Event aims to celebrate, empower women in business

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Approximately 300 women are expected to bring their knowledge, experience and business sense to Saint John over the course of two weekends to celebrate women in business.

The Empowering Women in Business conference, set to take place March 16 and 23 at Market Square, will feature more than 30 speakers and provide, organizers say, an opportunity for women in business to network, share ideas, learn from one another and socialize. The aim is to make the conference an annual event.

Tania Valbuena, co-founder of Dragonfly Events Planning Ltd., the company organizing and presenting the conference, explained the idea behind the event is to bring women together under one roof and allow them to hear stories of inspiration and share their own stories for others to benefit from.

“We heard from the community it wanted something new and we were looking for opportunities to bring women together to connect, to share and to learn,” she said. “We’re hoping maybe this will allow women to make connections and take action to grow their business or know more about how we can lead our teams, our organizations and our businesses.”

Daniel Meza, the other co-founder of the business, said ticket sales are already indicating the conference will be a success both as an event and as an opportunity for women to connect.

“The mission of this conference is to build a platform for women in business to unite, inspire each other, explore new trends in business for their growth and expansion,” explained Meza. “We really wanted to make one big meeting for women in business, once a year, and unite all these different groups who may be a little separated from each other. We wanted to make an inclusive and diverse conference for women.”

Meza said there are still steps that need to be taken for gender equality in business and the upcoming conference will aim to help address those issues as attendees and speakers discuss their successes in the business environment. One of those speakers is Saint John resident Lauren Wiezel, wealth coach and founder of Wealthy Women Financial Planning.

Wiezel said her plan as a speaker is to have women think about the financing aspect of business in a different way.

“My goal is to connect women with their finances so they can live the life that they want, but it’ll be a lot about connecting how business finances are a lot like personal finances,” she said. “You need to know how much is coming in, how much is going out, you need to make sure it’s going out to the right places and maximize what you have coming in.”

When talking about finances, Wiezel said, it’s important to make it relevant. She said it’s not about talking about paying bills and making sure your finances are in order as much as it is “making sure your money that we all work really hard for is going toward the things you want it go towards. So, if you’re wanting to go on vacation but you’re spending all of your money on your hobbies then you have to decide if the vacation is more important.

“It’s not always talking about the exact dollars and being strategic, it’s about making sure that money you work for is going toward what you want it to instead of you watching everyone on social media doing these grand things and you feel like you’re just stuck and you don’t get to enjoy any of it.”

Tickets for the event can be purchased at https://dragonflynb.com/ewb/