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Join us for our 6th Own it! Women's Conference: Friday, March 24th!
Friday, March 24, 2023
11 am - 4:30 pm
Radisson Hotel Corning, 125 Denison Parkway East
$75 per person
Visit the event page and register online
Registration deadline: Monday, March 20, 10:00 am
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Thank you to our 2023 Sponsors!
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About our speakers:
Kelly Lewis CFP®, JD, LLM, is the Associate Director of Financial Planning at a local comprehensive wealth management firm, John G. Ullman & Associates, Inc. She has worked there almost 10 years after moving back to the area from Washington D.C., where she briefly practiced law. Kelly focuses her financial talents on an underserved portion of our population: women! The financial industry has only recently started recognizing the unique financial and lifestyle challenges that women face throughout their education, careers, and retirement. Kelly is there to help all of her clients and the community grow toward their goals.
Renae Carapella-Johnson is a licensed mental health counselor and owner of Ray of Light Counseling and Consulting in Savona, New York. She has extensive experience in individual therapy, crisis intervention and training. She empowers individuals utilizing a strength-based and person-centered approach. Renae is certified in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and specializes in treatment of trauma. Renae has provided numerous trainings and workshops on mental health topics to community members and mental health professionals, with expertise in the areas of suicide prevention, suicide postvention, self-care, self-compassion, and healing from trauma. She is also a part-time instructor at Alfred University in their Graduate Mental Health Counseling Program. She is a wife and mother of two amazing kids. When she isn’t working, she loves to read, write, and explore new places near and far.
Pamela W. Porter is Director, Corporate Marketing & Communications, Global Operations, for Corning Incorporated. She leads communications for the Chief Operating Officer and several global functions that report to him, including Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Operations. She also manages communications teams in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, and Europe. In her 22 years with Corning, she has held a variety of leadership roles across the company.
Prior to joining Corning, she was a producer at “The Early Show” on CBS in New York City, where she had a successful 14-year career in broadcast journalism.
Pamela supports several educational and community-service programs and is passionate about helping people live their dreams. She is a member of the board of directors for Women Reaching Women Global, a non-profit organization that facilitates the guidance, support, and education of women and girls to help them and their families achieve better economic, physical, and social wellness. In addition, she mentors students and young adults as well as coaches women in the workplace.
She is a member, past president, and former chaplain of the Ithaca Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She has also served as a member of the Southeast Steuben County Library board of directors.
Pamela is also an ordained minister who has participated in church-sponsored missions trips to Liberia, Ghana, and Haiti.
Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Pamela graduated from Seton Hall University with a Bachelor of Arts in communications. She is the proud mother of four children: Daevon, Alexis, Gabrielle, and Douglas.
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Our Panel:
An experienced coach, trainer, and facilitator, Judy Rowe is the principal of Judith A. Rowe Consulting, LLC. Her approach to working with her clients is to help them to discover their strengths, define a vision and create a pathway toward that vision for success.
Judith has a career spanning more than 30 years with experience working with fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and non-profit and government organizations. During her 27-year career with Corning Incorporated, she held a wide range of roles, including product engineer, sales engineer, customer service supervisor, supervisory effectiveness trainer, human resources manager, quality training coordinator, and Performance Excellence facilitator. She earned dual undergraduate degrees in civil and industrial engineering from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, and a master’s degree from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She is also certified as a Six-Sigma Green Belt, as well as StandOut and People Skills trainer.
Judith lives with her family in upstate New York and enjoys serving on non-profit boards and volunteering for community-based activities.
Susan Bull is the President and CEO of Arbor Housing and Development, whose mission is to enhance the quality of life in communities by building independence and creating housing options. Susan has been in her current role since July 2021, and for two years prior she served as Arbor’s Chief Operations Officer. Susan has held senior leadership positions for over two decades, all in nonprofit organizations with a heart for serving vulnerable populations as her motivation. Before achieving roles at the Executive level, Susan held a variety of positions throughout her career and attributes her growth and professional refinement to the interactions with the people she served, work with and worked for.
Susan took a non-traditional path to what she defines as leadership success, by serving in the US Army for 5 years, later earning her Bachelors and Masters Degrees (Nonprofit Management and Leadership) while working full time and supporting 2 children as a single parent. Susan’s remains passionate about mission-based work and developing others as leaders.
Susan is married to her husband Rick, and together they have 4 children- 2 of whom are still in the nest, and she always has a story to tell about the daily antics of her bulldog named Frank.
Maria Anderson is an Intuitive, Author, Teacher, Nurse, Wellness Facilitator, and Owner of Manifestations NY Mataphysical/Alternative Wellness Shop in Painted Post NY. She has been a nurse for over 18 years and blends her knowledge of the medical world and Holistic Modalities to aid people on their wellness journey towards healing Body, Mind & Spirit.
MaryEllen Bunce is a licensed Food For Life Instructor with the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine. After struggling with a debilitating chronic illness for over 10 years, MaryEllen discovered plant based nutrition. A whole food plant based diet saved her life, igniting a passion and purpose.
MaryEllen holds a plant-based nutrition certificate through The Center For Nutrition Studies at Cornell University. In 2022, she completed Rouxbe plant-based professional culinary school. MaryEllen teaches disease prevention and reversal classes as well as cooking classes in the community. Together with her husband John, MaryEllen runs Plants4living. “Helping people discover the power they have to control their health is an incredible privilege. It is amazing how quickly the body can heal itself when we provide it with the right resources. My life is a living testimony of this.”
Marla Wilson-Doan is the Founder and Owner of Redefining Diva with Marla. My passion for life starts at a very young age. My passion would start with wanting to find a place to belong. Wanting to find that one thing that sets me apart from everyone else. The one thing that I could be great at.. the one thing that I could breathe in and out with. It was Dance. Dance would become everything to me.
I learned at a very young age that music and dance were my freedoms. I would not be bullied anymore. I would not be made fun of because of my chubby belly, thick thighs and big butt. Dance... this was where I would excel and feel safe. This was my home. I made people smile through dance, I made people happy through dance, I made people feel great through dance.... Most importantly... I was happy with dance, and I was learning to give back through dance and fitness. Ballet would be the beginning for me at just 3 years old and for 8 years I would grow. I of course then fell in love with tap, point, jazz and my favorite hip hop... Of course, when I was younger it wasn't just hip-hop classes. I of course would move on to cheer throughout my junior high years and high school. I made the Varsity Cheer team in my freshman and sophomore year of high school. My Junior year I made the decision to change schools and join the dance team adding to my dance resume by making team captain my Senior year. I would then graduate and come back and coach the same dance team years later. I found passion and love for coaching and decided to continue. I later coached competitive cheer, dance and hip-hop competition teams. Coaching Hip Hop for Soul All Starz and Ultimate Hip Hop.
I would soon learn that I wanted to keep dancing for myself and missed it. This is where the journey of dance and fitness would come to light. The beginning... a place of staying fit and dancing too? OMG.. my happy place. Zumba would be the beginning and quick end for me. I Started teaching Zumba 15 years ago.. taught for 2 years and then went right to Dance Fit to Dance Fit with Marla and then Dance Fit Divas with Marla. I wanted to expand so it was time for some of my own choreography... time to brand out. Redefining Diva with Marla was born. I WAS HOME!! Mixing it with my own choreography was key. Women felt at home, safe and they were smiling and loving their new freedom to shake whatever they had at any time they felt like it. NO judging, No worries. Just fun and fitness. A home to call their own... The beginning of Redefining Diva with Marla was just starting....The true meaning to love the skin you're in....
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