2023 Tampa Bay
March 25, 2023
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM (ET)
Hybrid Event | Epicurean Hotel | Nationally Live-Streamed
1207 S Howard Ave, Tampa, FL 33606
About Us
Our Mission
The mission of the Young Women's Leadership Symposium is to inspire and develop our future women leaders by giving them access to and leveraging the successes of current women leaders.
This Symposium is backed by a community of influential and successful women as well as sponsor organizations who are dedicated to encouraging all women to be outstanding, be brilliant, and be true.
Symposium Location
1207 S Howard Ave, Epicurean Hotel, Tampa, Fl 33606 & Nationally Live-streamed
What is the Young Women's Leadership Symposium
The Symposium will help young women power up their life, level up their leadership skills, learn about self-care/wellness, and evolve their personal brand while being connected to a community of a business leaders. The speakers are experienced leaders with collective wisdom who will share stories on how they leveraged adversity and overcame barriers.
Who Should Attend
The Symposium is open to any high school-aged young woman. Attendees have the option to attend in person or virtually from any location around the United States.
This is a unique opportunity for personal growth.
Keynote Speaker
Jane Castor
Mayor
City of Tampa
Jane Castor
Mayor
City of Tampa
In 2019, the Tampa community elected Jane Castor to serve as the city’s 59th Mayor. This longtime public servant and former Tampa Police Chief remains laser-focused on her vision for “Transforming Tampa’s Tomorrow”—a five-pillar strategic plan centered around strengthening community-centric services, enhancing workforce development, increasing housing affordability, improving transportation, and fostering sustainability and resilience. Under Mayor Jane Castor’s visionary leadership, her administration passed the most extensive water/wastewater infrastructure plan in the city’s history, in addition to the first budget starting in the black since the great recession. Her key achievements within the past two years also include helping secure more than $90 million for transportation and mobility improvements, hiring the City’s first Sustainability and Resilience Officer, and launching various strategic initiatives to support prosperous and equitable job growth, economic developments, and housing opportunities. Born and raised in Tampa, Florida, Jane graduated from Chamberlain High School and attended the University of Tampa on an athletic scholarship.
Panelists
Ashaa Russell
Certified Athletic Trainer, Founder
Bam Athletics, Inc.
Ashaa Russell
Certified Athletic Trainer, Founder
Bam Athletics, Inc.
Ashaa M Russell, LAT, CSCS, CWPC Owner of B.A.M. Athletics, LLC Young Women’s Symposium Bio Ashaa M Russell is an Certified Athletic Trainer and business owner. Prior to making the transition into College Athletics and entrepreneurship, she was a Strength and Conditioning Coach for High School Athletics and a personal trainer within the corporate and private sector for seven years. She has contributed to the success of many athletes across all levels, from elementary school to NBA G-League. She is a third degree black belt and has competed in Mixed Martial Arts Sparring tournaments and Brazilian Jim jitsu receiving second and 1st place trophies. Ashaa was also a walk-on and became a starter for Acrobatics and tumbling as well as Women’s Rugby at Quinnipiac University while in undergrad and grad school. She was a positive influence for both teams on and off the field. Ashaa continues to strive to support all people and all athletes in their journey towards their life goals. In addition she aims to shed light on mental health and advocate for physical as well as mental well being for all people.
Dr. Kristine Bennett
Director of Education Support
Metropolitan Ministries
Dr. Kristine Bennett
Director of Education Support
Metropolitan Ministries
Dr. Bennett earned her Bachelor’s degree in English Education and Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of South Florida. She completed the Educational Specialist Degree from Liberty University where she also obtained her EdD in Educational Leadership. From 1998 to 2007, Dr. Bennett taught English Language Arts and Math in schools in the Tampa Bay area. In addition, she coached tennis, volleyball and math league and served as grade level leader. From 2007 to 2011, Dr. Bennett served as Building Level Administrator at Terrace Community Middle School, where she was responsible for daily operations of the school, including curriculum development, professional development of teachers, data analysis, compliance, observation, evaluation, and school safety. From 2011 to 2021, Dr. Bennett served as Principal at Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School, where she was instrumental in helping the school earn a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence award from the United States Department of Education. Under her leadership, the school earned ten consecutive “A” grades, was named “One of America’s Most Challenging High Schools” by The Washington Post, one of “America’s Best Charter Schools” by US News and World Report, a “Top Ranked Public High School” by The Tampa Bay Business Journal, non-profit finalist by The Tampa Bay Business Journal, and was named a high performing charter school in Hillsborough County and school of excellence for the state of Florida. Some of her accomplishments include coaching her middle school Math League team to a first-place win, being named the 2002 Teacher of the Year at Terrace Community Middle School, being named an “Up and Comer Finalist” in 2013 by the Tampa Bay Business Journal, and being named a runner-up for Tampa Bay Woman of the Year 2018. Since 2021, Dr. Bennett has served as the Director of Education Support for Metropolitan Ministries, a large non-profit organization that provides services for at-risk and homeless families in underserved and impoverished communities in Tampa Bay. Dr. Bennett provides leadership for the programs that serve the educational needs of children and families from early childhood to career advancement. She oversees educational programming and services for community-based programs working with toddlers, school-age children, teen education, and adult education. These educational programs serve thousands of at-risk and homeless children and youth each year.
Katie McGill
Executive Director
Dress for Success Tampa Bay
Katie McGill
Executive Director
Dress for Success Tampa Bay
For more than 25 years, Katie McGill has provided unparalleled opportunity and resources to thousands of women in Tampa Bay. We know her best as the driving force behind Dress for Success Tampa Bay, first as a volunteer and then as Executive Director, helping more than 35,000 women get back on their feet with a new outlook on life. Prior to that, she spent 10 years working with the Centre for Women, 9 years volunteering with the Hillsborough County Women’s Correctional facility, and 20 years volunteering with the Crisis Center of Tampa. At each juncture, empowering women to accept personal responsibility and gain economic independence. Her dedication has earned numerous awards, including Black G.I.R.L.S. Rock Tampa bay 2016, WEDU Be More Awards 2015, Jackie Robinson Breaking Barriers from the Tampa Bay Rays, TBBJ’s 2013 Non-Profit of the Year and The Tampa Bay Lightning honored Katie with its distinguished Lightning Community Hero award, and her accolades continue on even to this day being honored by many other agencies and organizations.
Shannon Hern
VP Chief Compliance Officer & Sr. Employment & Labor Counsel
The Mosaic Company
Shannon Hern
VP Chief Compliance Officer & Sr. Employment & Labor Counsel
The Mosaic Company
Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, Shannon is proud to call herself a native. Shannon graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Florida and went on to receive her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law. After 16 years in private practice, Shannon joined The Mosaic Company as their in-house employment and labor attorney and now serves as VP and Chief Compliance Officer. In this role, Shannon is responsible for overseeing and managing Mosaic’s global compliance program, including development and implementation of programs, practices and policies to manage compliance risk and promote business conduct and behavior that is consistent with the law and regulatory environment as well as Mosaic’s expectations of operational excellence, resource stewardship and its mission to help the world grow the food it needs. Shannon also advises on existing and emerging regulatory compliance requirements across the organization and oversees implementation of policies and training to ensure effective employee awareness, identification and mitigation of risk and compliance with Mosaic’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. Shannon also provides counsel and litigation management to Mosaic's North America businesses on a wide variety of labor, employment and benefits matters. Shannon has also had the privilege over the last three years to lead Mosaic’s global Diversity & Inclusion Program, developing and executing on strategy to foster an inclusive environment that removes barriers and increases opportunities for employees, applicants and the communities in which Mosaic operates. Through this work, Mosaic has progressed in its efforts to do more in our workplace and communities to remove barriers and increase opportunities to create innovative and collaborative environments that welcome, value and respect diversity of people, thoughts, and perspectives.
Speaker
Dr. Luz Randolph, Ed.D.
Senior Vice President and Executive Director
City Year
Dr. Luz Randolph, Ed.D.
Senior Vice President and Executive Director
City Year
Dra. Luz D. Randolph is the Sr. Vice President and Executive Director of City Year Baton Rouge. In this role she leads 11 staff members and approximately 40 AmeriCorps members serving in four partner schools for the 2022-2023 school year. Serve as liaison to the Board and external stakeholders to continue growing the CYBR brand in the community. Providing oversight to a current annual revenue budget of approximately $2.7 million while simultaneously securing the resources necessary to ensure the sustainability, growth, and scale to achieve City Year’s national Long-Term Impact goals. Prior to this she served as Associate Vice President for Diversity at Louisiana State University. She is responsible for coordination of strategic planning and foundation work for the LSU Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to ensure the development and implementation of programs and services that foster a campus community committed to diversity and inclusion. Previously, she served as the Executive Director of Development at St. Petersburg College Foundation where she was responsible for the college-wide fundraising efforts at St. Petersburg College. Since her arrival in January 2020, she guided the fundraising efforts surrounding the recently established Helios Titan Achievement Program (H-TAP) which received an initial funding of $85,000 and upon completion received a final gift of $1.3M dollar from Helios Education Foundation, the Social Justice Institute Microgrant awarded by the Tampa Bay Super Bowl LV Host Committee, the SPC Emergency Fund among other initiatives. Prior to her role at SPC, she served as Assistant Director of Development, Diversity Initiatives. Her primary focus was to assist in cultivating relationships between USF constituents and the Tampa Bay community that would enhance the university’s diverse students’ experiences. She successfully fundraised over $3.5 million for diversity initiatives and assisted in the development and implementation of the Black Leadership Network which aims to provide financial and mentoring support to African American students at the University of South Florida. Before coming to USF, Dra. Luz served as Director of the Candidate Empowerment Center (CEC) at Florida A&M University. In this role her team increased FAMU’s College of Education’s Teacher Certification passage rate by 75%. She also served as Assistant Director of the Department of Multicultural Student Affairs at the University of Miami where she coordinated services and programs that challenged, motivated, and supported ethnically diverse students in their development at the University of Miami and sought to bring issues of diversity and multiculturalism to the foreground of campus conversation. She is a double alumna from the University of South Florida with a B.A in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication and a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, College Student Affairs. She completed her Doctor of Education in Higher Education and Leadership Administration degree from Nova Southeastern University. Her dissertation focused on the experience of Latinas in Latina sororities at a predominantly White institution and the impact on their academic persistence. Since, she has presented on topics relating to Latinas and their college experience, philanthropy and diversity, and gender issues and sexual orientation. She serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Hispanic Services Council, Cetera Florida, and Humanities Amped.
Co-Chairs
Kimberly Woollard
Executive Vice President, CHRO
Grow Financial Federal Credit Union
Ronda Clement
SVP, Marketing
Quant Fusion
Shannon Hern
VP Chief Compliance Officer & Sr. Employment & Labor Counsel
The Mosaic Company
Tamara Brown
Product Director
FIS
Sponsors
If you have any question or concerns about sponsorships please contact Connell Osteen
at [email protected]
Contact Us
If you have any question or concerns please contact Connell Osteen at
[email protected]