Skip to main content

Being an entrepreneur means working for yourself and sometimes even working a ‘48-hour day’ to be successful at what you do. For a woman, who already has her hands, feet and head full of responsibilities, it could be even more challenging to juggle her family life with her entrepreneurial life. Starting your own business comes with its set of risks and stressful situations and for women who are more risk averse than men, the fear of failure can take its toll on many. Conferences for women entrepreneurs is a wonderful platform for women to discuss their issues, collaborate with one another, provide strength to each other and get inspired from other women entrepreneurs who have been in a similar boat.  Here is a list of conferences on women entrepreneurs taking place across the US in 2017.

12th Annual Women’s Conference

When: January 27, 2017

Where: St.Louis, MO

About: This is a conference for women in business who want to connect with other women and get inspired by their experiences. It is organized by the St. Louis Business Journal. The key note speaker for this event will be Mae Jemison who broke more than the sound barrier in 1992 when she became the first woman of color to travel into space.

Elevate Summit – Women’s Conference

When: January 28, 2017

Where: Los Angeles, CA

About: This one-day event will feature 12 speakers sharing their stories of building a business, navigating largely male-dominated fields focusing on self-care, learning how to develop strengths and riding ourselves to imposter syndromes. The unique feature of this event is that it will have no celebrities or professional speakers, but will focus on stories of successful, driven women who are relatable to anyone in the business world.

Watermark Conference for Women

When: February 1, 2017

Where: San Jose, CA

About: Founded in 1993 as the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FEW), this conference the information, inspiration, momentum to help women discover what they want and go get it. It is a must attend for conference for women entrepreneurs, corporate professionals and non-profit employees and community leaders. Some of the speakers from this year’s conference are Annie Clark (Co-Founder, EROC), Holly Liu (Founder, Kabam), Shivani Siroya (Founder & CEO, Tala) and Doreen Bloch (CEO & Founder, Poshly Inc.).

Speak Up Women

When: March 3, 2017

Where: New York, NY

About: Speak Up Women is an event designed to support women with understanding the importance and impact that speaking up has in their personal, professional and philanthropic lives. This event helps women so they can be more effective and make a difference. Some of the speakers at this conference are Jillian Manus, Cindy Armine, Karen Taylor Bass, Karen Kahn, Cherie Corso among others.

26th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference

When: March 8, 2017

Where: Tulsa, OK

About: The Center for Executive and Professional Development at OSU has been hosting for the last 25 years. The objective of this event is to excite young women to pursue to be the future leaders, CEOs and business owners on their own companies. At this conference, there will be a focus on integrational mentorship and support for women in business. Suzanne Black, Rachel Oestreicher Bernheim, Lyn Hester and Valerie Red-Horse Mohl are just a few names finalized along with many other prominent personalities as speakers for this year’s conference.

Women in Strategy Summit

When: March 21-22, 2017

Where: New York, NY

About: This summit gathers world’s most dynamic corporate leaders, strategy decision makers and female entrepreneurs for two days of interactive discussions, keynote presentations and much more. The list of speakers scheduled to speak at this event include Sara Gentz (Content Strategist, Facebook), Anshu Bhardwaj (Sr Director, Site & Mobile Experience & Strategy, Walmart eCommerce), Vasu Vats (Head of Strategy, Pfizer) and Nichol Beckstrand (President, Sunrise Banks) among others.

Inclusion Now

When: March 28, 2017

Where: San Francisco, CA

About: This event is presented by Professional Business Women of California (PBWC) and it offers a full day of world-class keynote speakers, cutting-edge seminar, panel of industry experts, leading business executives and networking opportunities. Some of the speakers this year are Rosario Dawson, Memory Banda, Jackie Speier, Jennifer Siebel Newsom and Shamarukh Mohiuddin among others.

Bizwomen Mentoring Monday

When: April 3, 2017

Where: Honolulu, HI

About: This event is a half day event and is organized by the Pacific Business News and will offer attendees the opportunity to choose from 40 mentors who are the most influential women in their community for one-on-one mentoring sessions.

Launch Festival 2017

When: April 3-7, 2017

Where: San Francisco, CA

About: Launch Festival is the largest startup event in the world with 15,000 attendees and over 200 speakers focused on helping founders build, scale and fund their startup companies and make them big. This event is unique in the technology and startup world. This is a must attend event for female founders as they can attend this event for free.

Women Leading Change

When: April 12-13, 2017

Where: Boston, MA

About: For the past 38 years Simmons has sponsored the Simmons Leadership Conference. This conference is the premier women’s leadership conference in the world as it attracts over 3,300 middle and senior level women from companies as well as women business owners and working CEOs. This is an excellent professional development event for women in business. Some of the keynote speakers this year include Marlee Matlin (actress & humanitarian), Nina Tassler (former Chair, CBS Entertainment), Diane Von Furstenburg (fashion icon, women’s rights advocate & philanthropist) and Diana Nyad (author, journalist and long distance swimmer).

WNorth Conference

When: April 19-21, 2017

Where: Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

About: WNorth is a boutique-style conference focused on women who are aiming for, or already on a senior executive level and for women in business. Top female leaders in public and entrepreneurial sectors will come together to enhance their leadership, training, engage in high level networking and witness inspirational talks from global leaders. Some speakers announced for 2017 are Amy Stanton, Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin, Manica Gautam among others.

Dare 2 Aspire

When: April 28-29, 2017

Where: Atlanta, GA

About: Dare 2 Aspire is an annual conference encouraging women and moms to start and/or grow their own small businesses. This event is an excellent platform for women entrepreneurs to connect, networks and leave with business connections. Lisa Price is the keynote speaker. Other speakers include Tosi Ufodike, Lydia Evans, Shalawn Willis and Lana Boone.

Mom 2.0

When: May 10-12 2017

Where: Orlando, FL

About: Mom 2.0 is a gathering of over 600 influential mom bloggers and female entrepreneurs where the focus is on defining, developing and building a growing movement of online publishing and new media. Topics for discussion include entertainment, technology, social change, business and more. Past keynote speakers included Rita Wilson, Soledad O’Brien and Alli Webb among others.

Be Bold Conference

When: May 16-17, 2017

Where: Boston, MA

About: The 2nd Annual Conference for Boston Business Women will be held on May 17 with a kick-off party organized on May 16. The conference will have break-out sessions, amazing celebrity speakers networking, learning, thinking and getting to know other women attendees in the business scene.

2017 Embracing You Women’s Conference

When: August 19, 2017

Where: Hyattsville, MD

About: The Minority Christian Women Entrepreneurs Network (MCWEN) organizes this conferences. Attendees will be able to listen to inspiring speeches on professional development and business and network with other amazing women entrepreneurs.

Women’s Summit

When: September 22, 2017

Where: Birmingham, AL

About: This is an event filled with renowned keynote speakers, networking, exhibitors and conversations that will leave attendees with the tools they need to be successful in their professional lives. This is a half day conference.

Emerging Women Live

When: October 5-8, 2017

Where: Denver, CO

About: Emerging Women Live is an event that invites all female leaders and entrepreneurs where they will be provided with the tools, knowledge and network necessary to help women lead, start and grow businesses.

Women Winning in Business

When: October 6, 2017

Where: Honolulu, HI

About: This event is a partial day event and will have successful female entrepreneurs share their stories with the attendees.

National Women’s Business Conference

When: October 15-17, 2017

Where: Minneapolis, MN

About: This is a National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) event. This conference is for the women entrepreneurs who dare together to reach new heights in their lives, businesses, communities and the world. It propels women entrepreneurs into economic, social and political spheres of power worldwide. The theme for this year’s conference is “Together We Dare”. Elizabeth Gilbert (Author of Eat, Pray, Love and Big Magic) will be the keynote speaker for this year’s event.

International Women’s Forum World Leadership Conference 2017

When: October 25-27, 2017

Where: Houston TX

About: IWF is a unique organization comprised of more than 6,500 dynamic women leaders in more than 35 countries around the world. This event brings together extraordinary network of women leaders providing exposure to a diverse audience of female decision-makers on topics that cover international progress, business, economics, ecology and enterprise.

The Texas Conference for Women

When: November 2, 2017

Where: Austin, TX

About: The Texas Conference for Women provides connection, motivation, networking and skill building for women each year. It offers incredible opportunities for business networking, professional development and personal growth. The non-profit, non-partisan event features inspirational keynote speakers, skill-building breakout sessions and ample opportunities to develop new relationships with other women. With sessions ranging from personal finance to health and wellness to career advancement, this unique event offers something for everyone. In this event, women will learn how to lead people and organizations to success, start or manage a small business, balance work/life demands and much more.

Women in Leadership

When: November 13-16, 2017

Where: Dallas, TX

About: This conference is attended by high-performing women leaders and business owners who want to realize their full potential and be successful. Through discussions, speaker sessions and dialogues attendees are enlightened about how to be successful in what you do and reduce the gender gap within female leaders and business owners.

WECocktails

When: TBD

Where: New York City, NY

About: WeCocktails is a new event series celebrating cocktails, conversation and connections. Amazing things can happen when driven women entrepreneurs get together. This event will bring together women entrepreneurs inspired to build their businesses and looking for information, inspiration and support.

WEFest 2017

When: TBD

Where: New York, NY

About: WEFest is a premier festival that brings together women entrepreneurs to connect and be heard. It is uniquely female back and forth that fuels creative fires and moves businesses forward. Backed by strong women entrepreneurs like Jill Salzman (Founder, The Founding Moms), Amanda Hesser (CEO, Founder, Food52), Diane Von Furstenburg (Founder & CEO, DVF) and Geraldine Laybourne (Co-Founder, Oxygen Media), this event is open to all women entrepreneurs in every stripe, color, industry and stage of business.