#NOMEANGIRLS National Conference
Hosted by Plaid for Women
Oct. 6-8, 2017
Dallas Marriott City Center, 650 N. Pearl St., Dallas 75201
More information: nomeangirls.com; plaidforwomen.com
To register: nomeangirls.com/register
Weekend Conference Passes: Starting at $450
Daily passes: $149 each for those who can’t attend the full event
Women from across the country will gather Oct. 6-8 at the Dallas Marriott City Center for the first national conference presented by the Fort Worth-based female-centric social media platform Plaid for Women.
The #NoMeanGirls Conference will offer women substantive educational content that will help them succeed personally, professionally and spiritually, said Shivaun Palmer, founder and CEO of Plaid for Women.
“Through highly-acclaimed keynotes, customized breakout sessions with topics that range from personal brand development to financial well-being. women will be inspired to invest in themselves first and value other women who are on their own journey,” Palmer said.
She said the decision to host a national conference grew out of three successful regional events Plaid for Women hosted over the last year.
Four keynote speakers and 18 breakout session speakers will share their individual stories of struggle and challenge on the road to success. Palmer said.
The conference title calls to mind the 2004 movie Mean Girls. The screenplay by comedian, writer and producer Tina Fey tells the story of Cady Heron, who become a member to the toxic Alpha list girl clique at her new school.
One breakout session led by Plaid for Women blogger Shannon Thomas, owner of Southlake Christian Counseling, addresses that directly: “When Mean Girls Grow Up and Join the PTA – Healing from Hidden Abuse.”
The program description says there are toxic women in every community and offers tools needed to deal with insidious psychological abuse.
“Whatever a woman’s definition of success is for her, that is what we want to support,” Palmer said. “It is time to shed the ideas of the past that mean girls are cool and start believing that together we are stronger.”
Keynote speakers and the titles of their presentations are:
– Mica May, whose company, May Designs, was named an Oprah Winfrey favorite: “Accidental Entrepreneur – How A Simple Notebook Changed the Course of My Life”;
– Dr. Cortney Baker, 2017 Texas Business Women of the Year: “You are Enough!”;
– Husband and wife team Tracey Trottenberg and George Kansas, communication experts and lecturers from Los Angeles: Awakening the Divine Feminine Leader You Were Born to Be”; and
– Comic, actress, author and speaker Katie Goodman: “Gag Your Inner Critic: How Confidence and Connection Will Rid Our World of Mean Girl Behavior”
“Our ultimate goal for this year’s event is to develop a platform where women from diverse cultural and business backgrounds can join in one place to begin to embrace their individual strengths and gain the knowledge and empowerment to move forward in support of other women in their lives.” Palmer said.
Palmer offered a quote from breakout leader Adri Kyser, a yoga teacher, wellness coach and global retreat leader, who runs Inner Beauty Wellness, a yoga and pilates studio in Flower Mound that she says, “sums up everything we are trying to accomplish with the #NoMeanGirls Conference.”
“I wish this no mean girl movement was happening when I was growing up being bullied and thinking I was not good enough,” Kyser said. “Although overcoming those situations led me where I’m today, I cannot help to wonder what I would have been doing if I had such a powerful movement to inspire me back then.”
Palmer said the speakers and presenters were strategically chosen to reach each person in attendance in an inspirational way “while empowering them to apply other’s experiences to their own ideas of ‘The Business of Life’ – a term we use that is all-encompassing to a woman’s personal and/or professional development.”
Disclosure: Plaid for Women and the North Texas Community Foundation are platinum sponsors of the Fort Worth Business Press’ Business for Breakfast series.