Author Lynette Lewis addresses 175 at Greater Philadelphia event

Lynette Lewis, author of Climbing the Ladder in Stilettos, provided strategies for developing and deploying "your personal brand" at a Greater Philadelphia region workshop and luncheon June 8 at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.

"It is important to have dreams and to pursue them,” Lewis told the group of 175 women and men who attended the event. "I am not talking about achieving your dreams here -- but the actual pursuit of them.”

The event drew Network members from more than 30 companies, including Campbell Soup Company, The Hershey Company, Johnson & Johnson, The Kellogg Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Nielsen, Giant Carlisle, Target Corporation and Safeway Inc.

"As a male, it can be a bit intimidating attending a workshop conducted by the author of Climbing the Ladder in Stilettos,” noted Chad Staniec, consumer sales, CVS for GlaxoSmithKline. "With that said, I was thrilled with Lynette Lewis’ workshop. Her lecture on the power of purpose and the importance of chasing multiple dreams was inspiring. Purpose answers the question, ‘Why?’ Mission answers the question, ‘What?’ Dreams bring happiness and motivate and fuel our energy. That all leads to building your own personal brand and eminence and ultimately leads to personal happiness.

"These are all life lessons and have nothing to do with gender,” Staniec continued. "Yet they can be used as powerful leadership tools to be leveraged in your personal or professional lives. It was a great workshop and one that I strongly recommend to anybody that has the opportunity.”

Added Slipa Pai, NEW Greater Philadelphia co-chair and senior manager at Deloitte & Touche: "The event was dynamic and engaging, regardless of your level within your organization. Lynette provided me with practical takeaways that I can use in many aspects of my life.”

Another attendee noted, "Lynette's messages really connected with me. I am taking the points Lynette covered today and going over them with my team next week so that we can unleash everyone's true potential and understand each other better.”

Christine Hartmann, past NEW Greater Philadelphia co-chair and director, Saint Joseph’s University, said, "The impact of the program and the energy generated by the event were enormous.”

All attendees received a copy of Lewis’ book.

NEW Greater Philadelphia officers at the workshop included (front row from left): Illea Evans, Deepti Mogadar, Shilpa Pai, guest speaker Lynette Lewis, Meg Levene and Sherry Caldwell. Pictured back row from left are: NEW Director of Client Services Nancy Krawczyk, Christine Hartmann, Sue Rorke-Lawler, Courtney Mallowe, Roberta Kitchenoff, Amanda Basile, Linda Gilroy and Lauri Bookholdt. Officers missing from the photo were Margo Hoerner and Paul Hagarty.