at Sanders Beach-Corinne Jones Resource Center near downtown Pensacola.

Since 1938 National Business Women's Week has officially been celebrated the third full week in October of each year and our local organization, PWGC wants to continue to bring focus and education for women in business by hosting their annual conference during this week. 80% of profits from the conference and surrounding activities is donated to Gulf Coast Kid’s House in Pensacola.

“We are very excited with this year’s line-up of speakers. We have chosen a very diverse group of women that will not only be motivating for the audience but will also bring tips and takeaways that attendees can utilize in their businesses to be even more successful,” says Kolleen Edwards Chesley, Founding Director, PWGC.

The conference kicked off with an opening event on September 12th featuring Pam Hatt, Director of Marketing for Pen Air Federal Credit Union as the speaker. Then on Thursday, October 20th, PWGC will host the Meet the Speaker & Expo event, at Sanders Beach. This is a fun, casual, evening networking event for men and women attendees to meet the keynote speaker and other conference speakers, interact with the sponsors, visit expo tables, and mingle with other attendees. A casual walk-up light dinner and refreshments will be served. The Meet the Speaker & Expo event will be from 5:00 to 7:00pm and is free to attend and open to men and women.
The main event is the full day Pursue Your Passion Women’s Conference on Friday, October 21st. Registration will open at 9:00am and the conference will start at 10:00am and will dismiss at 4:00pm.

Brought back by popular demand is this year’s Emcee, Dr. Lusharon Wiley, Senior Associate Dean of Students and Student Ombudsperson for the University of West Florida. Dr. Wiley is highly entertaining, genuine and professional and will guide attendees throughout the day’s events with her own sense of style.

Our keynote is Robyn Hatcher, author of Standing Ovation Presentations and owner of www.Speaketc.com from New York City. Robyn is a “recovering” actor who has been a presentation skills expert for the past 18 years. Over the course of her career, Robyn has helped thousands of business professionals improve their presentations and conduct successful interviews and interpersonal communication. Her clients have included C-suite executives and entrepreneurs as well as academics and human service professionals, among many others. Her first book, Standing Ovation Presentations is a complete presentation skills guide that contains a unique communication-style system called ActorTypes. Her book will be available for purchase at both of our conference events. Her keynote presentation, titled How to Raise Your Communication Game will introduce attendees to the neuroscience of communication, educate attendees on her creatively entertaining concept of ActorTypes and give practical, actionable tips and techniques for attendees to shine whether they are leading a meeting, making a sale, interviewing, pitching or presenting.

PWGC is also continuing their tradition of PED Talks during the conference. PED (Professional and Executive Development) Talks are quick 15 minute, power-packed presentations delivered by local community professionals focused on an aspect of women in business. This year’s featured PED Talk speakers are Xia Liu (Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Gulf Power), Meghan McCarthy (Director of Community Health & Wellness at Baptist Health Care), and Laticia “Action” Jackson (Fitness Olympian and Owner of Transformation Health). These speakers will motivate the audience as well as share personal stories of struggle, passion, and survival in the business world.

The day will also include PWGC’s Speed Learning interactive exercise where attendees interact with each other in a fast-paced educational exercise as well as networking exercises and other fun activities throughout the day.

A unique twist on the typical expo hall, PWGC brings it’s “experience hall” for attendees to meet and mingle with vendors at round tables strategically placed so every attendee is able to pass by every expo table greatly increasing the interaction at the event.

Sponsors include: The UPS Store at Blue Angel Parkway and The Sign Shop of Pensacola. Vendor tables and sponsor opportunities are still available.

A full lunch, refreshments, and several snack breaks will be provided. Registration is open to women only. Registration prices currently are $65 and will increase closer to the event ending at $100 for day-of pricing. Registrations for the conference can be purchased at http://powerfulwomengulfcoast.com.

About Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast: Initially formed in October 2004, Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast (PWGC) was incorporated in the state of Florida as a not-for-profit in 2013. The mission of PWGC is to promote, advance and improve women in business. They hold monthly free networking meetings for women in Gulf Breeze and Pensacola on the first and third Friday’s of the month. They hold an annual Pursue Your Passion conference. This year’s conference will be on October 21st. PWGC prints and distributes a quarterly magazine focused on spotlighting Gulf Coast successful women and providing educational articles for women and men to grow themselves professionally. Earlier this year, they launched the Power Up Challenge which is a 12-week, one hour a week class focused on marketing, business planning, networking and business sales. Men and women can attend and there are online resources even if someone is not able to attend a class. Two levels of membership in PWGC is also available to men and women. For more information, please visit powerfulwomengulfcoast.com or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..