BY MEGHAN CALLAHAN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
GREEN BAY – High School Girls Leadership Conference Founder and Executive Coach Vicki Updike decided to start a leadership program for young women after realizing the issue of girls lacking confidence.
Updike, president and founder of New Sage Strategies, has been leading women’s leadership programs for six years now.
“In the corporate world, women around the table speak less and are called on less, so if we can create that confidence earlier I think it would just be awesome,” she said.
The thought of young women struggling internally with themselves also helped to inspire this conference.
“It’s kind of disheartening that they are internally having these issues and going about their day, for which I give them a ton of credit,” Updike added.
She said that the main goal of this experience is to build confidence and expose young women to professional leadership.
“For many girls, especially high school age, confidence is an issue. We want to kind of catch that early and teach them how to be confident from a young age,” she said.
“We hope that from this experience they know they’re not alone and that we can all be advocates for each other.”
The event will be held Oct. 3, 7:30 a.m. – noon at Resch Expo, 840 Armed Forces Dr., Ashwaubenon, with multiple confidence-building activities scheduled throughout the day.
Events scheduled for the course of the conference include a morning keynote speaker, Michelle Curran, a retired fighter pilot; an activity facilitated by Ali Starr, the creator of Tashi Deley; and an afternoon keynote speaker, Leah Jantzen, a life and business strategist.
“Each of the events will have motivational themes,” Updike explained.
The conference won’t be your typical “sit and learn” process according to Updike.
“Our energy is what sets us apart,” she added.
“Schools will be able to register for the number of seats they want. We’re expecting up to 500 girls to attend.”
Registration will be open until September.
For more information or to register, visit https://womensleadershipwi.com/high-school-girls-conference.