This month I attended the Massachusetts Conference for Women at the Boston Conference and Exhibition Center which brought together a total of 6,500 participants from our state to come together and learn more about empowerment, wellness, and to provide us with the inspiration, guidance, courage and direction that we all need to be successful business and career women in today’s constantly changing world. There were two keynote sessions, the opening session as well as a keynote luncheon in the middle of the day, which included a variety of inspirational speakers all through video streaming and internet services including Mrs. Angela Menino, Glenda Hatchett (aka Judge Hatchett on television!), and first lady Diane Patrick as well. All of these women were so inspiring and shared very powerful messages about how they started their careers, where they were coming from and where they are today. There was also a man named Michael A. Guglielmo who was the founder of Save Giovanni’s Friends, which is a non-profit organization that stress the importance and significance of organ and cord blood donation because of his wonderful story about how cord blood saved his son’s life.

What was a little different this year was that there was an award presented called the “Be the Change Award” presented by Candy O’Terry from Magic 106.7’s Exceptional Women program. “The Be The Change Award, created in conjunction with our generous award sponsor, Canyon Ranch, has recognized a Massachusetts woman who personifies compassion for her community and commitment to improving the everyday lives of those around her.” This year’s recipient was Johanna Crawford who created Web of Benefit which is an organization that helps women who have been victims of domestic violence get out of those situations and find housing and jobs and other resources to help them become independent people living in the community.

There were also three seminar sessions where we got to choose different seminars to attend, each having a panel of speakers and a moderator. Each seminar session presented lectures in the following categories: leadership, personal development, professional development, finance, health and wellness, and finally small business/entrepreneurship.

The first session that I went to was the health and wellness one entitled “The CEO of Your Health: Are You Ready to Lead the Charge?” which talked about tips if you are a caregiver and taking a family member to doctor’s appointments but also gave tips to help yourself make your own doctor’s appointments more effective with the little time you have during your visit. They talked about what questions you might want to ask and why it is important to ask questions, and of course working with your doctor to optimize your own health and wellness to live a long and healthy life. Finally, they were asked questions both from the audience as well as from the moderator as a panel and individually about pressing healthcare issues of today ranging from dealing with insurance to their opinion about our current healthcare system and the changes being made to serve our population, and also about where to obtain the resources you need to make informed choices about your health and your healthcare providers. Personally, I found this session to be a really informative and well-done presentation and I learned more about my own healthcare situation and things that I can be doing better or differently with regards to my own healthcare than I have been so for that reason, I am glad to have chosen to attend this one.

The second session that I went to was the personal development one and it was entitled “Making a Difference: Finding Your Unique Way to Give Back” which was all about finding a cause to stand up for that you are passionate about and the practical skills you need to build your passion and your dreams and to turn them into a reality, to be able to earn a living and make a difference at the same time. For me, this was another practical session because of how many organizations I’ve already been involved with giving my time and pursuing my many passions including working with children with and without disabilities, promoting disability advocacy and helping people with disabilities find their callings and helping them and their families live happy and successful lives. It also once again confirmed what I already know which is that I think my “unique way of giving back” is choosing teaching as a profession, as well as being a counselor, mentor, leader etc. All of my roles have helped shaped my ultimate career goal, which is to become a teacher in the public schools system, and that is what I am still working on…one day at a time!

The last session that I had chosen to attend was for personal development and it was called “Practical Tools to Live an Organized Life and Control Your Chaos”. It talked about how to balance things in everyday life including home, kids and work as well as to plan for unforeseen circumstances and major events like weddings, moves and birth. In college during my years as an undergraduate student I found myself making up for lost time not being involved in as many things as I wanted to be in high school, so I often found myself over-extended and over-tired from over-piling my plate and still continue to live the same way most of the time. This last session was great because it was all about prioritizing and finding that balance between the things you want to do and the things you need to do. They recommended just choosing a few things or even just one thing and being able to give 100% of your time to that instead of just giving some of your time and energy to multiple organizations because then you’ll never really be happy with what you are doing because what you’re doing isn’t really your best. This was a really valuable lesson for me and also probably one of those lessons I’ll be learning over and over because I am the type of person who wants to give to everyone and give it all, even when I can’t.

In the exhibit hall there were so many different tables for exhibitors which again provided another opportunity for networking and getting to know people. There was information about colleges, healthcare facilities, medical equipment companies and more. We also had the opportunity for book signing by many of the keynote speakers of the day for their most recent books as well as a career fair which included resume critiquing which I also wanted to participate in as well as a mentor match session, working with someone to help you get started on achieving your goals in life. I did get to see some familiar faces from the Spina Bifida Association of Massachusetts and from Compass Healthcare which was really nice too.

This was another wonderful opportunity to meet some great people and also once again reflect on the challenges of being a woman with a disability in today’s world. However, as the theme of this year’s conference states: “Your Time is Now!”—to be fearlessly resilient, to rebound with purpose and power, to lead with intention and to discover what you want and go get it! This conference teaches you how and inspires you to do just that and it was a wonderful opportunity to be one of the 6,500 participants that attended the conference. I hope that I can attend this event again next year and gain even more from it all.