SAVE THE DATE - Saturday, January 24, 2009

On behalf of the Women’s Student Association at the Harvard Business School, we proudly present to you one of the biggest conferences held on HBS Campus – the 18th Annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference! 

Every year, the conference brings together over 900 women, including students, alumnae, faculty, distinguished business leaders, and community members, to explore the opportunities and challenges facing women in today's business world. The Dynamic Women in Business conference is a powerful forum for women to learn, share, and inspire one another.

Keynote Speakers: Leslie Blodgett and Cecile Richards

 
Leslie Blodgett
CEO, Bare Escentuals

When it comes to beauty, Leslie Blodgett started breaking the rules by age 12, sneaking out with makeup on regardless of her mother disapproving.  This passion led to a solid foundation of 23 years of education and cosmetic experience, including positions at Neutrogena and Max Factor.  In 1994, Leslie joined Bare Escentuals as CEO, setting out on an extraordinary journey to bring the products she loves into the hearts and homes of women everywhere. 

An unconventional thinker with incredible intuition in product development and marketing, Leslie launched bareMinerals, a revolutionary line of 100% pure bareMinerals products, in 1995.  Committed to her passion of making women feel beautiful inside and out, she introduced Bare Escentuals on QVC in 1997, immediately earning legions of loyal fans that spread the word about bareMinerals.  Due to this passionate customer community, in 2001, bareMinerals was recognized as the #1 selling brand on QVC.  

As CEO, Leslie is unrelentingly committed to her customers and at the cornerstone of her ever-growing popularity is her approachability.  Receiving thousands of letters and emails from her fans weekly, Leslie prides herself on taking time to personally respond to her clients, continually striving to incorporate a personal touch into everything she does which has earned her the reputation of the ultimate girlfriend authority to her fans.

Continually inspired by women everywhere, Leslie has tremendous admiration for her mother, a single mom, and her grandmother whose picture, circa 1930’s, inspired her to create the “Getting Gorgeous Collection.”  Over the years, Leslie has collected countless photographs, tips, and inspirational messages sent to her by Bare Escentuals clients and compiled these into a book, “What Hollywood Can Learn From Us:  A collection of beauty, wisdom and wit,” by Leslie A. Blodgett, CEO, and the Women of Bare Escentuals. 

When Leslie is not appearing on TV, developing a new product line, or traveling to events, she cherishes her life at home with her family.  The tremendous growth of Bare Escentuals, under Leslie’s care and direction, is a compelling testimony of her visionary ideas for the company, the personal relationships with her clients that she cultivates and values so highly, and her unwavering passion and commitment in helping women everywhere discover and embrace their individual beauty.

Cecile Richards
President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Action Fund

Cecile Richards is president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Over the course of her career, she has become a nationally recognized progressive leader and a fierce advocate for reproductive health and rights. Since coming to Planned Parenthood in February 2006, Ms. Richards has led the organization to many significant achievements, including its success in ensuring FDA approval of over-the-counter status for emergency contraception, and the launch of a nationwide campaign to provide comprehensive, medically accurate sex education for all young people in America. 

Ms. Richards leads a federation of more than 100 Planned Parenthood affiliates that manage more than 860 health centers nationwide, providing high-quality family planning and reproductive health care services, education, and information to millions of women, men, and young people each year. For more than 90 years, Planned Parenthood has led the movement to improve women’s health and safety, prevent unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, and advance the right and ability of individuals and families to make informed and responsible health care decisions. That effort takes place in Washington, DC, and in all 50 states where Planned Parenthood advocates for positive, commonsense policies that address the health priorities of individuals and families, including support for medically accurate, age-appropriate sex education. Planned Parenthood also works with allies in other countries to help provide and protect sexual and reproductive health care for women and men worldwide.

Before joining Planned Parenthood, Ms. Richards served as deputy chief of staff for Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and played a key role in her election as the Democratic Leader in the House of Representatives.

Ms. Richards has a long history of organizing in support of reproductive freedom and social justice. In 2004, she founded and served as president of America Votes, a coalition of 42 national membership-based organizations, that works to maximize voter registration, education, and mobilization efforts at the grassroots level.

Ms. Richards began her career organizing low-wage workers in the hotel, health care, and janitorial industries throughout California, Louisiana, and Texas. Prior to her national advocacy work, she established the Texas Freedom Network, a grassroots organization that has grown to include more than 28,000 clergy and community leaders, to advance a mainstream agenda of religious freedom and individual liberties across the state.

The daughter of former Texas Governor Ann Richards, Ms. Richards was raised in a family committed to social justice and public service. She worked side by side with her mother on her very first campaign — the successful election to the state legislature of Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who successfully argued the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide.

Cecile Richards and her husband, Kirk Adams, have three children. They currently reside in New York City.

The Women's Student Association of Harvard Business School

The mission of the Women's Student Association is to connect and support all women at Harvard Business School through mentoring programs, the annual conference, and networking events across sections and with other schools and organizations; to promote the diversity of women's achievements and contributions; to work with the HBS administration to make sure that issues relevant to women are being addressed; and to lay the foundations of a powerful network of female business leaders.