In our brand new Girl Boss Guide series, we’re handing you the resources to help build your empire. No matter your position, skillset, or industry, it always helps to have a team of femfessionals in your corner. We’d go so far as to say that you can’t expect to achieve success without them. In our initial guide, you’ll find a selection of national and Philly-based conferences, as well as both local and national groups. These tools will lead you to a network of amazing, inspirational, and accomplished women – like yourself.
Attend any of these conferences or events and you’re guaranteed a connection to valuable industry contacts, potential partners in business, and best of all, new BFFs. In need of a mentor? You’ll meet her here. Looking for an audience who can assess your work, hear out your ideas, and provide valuable feedback? Reach them here!
Pennsylvania Conference for Women*
Each year Philadelphia hosts the Pennsylvania Conference for Women, a non-profit professional and personal development event for women. The lineup features dozens of renowned speakers sharing inspirational stories and leading seminars on the issues that matter most to women. These topics include health, personal finance, entrepreneurship, social media marketing, and more. The Conference offers incredible opportunities for business networking, professional development, and personal growth.
The Fearless Conference
This two-day conference in Philadelphia is the brainchild of Melissa Alam, founder and editor-in-chief of Femme & Fortune. The Fearless Conference gathers ambitious career women to spark innovative conversations and collaborations with a focus on entrepreneurship and female empowerment. This year’s event includes a very special speaker session with our owner, Kate Marlys!
Lady Project PHL (or in a city near you!)
This non-profit organization is a group that connects, inspires and showcases awesome women doing amazing things through events and community engagement. The Lady Project is based in Providence, RI with over 1,000+ members in chapters from coast to coast. Each chapter hosts events where women can connect, get inspired, and learn about what others are doing in their cities. Also, check out their annual Lady Project Summit that features a full day of awesome speakers, professional workshops, and a whole lot of networking.
Girl Develop It Philadelphia (or any other of their 50+ chapters!)
Girl Develop It is a nonprofit organization to provide accessible software and web development programs to women through in-person, hands-on instruction. Their vision is to create confidence in women’s abilities to build web and mobile applications. By teaching diverse backgrounds all across the country, GDI aims to help women improve their careers and change the world.
The Walnut Club
The Walnut Club has a membership of more than 100 Philadelphian women making contributions in multiple fields, including arts and design, engineering, and finance. Members include those at the C-suite level to those in the beginning of stages of her career.
The Cosmopolitan Club of Philadelphia
Founded in 1928, The Cosmopolitan Club occupies an historic Art Deco clubhouse on a charming street in Center City Philadelphia. Each year, it provides scores of guest speakers, several dozen artists’ shows, and plentiful other activities to fascinate its diverse and intellectually curious members. Those members represent the broadest range of professionals and volunteers who have included dozens of Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania and Gimbel Award Honorees.
BlogHER Conference
Presented by SheKnows Media, the BlogHer conferences are the world’s largest celebration of female content creators. They began in 2005 to answer the question, “Where are the women bloggers?” Over the past 11 years, their events have empowered women in social media to celebrate each other, find opportunities to work with brands, and come home with new ideas.
The Women in Tech Summit
Hosted in Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham and Washington D.C., the Women in Tech Summit inspires, educates and connects women in technology. Their annual event offers a unique combination of deep-dive, hands-on tech workshops; information and discussions about careers; and networking opportunities with other women in various aspects of technology.
Multicultural Women’s National Conference
At each year’s Multicultural Women’s National Conference, attendees expand strength and wisdom during Same Race and Cross Race Conversations. It is designed to challenge our thinking with engaging keynotes and panel discussions, draw inspiration from leadership journeys shared in StoryTalk sessions, and commit to action during powerful skill-building workshops.
Society of Professional Women
A program of the Main Line Chamber of Commerce, the Society of Professional Women was launched in May 2009. Their goal is to create a network of women and businesses of all industries, sizes, and generations in the region. Engaging programs, networking opportunities and a welcoming forum offer the opportunity to share experiences and insights. Central to SPW’s mission is giving back to the community, so at each event, a different non-profit organization is featured.
*The Pennsylvania Conference for Women is a client of Philly PR Girl
Did we miss any annual conferences or fabulous women’s networking/social groups? Be sure to give them a shout-out in the comments!
