Count Down To Power Up: Leave With Connections, Inspiration, Solutions You Need Now
Felicia Davis on stage at Power Up 2025.
The resource-packed agenda for this year’s Take The Lead Power Up Conference, “Audacity: Leadership in Action” August 25-26 in Washington, D.C. is filled with unique opportunities that can alter your leadership path whether you participate in person or virtually.
The conference on Women’s Equality Day, August 26, now in its sixth year, features 46 esteemed speakers across industries of finance, health, AI, entrepreneurship, caretaking, public leadership and workplace issues. It’s where you learn more and leave with a plan. It’s called Power Up because it is where you learn how to use the power you already have.
“On #WomensEqualityDay,@takeleadwomen #PowerUp conference is where you learn more on #finance, #health, #AI, #entrepreneurship, #caretaking, public #leadership, #workplace issues and leave with a plan.”
Read more in Take The Lead about Power Up 2026
These 13 carefully curated interactive sessions include three moderated breakouts: Build Powerful Circles of Collaboration That Propel Your Career and Business; Authentic Leadership: Finding Your Voice Through Inner Development; and Making Connections. It is a working conference, not a passive witnessing of keynotes and speakers, with conference host journalist Kelsey Nicole Nelson.
Read more in Take The Lead about Kelsey Nicole Nelson.
“Take The Lead is the solution to those problems, to ensure women have equal leadership positions, which includes equal power and pay. We’re changing the power paradigm so women have both the mindset and tools to embrace their phenomenal power with confidence, authenticity, and joy,” says Gloria Feldt, Take The Lead co-founder and president. “You already have power. Power Up is where you learn now to use it.”
“We’re changing the power paradigm so women have both the mindset and tools to embrace their phenomenal power with confidence, authenticity, and joy,” says Gloria Feldt, co-founder, pres @takeleadwomen #conference #PowerUp”
On the eve of the conference, August 25, participants are treated to an exclusive pre-opening look at the Femme Art Fair, in its first year. Nine artists identifying as female from across the country match their work with expressions of the 9 Leadership Power Tools. These artists working in textiles, mixed media, oils, sculpture, wire, wood, acrylics, earth and fabric, demonstrate the versatility and depth of modern artistry each aligned with specific leadership tools.
Learn more here about Femme Art Fair
Representing Power Tool #1, Know Your History, is Andrea Arroyo, an award-winning artist whose work is exhibited internationally and is in the collections of the National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Latin Recording Academy, and the Richmond Museum.
“Femme Art Fair features 9 artists identifying as female matching their work with expressions of the 9 Leadership Power Tools. @takeleadwomen #PowerUp”
See more about Power Up Conference 2025
Her mixed media work in this show, titled Ixchel, Goddess of Renewal, represents the Mayan goddess of renewal, weaving, fertility, and rebirth. Internationally recognized Arroyo has presented more than 60 solo exhibitions and has received awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, The New York Women’s Foundation, the United Nations, Salon du Dessin de Presse in France, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, the Puffin Foundation, and Harlem Arts Alliance.
At the concert and dinner following Femme Art Fair, Feldt will offer welcoming remarks, as will Lily McNair, board chair of Take The Lead.
“The Power Up experience is all about women coming together to support each other and know that it is where they will learn, grow and reach their dreams,” says McNair, former president of Tuskegee Institute.
“You already have the power. Power Up is where you learn how to use it.” Gloria Feldt @takeleadwomen #PowerUp #WomensEqualityDay”
See more about BETTY in Take The Lead
During dinner at The Square, Alyson Palmer, celebrated musician with BETTY, moderates the panel, The Power of the Arts to Change the World. Contributing to this conversation on art, music, and creative expression as powerful vehicles for social change, healing, and leadership, are Maggie O'Neill, artist and advocate; Dr. Rose Crockett Matthews, clinical quality and compliance Leader; and Marina Arsenijevic, world-celebrated pianist and composer.
Crockett Matthews, Power Tool #9 Champion, for “Tell Your Story, says, “I have served in the U.S. Navy, federal government, healthcare, higher education, entrepreneurship, authorship, and mentorship. The Power Tools helped me recognize that every chapter of my journey has prepared me to serve, encourage, and empower others.”
She adds that after completing the Power Tools course and attending the Power Up Conference last year, “I became even more intentional about sharing my experiences, embracing new opportunities, and helping others recognize their strengths and potential. The Take The Lead experience strengthened my confidence as a leader and reminded me that our stories, experiences, and unique perspectives can inspire others to redefine success, overcome obstacles, and create lives of purpose and possibility.”
“The @TakeLeadWomen experience strengthened my confidence as a #leader and reminded me that our #stories, experiences, and unique perspectives can inspire others to redefine #success, overcome obstacles, and create lives of #purpose and possibility,” says Dr. Rose Crockett Matthews.”
Arsenijevic, an internationally celebrated artist, performer and composer, has been performing and speaking at each Take The Lead Power Up Conference since its inception. She won the Wear The Shirt Award at Power Up 2025.
See the full Power Up agenda here
“Art is above it all. We have the power to find common ground to unite. We as humans can move the world forward,” says Arsenijevic, who has performed across the world for entrepreneurs, leaders and dignitaries.
Read more in Take The Lead on Marina Arsenijevic
The following day, the Power Up Conference is a full day of a legendary keynote, speakers, panels, breakouts, and networking sessions where solutions are the mission. It is the second year of ShePosium, a gallery of health, beauty, jewelry accessories, and informational resources, organized by Take The Lead board member Heather Florio, CEO of Desert Harvest. Her company is a second-generation, women-led company that pioneers in aloe-based pelvic and sexual-health care, and is a Power Up 2026 sponsor.
Take The Lead is a SHRM Recertification Provider (SHRM-CP · SHRM-SCP). Ask us about recertification credit for Aug 26.
The health advocacy organization, Tight Lipped, is on site with information and resources for people living with chronic vulvovaginal and pelvic pain. Pandia Health, a telehealth and pharmacy for birth control and peri/menopause care, co-founded by Dr. Sophia Yen, who speaks on Women's Health Unfiltered panel, is a Power Up 2026 sponsor and offers information and resources.
Read more in Take The Lead on Sophia Yen
For the first time, Kendra Scott is presenting with an on-site feminist jewelry-making experience. Politics and Prose Bookstore, an iconic bookseller in the Washington D.C. area, is selling books from the speakers. There will be a lunchtime book signing from authors at the conference.
“For the first time at ShePosium, @KendraScott offers an on-site feminist jewelry-making experience @takeleadwomen #PowerUp. ”
Saint Helens Leatherworks and Social Goods, as well as the LLC Kinsey Institute at- Indiana University and the Geroge Washington University Center for Excellence in Public Leadership will be featured in the ShePosium.
Read more in Take The Lead on the ShePosium
One of the many highlights of the day is the fireside chat with keynote speaker Margaret Atwood in conversation with Gloria Feldt. .Globally revered author Atwood, winner of the Booker Prize, and author of dozens of bestsellers, outlines the historic context of what is prompting the current divisive culture. The entire day is about strategies and solutions specifically for today’s challenges.
Speaking at a recent speech at Syracuse University, Atwood said, "The more gender equality there is in a society, the less abuse there is."
“#Keynote speaker Margaret Atwood: “The more gender equality there is in a society, the less abuse there is.” @takeleadwomen ”
Read more in Take The Lead on Margaret Atwood
Eager to have a conversation on the conference stage with Atwood, author of more than 50 books, Feldt says, “Atwood names what is broken. Take The Lead's participants spend the rest of the day on the solutions.”
Feldt continues, “Seeing and hearing Margaret Atwood in person, one of the greatest writers of our time and the author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments, among dozens of other best-selling books, is a rare opportunity. The Power Tool champions and the rest of the program’s 40-plus speakers are equally on the very topics you need for your life and career.”
Speaking at the conference in a conversation on Making The Workplace Work, is Minda Harts, award-winning, best-selling author, consultant, filmmaker, global trust keynote speaker, equity specialist and workplace communications expert. Her most recent book is, Talk To Me Nice: The Seven Trust Languages For A Better Workplace.
“I wish some of these conversations were no longer necessary,” says Harts. “I wish we had solved more of these issues by now. But because they still exist, I feel a responsibility to continue creating tools, language, and frameworks that help people navigate them. My work has always been about moving people from awareness to action.”
“ I wish we had solved more of these issues by now. But because they still exist, I feel a responsibility to continue creating tools, language, and frameworks that help people navigate them,” says @MindaHarts author, advocate and filmmaker @takeleadwomen #PowerUp”
Read more in Take The Lead on Minda Harts
According to Feldt, “There is nothing quite like being in the room with hundreds of women and men whose energy is all about gender equality and advancing women’s leadership.”
Throughout the conference, Take The Lead Ambassador Felicia Davis, Executive Voice and Culture Advisor and Creator of the Voice Sovereignty Method, will introduce the winners of the 9 Power Tools Awards, each one focusing on a different aspect of problem-solving, effective leadership.
“Your relationships give you access and your results increase your value in the marketplace,” says Davis, who has been involved with Take The Lead since it was launched in 2014.
Read more in Take The Lead on the speakers here
This is an urgent time for the Power Up Conference to address cultural, economic and ongoing issues and the actionable solutions available. And because of the strength of strategies and solutions poised for action, the day will end with declarations of intentions and a dance party kicked off by BETTY, the musical band composed of Alyson Palmer, Amy Ziff and Elizabeth Ziff playing a brief live set.
Feldt says, “Together, with the courage to lead, the willingness to take action, and the audacity to break through musty old systems, we can transform not only the workplace, but the world. Women have been very good at describing what is happening to us. Power Up shows how we can be good at a developing strategies for defeating it.”
Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference 2026, Audacity: Leadership In Action, offers actionable takeaways and strategies for you from a diverse group of speakers and experts speaking on the importance of inclusive leadership to solve systemic and historical barriers across all sectors. Panel topics include health, AI, wealth, midlife health & work; storytelling, investing, young leaders, and more. Learn more about other speakers and panels and register here.
