WBENC continues our 25th Anniversary Year content kickoff with a few friendly WBENC Network faces recalling some of their favorite memories. Check out this first video in a 2022 series and hear from WBENC Board Chair & Wells Fargo CPO, Barbara Kubicki-Hicks, Board of Director and Women’s Enterprise Forum Member Lianne Lami of Bocci Engineering, and Casey Oakes, Director, Supplier Diversity for Marriott and Chair, Corporate Membership & Retention.
More Video Clips and 25th Anniversary Content to come!
Stay tuned throughout 2022 for more video clips of some familiar faces and new ones, as our entire WBENC Network of amazing advocates and leaders come together to celebrate the 25th Anniversary Year of WBENC and collectively push ahead for the next 25 years of women’s entrepreneurship and supplier diversity leadership and innovation.
There are also many ways for our entire WBENC Network to get involved and contribute to our 25th year! Here’s a handy article that outlines the current opportunities.
As we turn to February, we encourage everyone to submit their memories, insights and reflections now so that we can celebrate you and with you all year long!
Video Transcript (may not be exact transcription)
Barbara Kubicki-Hicks: I have to say my favorite memory is what happened during Covid. It was totally uncharted territory and I had the opportunity to sit with Pam and a number of women in a business seminar every Friday for the first few months. We would just talk through what everyone was experiencing. There was just so much magic in those calls because everyone looked at each other and really supported each other through probably some really unprecedented times. To see the pivots and the success that these ladies had which is absolutely amazing to me.
Lianne Lami: One of my favorite programs that I was involved with way back that is still going strong is our Student Entrepreneurship Program. I’ve been involved in it from its inception and one of the students that I got to mentor was a wonderful young entrepreneur that has this amazing career. She had a fear of public speaking and we got a chance to work together. One week I had her tag along with me at the [National Conference] and we worked on her business presentation. She seemed to be able to overcome her fear of public speaking.
Casey Oakes: My favorite memory is the WBENC conference in Baltimore in 2019. We were able to bring so many people from Marriott up to the conference to see what I’ve known for years. That this organization is just so incredible. We had folks from our sales team, from the Bonvoy marketing team, our CEO got to speak on the main stage with Pam and it was just a 360 experience for the entire company.
