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Event News: Empowering Girls For Life Convention Goes Virtual (& Free) On Saturday, October 3, 2020!

Carol Hutchins and Jessica Mendoza in 2018 at the first Empowering Girls for Life convention.

The 3rd annual Empowering Girls for Life convention will take place on Saturday, October 3, 2020—two weeks from tomorrow–but this year will be virtual (and free) meaning those who want to watch and learn from the great lineup of speakers can do so online.

This one-day event is designed for girls and women of all ages to be inspired by the stories of successful females from different industries, while also enjoying networking with sponsors.

“By giving these women a stage to educate, inform and lead as we want to motivate and inspire females to follow their dreams and create the future they want for themselves,” explains the event producer, Bill Conroy, who himself is a leader in the softball world as the head of the Beverly Bandits travel ball organization.

In its first two years, Empowering Girls has featured female role models ranging from softball luminaries such as Jennie Finch, Natasha Watley, Jessica Mendoza and college coaches such as Carol Hutchins (Michigan), Kate Drohan (Northwestern) and Yvette Healy (Wisconsin) to world-renowned leaders in business, entertainment and other industries ranging from Olympic Gold medalists to entrepreneurs to educators, motivators and more.

This year’s speakers include a NASA astronaut, an award-winning rocket scientist, a trail-blazing Female Runner of the Decade and a former Miss America!

The event will include prize giveaways as well as sponsorship videos and giveaways and the virtual tickets to the 2020 convention are FREE with required registration!

Prize giveaways include AirPods, a Polaroid camera, a Bluetooth speaker, an at-home Spa Package, a variety of gift cards and more. In order to get a prize, participants simply have to sign in and attend one of the speaker sessions for the virtual conference.

Important: you must register by 9 am October 1 to get your virtual ticket! Click HERE to register!

And even if you can’t watch that day, the link will be available to watch for two weeks after the convention (until Saturday, October 17).

There won’t be a crowd like this one from previous Empowering Girls for Life events but everyone can watch virtually for free!

*****

Here is a look at the backgrounds of the emcee and the four keynote speakers highlighting the 2020 Empowering Girls for Life event:

EMCEE
Katie Caldwell

Katie Caldwell
Caldwell is a sports broadcaster, mental health advocate and accomplished dancer. She hosts and produces live hockey shows across Canada, with a production background at TSN, NHL Network and Sirius XM and the Nashville Predators. After her cancer diagnosis in 2017, Katie shifted her platform to share her story and open the conversation about adversity and mental illness.

SPEAKERS

 

Olympia LePoint

Olympia LePoint
Olympia LePoint is an award-winning rocket scientist, self-help thought author and “Answers Unleashed” podcast host who is launching lives into educational success. From poverty, a face stabbing, and #MeToo childhood sexual abuse in her youth, LePoint overcame failing math scores and graduated top 5 from the California State University Northridge class to later help launch 28 NASA Space Shuttle missions into space.

Nina Davuluri

Nina Davuluri
Davuluri is an acclaimed actor, producer, host, advocate & entrepreneur. Nina first gained international recognition by becoming the first Indian American and South Asian to become Miss America 2014. Her most recent venture combines the network she has cultivated, her love for advocacy, and disrupting global beauty standards by producing her new documentary, COMPLEXion.

Alyssa Carson

Alyssa Carson
Alyssa Carson is an astronaut trainee and the first person to complete the NASA Passport program. She is the youngest person to be accepted and graduate from the Advanced Possum Academy, officially making her certified to go to space and is earmarked to be on the first mission to Mars. Becoming an astronaut was a childhood dream that she has worked tirelessly to achieve.

Kathrine Switzer

Kathrine Switzer
Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as a numbered entrant. She has won the New York Marathon and named Female Runner of the Decade and winner of the Billie Award for journalism. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011 for creating a social revelation by empowering women around the world through running.

There will also be breakout speakers of various backgrounds who will participate; here’s the complete day’s roster:

Complete Schedule of Speakers

 Sat, Oct 3, 2020 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM CDT

  • 9:00-9:45 AM — Kathrine Switzer
  • 10:00-10:30 AM — Laura Randle-Smith
  • 10:45-11-30 AM — Alyssa Carson
  • 11:45AM-12:30PM — Jen Tyrrell & Kate Drohan
  • 12:45-1:30 PM — Nina Davuluri
  • 1:45-2:15 PM — Jenna Lilley
  • 2:30-2:50 PM — Olympia LePoint

Click HERE to see the list of alumna who spoke at the 2018 and 2019 events

*****

Bill Conroy explains that he felt despite having to switch up the format this year—being online versus in-person—the purpose and meaning behind the messages meant the convention had to be held this year.

Bill Conroy is seen here with players Cambry Arnold (left) and Alexis Mack after winning the 2013 PGF 16U National Championship.

With everything that’s gone on over last few years,” he told Extra Inning Softball, “it’d be a mistake to not continue the message that ‘empowering girls for life’ is really something that needs to be emphasized for everyone, including males, to understand that putting girls in equal opportunities so they can end up succeeding at all levels is important.

The national championship-winning club coach says he often thinks of his 13-year-old daughter and how the message of empowerment for her and other young females often comes to his mind.

“Regardless of age or race, we have to treat everyone equally,” Conroy stresses, “ and these girls need to feel the opportunities are there to feel empowered. I feel very strongly about being involved and having a daughter reinforces to me how imperative it is we help every person get an equal opportunity to succeed.”

Conroy stresses that it’s not just the young girls looking up to accomplished role-models who benefit from the Empowering Girls for Life message.

“There have been so many fathers,” he continues, “who have come up and said how much they learned from the great list of speakers. It’s not just for girls, we have to educate all people on how to provide a platform so (females) get the same opportunities to be doctors, scientists, engineers, etc. Past generations have not been given the same opportunities and that has to be changed with all mindsets. For me personally, I don’t want my daughter to think she’s not equal with the boys in her class in any way.”

*****

Kathrine Switzer, one of this year’s keynote speakers, is returning to the event after having wowed the convention audience in 2018, its initial year.

Switzer, who was a barrier-breaking marathon runner, author, and television commentator, became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as an officially registered competitor in 1967.

Kathrine Switzer spoke at the first Empowering Girls for Life Convention and returns this year.

She says she wishes the Empowering Girls for Life platform had been around when she was the age of many of the young athletes who will tune in this year.

This is an amazing opportunity for young women!” Switzer says energetically. “I could only dream of such an event when I was age 12 and I had to find at first my own inspiration.  Lucky for me, I had incredibly motivating parents, and also, an excellent gym teacher who gave me fundamentals.”

She says she’s excited to be part of the forum again.

“I think it is our moral responsibility as adults to give every  positive opportunity to our children that we can. Plus it is a fun, uplifting conference! As definitely the oldest speaker (73!) at this conference, I’m old enough to be these girls’ grandmother—even their great grandmother!—but I can remember like yesterday when I took my first determined step in running and when I was shown how to hold a hockey stick and how to trap a soccer ball.  I can tell them what their future may hold, and how extraordinary they can be.”

Like Conroy, the running legend emphasizes that this message of equality and breaking down obstacles and barriers is for all.

“What I can offer right here right now is what I offer adults too:  that in every adversity we have the opportunity to create something different that may actually make things a lot better for the future.”

“I have been an activist and an instrument for change all my life,” Switzer concludes, “and many of these girls will become like me for their generation.”

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