This column has been updated with added information.
It was a time to network, celebrate, uplift and inspire. But at the annual Worcester Chamber of Commerce’s annual Women’s Leadership Conference, held June 12 at the DCU Center, it was also a time to explore hard questions.
Those questions include how ever-changing technical tools, including AI, can prove helpful tools for female leaders, or reinforce well-trod paths of bias and discrimination.
The conference brought women from many paths: finance, healthcare, public service and education, with speakers, workshops and exhibitors representing colleges, community agencies and entrepreneurs.
First, let’s look beyond the ways conferences for women in business and leadership are often phrased: in terms of selfies, gift baskets, and admonishments to make time for self-care, and as ever, to set boundaries.
All those things may well be present at a women’s leadership event, but don’t lose sight of the path. Women attend leadership conferences for many of the offerings any leadership conference might provide. This includes contacts, information and resources that help them achieve goals and bring visions into reality. But women, even at the height of such achievements, may find themselves asserting, again and again, that they are the decision makers of their enterprise.
That may necessitate pushing past bias, not only of gender, but race, age, religion, appearance, abilities and disabilities.
“Since 2009, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce has hosted the annual Worcester Women’s Leadership Conference, aimed at equipping women with the tools, connections, and inspiration needed to pursue new opportunities, support one another, and build a strong network of forward-thinking professionals,” said Caitlin Lubelczyk, vice president of marketing and communications at Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, in an email. “Recognizing the challenges that women continue to face in the workplace, the conference offers a space to share stories, celebrate achievements, and foster meaningful dialogue among accomplished and emerging leaders.”
Tech tools and troubles
Author Erica Dhawan, one of two keynote speakers at the event, said technology presents opportunities for women, but that traditional biases women have faced can persist.
Dhawan said studies of workplace communications have found, as one example, that a young woman using multiple emojis in a work email may face a very different response from a man, regardless of workplace experience or level. “The man was seen as casual and friendly, and the woman was seen as immature,” Dhawan said.
Dhawan has been hailed as of the top 50 management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and is the author of two bestselling books, “Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence” and “Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance.”
There are ways digital communication has helped women as well, said Dhawan, who said she’s heard from introverts who say, “I don’t have to talk over the loud extroverts,” and that email-driven and other digital communications give space to be judged on quality of work, “versus the tone of my voice, what I look like, and what my height is.”
‘Get them to listen to you’
Among the conference participants was Claire O’Connor, chief financial officer of Superior Waste & Recycling in Worcester, a business her father owns. “It’s a great networking event. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have so much interaction.”
O’Connor said gender and youth together can pose challenge as well as bias. “I started working young. It was hard to get people to take you seriously. I started working for my dad at 15.” Asked what is the hardest part, O’Connor said, “To get people to actually listen to what I was saying. A lot of people in the trash business are male, like the truck drivers. To get them to listen to you is sometimes a struggle.”
The healthcare horizon
Among the booth exhibitors were Dr. Chidimma I. Okoli, of Worcester Physician & Nurse Services, and her daughter, Chiama Okoli, an economics student at UMass Amherst, who serves as an office assistant for the agency, which specializes in care for adult patients.
Dr. Okoli, who is affiliated with UMass Memorial Health, said as the population of older people increases, it is women who will lead, but who will also need more support. “My focus is internal medicine and geriatrics,” said Dr. Okoli. “For us, this conference is important because we believe that women are the bedrock of how we are going to transform healthcare, especially with the aging population in Massachusetts.” Dr. Okoli said, “The workforce is diverse, but women are struggling. We are having problems with women staying in the workforce, and being caregivers.”
Another struggle is helping families and patients use tech tools wisely. “We have to rethink this new age. As a physician and a mom, and caregiver, I also have patients who walk in with ChatGPT who say, ‘The chat says you’re wrong.'”
Asked about the importance of the conference, Dr. Okoli said, “This is the conference where people make things happen … people care. This is where you’re going to find them. That’s why this conference matters.”
Jessica Hopkins, owner of Hoppy Pop, at the Worcester Women’s Leadership Conference
Jessica Hopkins, owner of Hoppy Pop, was an exhibitor at the Worcester Women’s Leadership Conference, held June 12 at the DCU Center.
Support, and be supported
The conference was a place to showcase many small, women-owned businesses, with a variety of products or services.
There were organizations such as the Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition; schools, including Clark University; health agencies such as Clash Physical Therapy and Health Services, Inc., and business offering everything from jewelry and clothes, arts and photography and even some good snacks.
Among the exhibitors were several entrepreneurs, bringing tradition to the modern business community.
Jessica Hopkins, owner of Poppy Pop, said, “The business is about a year and a half old, with a 50-year-old family recipe.” Hopkins said, “We’re just trying to expand our customer base, and support all the women here today.”
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