Lauren, you know, that energy, your energy is contagious, and all these women, their energy is so infectious. Like when I we had a photo shoot with the four of them, and when Allie, I remember I got there early, and Allie came peeling into the parking lot with Olivia Dean blasting, and I'm like, who the hell is this? You know, and then she comes out of the car and she like throws her wheelchair down, she's got Duncan in one hand, she's like, Oh hey! Like she was just I mean, I just I've seen the picture of her with the Duncan. Oh my god, those photos are epic. She brought like so much, yeah, so much positivity into that shoot for anyone that was like a little bit nervous. And I think there were, you know, we were all a little bit, and she just was just like, you know, it was just like second nature to her to be in that room. And you can tell she's like a award-winning actress because she's just like she's just so comfortable in front of the spotlight, and she's she's amazing. I can't wait for everyone to just and that day was amazing.

Louisa Vilardi 33:58

I thought like it set the tone for the week was a Sunday morning, and right we had lunch together, and I don't know, it just felt like I left there and I was like, I love the world, and I don't but I left being like I love life, yes, and that's kind of how we want people to leave. She's the boss, right? Yeah.

Why Create She’s The Boss

Laura Bagnarol 34:18

Inspired, motivated, you know. And you talk a lot about like, you know, looking for more, and you know, it just if if if they are, I hope that this, you know, if they walk away with at least one takeaway of something that'll help them in in their life, forget about business, but in their life, you know.

Lauren Chapnick 34:37

Yeah, you were so intentional in who you chose. And it sounds like having them all in the same room, you've created such a positive energy, and you can't help but have everybody walk away feeling changed after experiencing all of that. So you're doing such amazing work. I can't wait to see it. And I hope everybody listening can come and check it out. Where can people buy tickets? Where can they find out more? What is the best way to reach you guys and find out more about She's the Boss?

Louisa Vilardi 35:11

They can visit the website at she's the bossconference.com.

Lauren Chapnick 35:15

Okay, easy enough.

Laura Bagnarol 35:16

We're on Instagram, she's the boss conference as well. Yeah.

Lauren Chapnick 35:20

Perfect. And I will link all of that in the show notes.

Louisa Vilardi 35:24

Amazing.

Lauren Chapnick 35:24

Is there anything else that we left out that you wanted to make sure we discussed? Anything else that you wanted to share?

Louisa Vilardi 35:32

Um, just I really think anyone listening, if they are interested in a speaking career coming to the conference, I think will encourage you to like you'll see four different speakers. And and Dr. Walters, our powerhouse sponsor, is going to be speaking at the beginning as well. Um, she's a local uh dentist who is our biggest financial supporter of the conference, and so she'll be speaking as well. So you'll get to hear from a dentist. I mean, yeah.

Laura Bagnarol 35:57

Even our sponsors there, they're not all female-owned, but like the majority of them are female-owned businesses. Dr. Walters literally, my kids went there for braces. She's an ortho. And I I remember walking in was like, I don't know if you saw Wonder Woman, but it was like an all-female disturbing, you know, world. Yeah. Her her um her business, it's all women, every single person. And it's just the energy in there, the vibe, it's just so fun. And they just they play, they have, you know, they just they're just wonderful. And I was like, this would be an amazing sponsor to have just because, you know, it's all women, and there's then they run an amazing organization. And when she said yes, we were like, this is perfect, you know. So yeah, so but even the sponsors, like, we didn't just you know approach anyone. We really thought about like we go to these businesses, we use these products, we you know, we love these, the owners of these businesses.

Louisa Vilardi 36:53

I hope you're enjoying the background music of my keyboard. I'm so sorry for that.

Laura Bagnarol 36:58

I can't even hear it. Oh, but we just want to give them a lot of welcome. We just want to give them a lot of love and support because they're they're all doing such incredible work, you know, in their own way.

Lauren Chapnick 37:09

That's awesome. I'm so happy for you guys. It's like you just had this vision and you brought it to life. Yeah, a lot of people sit and talk about, oh, I really wanted to do this, and you took action and you did it, which is just what it's all about. So I hope you inspire other people to do the same thing, and I hope you keep going because it's you can't help but make it an incredible success just based on everything you've already done.

Louisa Vilardi 37:35

Thank you. Thank you.

Curation Over Calls For Speakers

Lauren Chapnick 37:37

Yeah, so thank you so much for joining us and we will see you in March. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Laura and Louisa. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. I cannot wait to come to She's the Boss in March. It is going to be a day that we will all remember. And we should also mention that March is International Women's Month. So there you go. Be sure to check out their conference. All of the links are in the show notes below. And until the next time, take action to change your life. Get off your butt, trust your gut, get it done. I'll see you next week. Bye-bye. Thanks for listening to She's Got the Mic. If you enjoyed today's episode, hit follow, rate, and review, and send it to another woman who's ready to take the mic. And for a weekly hit of Hell Yes Energy, plus behind-the-scenes invites to live speaking experiences, text the word speak to eight three three six eight one six four six three. That's speak to eight three three six eight one six four six three. Now go make some noise.