The Voice of Industry Weekend

The Voice of Industry Weekend is an intentional three-day gathering for women who lead, build, and create across industries. It takes place May 29 to 31, 2026, at the Caribe Royale Orlando in Florida. The weekend is limited to fifty women and includes four core experiences designed to foster real connection, professional growth, and the kind of conversations that rarely happen at larger events. 

This is not a conference. It is not a trade show. It is not a networking mixer extended over a weekend. It is a curated experience built for working women who are tired of surface interactions and ready for something more substantial. The format is intimate by design, the schedule is intentional, and every element of the weekend has been considered with the women attending in mind. 

The Name and What It Means 

The Voice of Industry takes its name from a newspaper published in Lowell, Massachusetts between 1845 and 1848. The paper was created by women working in the textile mills who needed a way to make their voices heard. They worked twelve to fourteen hour days operating looms in conditions that damaged their health and bodies, and when their employers cut wages and increased hours, they organized. They formed the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association, the first organization of working women in the United States. They wrote, edited, and published their own newspaper. They testified before the Massachusetts state legislature. They refused to stay silent in industries that depended on their silence. 

Naming the weekend after their work is intentional. It honors the women who came before us and reminds the women attending that the right to speak in your industry, on your own terms, was not given. It was built, fought for, and protected by women who decided that silence was no longer an option. The weekend carries that history into the present. Whether you work in healthcare, education, retail, technology, finance, the arts, or any other field, your voice belongs in your industry. The weekend is built around helping women find, strengthen, and use it. 

Friday: The Voice of Industry Dinner 

The weekend opens Friday evening with an intimate dinner at the Caribe Royale Orlando. This is where the fifty women first come together. The dinner is structured to allow real conversation, not the brief, performative exchanges that fill most professional events. Attendees are seated thoughtfully, the schedule allows for actual presence with each other, and the format itself sets the tone for the rest of the weekend. 

The dinner is not just a welcome event. It is the foundation that the rest of the weekend builds on. The conversations that start at Friday's dinner continue through Saturday and Sunday. The women who share a table on Friday often find themselves seeking each other out again throughout the weekend. This is by design. Connection takes time, and the dinner gives it the time it needs to actually begin. 

Saturday Morning: Bloom Workforce Readiness Intensive 

Saturday morning is dedicated to the Bloom Workforce Readiness Intensive, a hands-on session designed for women navigating transitions, building businesses, or working through what comes next professionally. Bloom is WomELLE's emotional support program for women carrying too much, and the Intensive brings that approach into a practical workshop format. 

The session focuses on values-based decision making. How to identify what actually matters to you. How to navigate difficult professional decisions when the stakes are real and the path is unclear. How to bring more purpose and meaning into your daily work, regardless of your industry or role. The Intensive is led by professionals who understand the specific challenges women face in their careers, including Ashley Poklar, Clinical Director of Sentinel Foundation and founder of A Poklar Ponders. The format is interactive, the group size is small, and every woman has the opportunity to engage directly with the material and the facilitators. 

This session is not a lecture. It is not a panel. It is the kind of hands-on work that requires small group attention, and it is one of the reasons we limit the weekend to fifty women. The Intensive does not work at scale. It works because the room is small enough for the facilitators to actually see and respond to the women in it. 

Saturday Evening: The Female Voice Awards Gala 

Saturday evening is the WomELLE Female Voice Awards Gala, the centerpiece of the weekend. The Gala is open to a larger audience and welcomes guests beyond the fifty women in the rest of the weekend programming. The Female Voice Awards honor women and companies making meaningful contributions across industries. The categories include CEO of the Year, Woman of the Year, Female Founder of the Year, Woman of Impact, Woman of Achievement, the I Am the Voice Award, and several others recognizing leadership, community impact, and innovation. Company awards include Startup of the Year, Woman-Owned Business of the Year, Social Impact Business of the Year, and Innovative Business of the Year. 

This year's honorees represent a wide range of fields and experiences. Among the women being recognized are Sophia DuJardot of AudioMazes and Belle Voix Studios, named Female Founder of the Year. Ashley Poklar of Sentinel Foundation and A Poklar Ponders, receiving the I Am the Voice Award. Pauline Rogers of the RECH Foundation, recognized as Woman of the Year. Staci Swiderski of Family Source Consultants & She Decides Collection and Catherine Okubo of MPB Health, named CEO of the Year. Nicole Odom-Hardnett of Focus Point Solutions, recognized as Woman of Impact. Raj Girn of The Open Chest Confidence Academy, receiving the Woman of Achievement Award. The full list includes more than a dozen women and companies whose work is shaping their fields in significant ways. 

What makes the Female Voice Awards different from most industry awards is the room itself. The honorees are not strangers being applauded by a faceless crowd. They are women who have been in conversation with the other attendees since Friday. The applause is real. The recognition is personal. The celebration carries weight because the women receiving it are being seen by women who actually know them by the time they take the stage. 

The Companies We Are Honoring 

Alongside the women being recognized, we are honoring companies doing meaningful work in their industries. AudioMazes is named Startup of the Year for its work building interactive audio experiences while investing in women across every layer of production. Focus Point Solutions, LLC is named Woman-Owned Business of the Year for its behavioral health services led by Nicole Odom-Hardnett. English Communication Academy is named Innovative Business of the Year for its accessible approach to communication education. Adventures by Jamie, founded by Jamie Santillo, is recognized among the Top 5 Woman-Owned Companies. Orlando Cat Cafe is named Social Impact Business of the Year for combining hospitality with animal rescue in a way that has become a fixture in its community. 

Sunday: She's Possible Brunch 

The weekend closes Sunday morning with the She's Possible Brunch. By Sunday, the women in the room are no longer strangers. They have shared meals, attended sessions, celebrated together, and built the kind of familiarity that takes most professional relationships years to develop. The brunch is designed to land what the weekend has been building. It is the closing conversation, the chance to consolidate what happened, the opportunity to commit to staying connected after everyone goes home. 

The brunch is intentionally unstructured. There are no keynotes, no panels, no awards. It is space for the conversations that have been forming all weekend to deepen. It is also where the practical work of staying in touch gets done. The relationships that form at The Voice of Industry Weekend do not end when the weekend ends. The brunch is built to make that ongoing connection possible. 

Why Fifty Women 

The Voice of Industry Weekend is intentionally limited to fifty women. This is the most important design decision we made, and it shapes everything else about the experience. Larger events do not allow for the kind of relationships that actually change something. A room of three hundred women produces a hundred surface interactions. A room of fifty women produces five to ten real ones. We chose fifty because it is the smallest size that still creates genuine range and the largest size that still allows everyone to know each other by Sunday. 

The cap also allows us to do things that simply cannot be done at larger events. Hands-on workshops where every woman has the facilitator's attention. Meals where every conversation can be heard. Awards ceremonies where the honorees are being celebrated by women who actually know their work. Open time built into the schedule for the unscheduled conversations that often turn out to be the most important parts of the weekend. 

If you are looking for a large conference, this is not it. If you are looking for a weekend designed to put you in real relationship with other women in leadership, this is exactly what we built. 

Who The Weekend Is For 

The Voice of Industry Weekend is for working women across industries. Founders. CEOs. Executives. Directors. Business owners. Women building something significant in their fields, whatever those fields may be. Women who lead teams, manage companies, run organizations, or are building toward those roles. Women who have reached a point in their careers where what they need is no longer more advice or more inspiration but real connection with other women who understand the weight of what they carry. 

The weekend is also for women who are tired of the typical industry event. If you have attended large conferences and left feeling more exhausted than energized, this weekend was designed for you. If you have networked your way through hundreds of events without building relationships that actually matter, this weekend was built differently. If you are ready for depth instead of volume, intimacy instead of exposure, and real conversation instead of curated performance, the room we built was built for you. 

Location and Logistics 

The Voice of Industry Weekend takes place at the Caribe Royale Orlando, a resort hotel offering private accommodations, on-site dining, and the kind of setting that allows attendees to be fully present without the logistical challenges of city events. Orlando International Airport is approximately fifteen minutes from the property, making travel straightforward from anywhere in the country. 

Registration includes all programming, meals during the weekend, access to all four core experiences, and the materials provided for the Bloom Workforce Readiness Intensive. Accommodation at the Caribe Royale is available for attendees at a reserved group rate. Specific details on registration packages, accommodations, and travel are available at the registration page. 

How to Register 

Registration is open at womelle.com. Once the fifty seats are filled, the door closes. We do not add seats. We do not extend the registration deadline. The cap is real, and it is part of what protects the experience for the women attending. If you have been considering joining us, this is not a weekend to wait on. The women who register early are the ones who get in. 

If you have questions before registering, you can reach out to our team and someone will respond personally. We are a small team and we read every message we receive. We take the time to answer questions because we want the right women in the room, and the right women often have questions before they commit. 

Our Supporters 

Mazes, She Decides Collection, Belle Voix Studios, Kandula Communications, A Poklar Ponders, Jolie Finds, AudioMazes, MPB Health, Paula Wright, Focus Point Behavioral Health, GAS Consulting, and Nautical Media Group. If your company believes in what we are building and wants to support future events, we would love to hear from you. 

The Larger Picture 

The Voice of Industry Weekend is part of WomELLE's broader work supporting working women across the country. WomELLE Membership, our curated membership for working women, brings women together monthly in person and virtually for ongoing relationship and support. Bloom, our emotional support program, provides resources for women navigating the weight of carrying too much. I Am the Voice Publication, our monthly print and digital publication, tells the stories of women across industries with honesty and care. The Female Founders Podcast features conversations with women building meaningful work. 

The weekend is the annual flagship gathering that brings all of this together. It is where the women in our community come into the same room. It is where the relationships that started in publications and podcasts and memberships deepen into something more. It is where we celebrate what women are building and prepare for what comes next. 

We hope to see you there. 

Register at womelle.com.