What is the Empower & Thrive Women’s Conference?
The Empower & Thrive: Women’s Leadership & Wellness Summit is a dynamic and inspiring event designed to foster leadership, professional development, personal well-being, and community-building among women in our field. Through engaging sessions, networking opportunities, and wellness activities, attendees will leave feeling empowered, connected, and ready to make an impact in their careers and beyond.
The Empower & Thrive summit has four main goals: promote leadership development and career advancement for women in the ARRM community, provide practical tools for personal and professional growth, foster a supportive network of women leaders, and incorporate wellness-focused activities that enhance overall well-being.
The Empower & Thrive: Women’s Leadership & Wellness Summit is an opportunity to create a transformative experience for women in the ARRM community. By combining professional development with wellness, this event will leave attendees inspired, equipped, and connected to a thriving network of peers and mentors.
What’s the benefit for me?
By attending the Empower & Thrive Women’s Leadership & Wellness Summit, you’ll gain practical tools you can use immediately in your work and your life. Sessions are designed to strengthen core leadership skills (including communication, confidence, self-awareness, and influence) while also addressing the very real wellness challenges many women in disability services face (including burnout, stress, and unsustainable expectations). You’ll leave with strategies to lead more effectively, advocate for yourself and others, and navigate change with greater clarity and confidence.
Beyond skill-building, the Summit offers something that’s harder to find day-to-day: space to reflect, recharge, and connect. You’ll build meaningful relationships with women across the ARRM community who understand your work, your challenges, and your goals. Whether you’re early in your leadership journey or a seasoned professional, you’ll walk away feeling supported, inspired, and re-energized, along with tangible takeaways you can apply long after the conference ends.
What’s the benefit for my employer?
Disability services as a sector faces a gender disparity: over 80% of direct support staff are women, but women make up a much smaller proportion of leadership at disability services organizations industry-wide. When women don’t progress down leadership pathways, it can mean burnout, turnover, and a loss of institutional knowledge at your organizations.
The Empower & Thrive Women’s Leadership & Wellness Summit aims to tackle this multifaceted problem from multiple angles: by building leadership skills and emphasizing wellness, the conference will send attendees back to their workplaces with new skills that will empower them and their teams.
Cost of Attendance
The investment for the Empower & Thrive Women’s Leadership & Wellness Summit is $200. This top-quality, one-of-a-kind conference for women leaders in Minnesota’s disability service industry is an invaluable investment in your career and your organization’s future.