Welcome to The Women's Link Leadership Forum

It's time. But are you ready? It's time for each of us to Step UP. To harness your ambitions, to rise up for that opporutnity and attain it. For the 4th Annual Forum, our theme is Step UP: Ambition, Opportunity, Attainment. We will have two main keynote speakers plus two 90 minute in-depth breakout sessions. The topics scheduled will challenge our attendees to seek out their aspirations and give them the tools to achieve them. We want to encourage our attendees to not be afraid to take the first step towards something magnificent - whether that be through growing their network of friends and colleagues or adding to their personal and professional "tool box" - we want this day for us women to collectively commit to Step UP!

Forum History

A group of women in the Finance organization got together in 2004 to start a women's group, which quickly expanded to all business groups at the SSC. The group was called the Women's Initiative (WIN) and had around 15-20 active members at that time. Membership slowly grew over the years and funding for events came from utilizing the "beg or borrow" methodology or out of pocket contributed by the members themselves.

In the Fall of 2007, The Home Depot announced corporate sponsored affinity groups and WIN officially became The Women's Link. With this sponsorship came additional funding and support from the leadership team, which allowed us to broaden our scope and opportunities for our members.

On March 28th, 2008, The Women's Link hosted its first annual Forum, titled, "Improve Yourself. Get Linked!" With 250 women in attendance, keynotes Bonnie Hill and Gail Evans gave inspiring speeches motivating them to push beyond their limits.

The second annual Forum, "Be Your Own Best" was held on October 8th, 2009. 250 women attended and an increasing demand caused others to be placed on a waiting list. Breakout session speakers and keynote speakers, Carol Tome and Molly Fletcher, encouraged attendees to be their best version of themselves. They shared their personal journeys about how they overcame challenges and pushed through the glass ceilings.

Last year's forum took place on October 28, 2010. The theme "Evolve. Grow. Embrace change." Set the tone for a sold out crowd of 300 attendees while key note speakers, Barbara Babbit Kaufman and Pattie Sellers taught us our that attitudes and ability to adapt to change will help us achieve our highest goals.