Women's Leadership and Networking Day Spotlight : Deborah Deras

Deborah Deras, MS CRC, is a charismatic and engaging inspirational speaker, author, and Latina influencer and social media marketing consultant. With over 15 years experience speaking to audiences around the globe, she is a highly sought after inspirational speaker, trainer, and coach. She is known as one of the top ten Latina speakers in the nation. Ms. Deras has facilitated trainings, keynote speaking engagements, and board retreats for Fortune 500 companies such as JP Morgan, Kaiser Permanente, Macy's, State Farm, NASA, JPL, General Electric, British Petroleum, and many other associations, colleges, and universities.

Ms. Deras has also facilitated leadership training for the US Navy, Marine Corp, and Air Force in California and Arizona. She served as a regional spokesperson for Verizon Wireless presenting workshops to Hispanic professionals on the best apps to help grow their businesses. She has also served as an emcee for Verizon’s premiere awards event featuring Eva Longoria. She is committed to empowering professionals and small business owners with the life skills, resources, and marketing strategies to achieve their goals and improve economic development by creating job opportunities. Her efforts have been recognized with awards from New York Life and the National Latina Business Women’s Association for her contribution to develop Latina leaders. She has been a featured expert in Latina and Catalina Magazines on the topic of speaking and life coaching.

Ms. Deras’ book, “Confessions of an Adrenaline Addict: How to Achieve More with Less Effort” contains powerful strategies to increase productivity and to thrive in the workplace. She also is the creator of Meditation for Success, giving busy professionals the tools to be more effective, productive and innovative. She resides in sunny Santa Monica, California, but her second home is Miami, Florida.


To hear Ms Deras and other wonderful accomplished women speak at our Women's Leadership and Networking Day on May 29th, please register at http://www.ywca.org/WLND2015. You can also visit our website for more information on the day's events.

Women's Leadership and Networking Day Spotlight : Linda LoRe

In her 20-year-career as a CEO of world-renowned brands, Linda LoRe is recognized as one of the top brand strategists in the world. Her extensive experience includes building consumer companies from the ground up, revitalizing storied brands, and breathing new life into consumer favorites. She has been a prominent leader in some of the country’s most successful corporations, including Avon Products, Proctor & Gamble, May Corporation (now Macy’s), Giorgio Beverly Hills, and Frederick’s of Hollywood. She is presently the CEO for InJoy Global, a company devoted to turning the workplace back into an engaged and profitable place of business.

Ms. LoRe became President and CEO of Frederick’s of Hollywood in August 1999, and immediately revitalized and re-launched the iconic Frederick’s brand. Soon after her arrival, she oversaw Frederick’s reorganization and brand turn-around, securing the company’s strongest growth period in more than 10 years. Prior to joining Frederick’s, she was President and CEO of Giorgio Beverly Hills. Ms. LoRe spent eleven years building Giorgio Beverly Hills into one of the world’s premier luxury brands, with sales exceeding $325 million. She made a name for herself in the world of branding when Giorgio successfully launched some of the industry’s top fragrances, including Giorgio, Giorgio Red, Wings, and Hugo by Hugo Boss.
Ms. LoRe serves on the Board of Directors of the Trusteeship of the International Women’s Forum, The Women’s Leadership Board for the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Board of Advisors for the Fashion Institute of Design Merchandising (FIDM), the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Enterprise Institute, and the Executive Woman’s Alliance (EWA). She is also the< founding Board Member of the Youth Mentoring Connection, which serves at-risk youth in Southern California.

Ms. LoRe has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2012 George Award from Pepperdine University, 2009 Visionary Award for Youth Mentoring, 2003 Woman of Accomplishment for B’nai Zion, the 2002 NAWBO Women’s Hall of Fame Award.  In addition, Ms. LoRe is a member of both The Committee 200, an organization comprised of female decision makers for multi-million dollar companies, and the Trusteeship of the International Women’s Forum. Ms. LoRe earned her Presidential MBA from Pepperdine University.

To hear Ms. LoRe and other wonderful accomplished women speak at our Women's Leadership and Networking Day on May 29th, please register at http://www.ywca.org/WLND2015. You can also visit our website for more information on the days events.

Women's Leadership and Networking Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Cinthya Martinez

626-296-8433

cmartinez@ywca-pasadena.org

YWCA PASADENA TO HOST 4TH ANNUAL WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP & NETWORKING DAY

(April 27, 2015) On Friday, May 29, 2015, the YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley will host its 4^th Annual Women’s Leadership & Networking Day.  This exciting event will be held at the Pasadena Senior Center, located at 85 East Holly Street, Pasadena CA 91103. This informative day-long workshop highlights women who make a difference in public policy, civil rights, education, health, science, finance, business and marketing, and other fields that impact our community.

Each year we build a network of successful women and celebrate what it means to be a female leader in the workforce and the community. This year we will be celebrating what it means to achieve #LikeAGirl. This year’s special guest speakers will be discussing diverse topics ranging from intellectual property, business development, campaign management, career coaching, brand marketing, and more.

Guest speakers include: Linda LoRe – Co-Founder of Injoy Global; Ana Guerrero – Chief of Staff to Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti; Azucena Maldonado – Founder of Latina Golfers Association; Nicole Abboud – The GenWhy Lawyers Podcast;Marla Bleavins – CFO & Deputy Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles; and Deborah Deras – Principal of Synergy Unlimited. The event also features Susanne Whatley of KPCC 89.3 FM as emcee.

This workshop gives women the opportunity to network, share advice about career fields, and further their personal and professional development through breakout activities, question and answer sessions, and unique presentations about career women. 

“We are excited to have such an amazing group of successful and enthusiastic women participating at the event. The Women’s Leadership & Networking Day welcomes women at all ages and stages of their careers, whether they are students, mid-career, or retirees,” said Jessica Kubel, Associate Director of the YWCA Pasadena.

Tickets for the event are $85. Tickets include breakfast and lunch served by KMR Gourmet Catering, featuring Chef Mario Rivas. The event will run from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm, with a networking mixer immediately to follow. Tickets are available for purchase at www.ywca.org/WLND2015, or by contacting Cinthya Martinez at 626.296.8433.

Thank you to our committed sponsors: The Gas Company, Bella Sol the Salon, PCL Construction, Law Office of Angeline Chen, New York Life, Ellen's Silkscreening, Massage Envy, Pasadena Magazine, Pasadena Now, and the Pasadena Senior Center.

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About the YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley: The YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley began over 107 years ago to meet the needs of young women in Pasadena. Its programs address the mission of the national organization, “eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.” More information about the YWCA is available at www.ywca-pasadena.org

2015 YWCA USA Leadership & Capacity Building Institute

Our Associate Director, Jessica Kubel took a trip to San Antonio, Texas for the YWCA's 2015 YWCA USA Leadership & Capacity Building Institute. It is very important for leaders to continue to learn and grow from each other, especially in the non-profit world where our sole mission is to serve our communities and adapt to their needs. Being able to attend a conference like this one allowed Ms. Kubel to speak with other YWs and see what was working at their locations, how they weathered problems, and simply get to know some of our sister Y's better. The conference kicked off with a Keynote speech by Dara Richardson-Heron MD, CEO of  YWCA USA.  She was also able to attend panels such as Financial Leadership, Mission Impact, and  Building Highly-Effective Board CEO Relationships and reflect on what sort of impact their advice could have on the YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley community. 

Beautiful Downtown San Antonio

One of the many informative panels at the conference

Associate Director Jessica Kubel with Katrena Prior, Development Director for YWCA San Francisco and Marin 

The Alamo

Talking the Talk

On February 25th 2015, the YWCA hosted our first Talking the Talk event at the CalTech Center for Diversity. The goal of the event was to provide a safe space for community members to voice their opinions on racial profiling and their interactions with the police. Ernst Fenelon Jr. from the Prison Education Project facilitated the conversation. The discussion was varied and productive and brought up issues that some participants had never encountered before. While the issue is complex, the discussion endeavored to stay solution focused and allow all those that wanted to speak to be able to say what they needed.  After the discussion was over, Tarek Shawky from the ACLU informed those present on their civil rights when questioned by law enforcement with a "Know Your Rights"  presentation.

TechGyrls

TechGyrls is off to a great start with more than a dozen girls from middle and high schools throughout Pasadena participating.

Week one was all about getting to know each other and the basics of electronics. After a fun ice-breaker the girls were able to make mini-robots called bristle bots. These fun little robots made out of toothbrushes, motors, and watch batteries are easy to make, and helped them understand the concepts of a simple circuit while being creative.

In their second week, the participants got an introduction to SCRATCH. This basic introduction to coding hosted on MIT's website allows kids new to the concepts of coding to learn them in a simplified manner. The girls learned how to add "sprites" or characters to their projects, animate them, and have them do specific actions on command.

In their third week, the girls continued SCRATCH and had some hands on experience with propulsion and engineering. The girls were tasked with creating a car that moved on it's own using cardboard, straws, bottle caps, skewers, and a balloon for propulsion.  They also continued their SCRATCH training by taking the sprites that they animated the week before and creating a game with them.

YWCA iPad Class at Villa Gardens

Jomie Liu instructs the participants 

The participants getting individual attention