This Year’s Defining Her Future Features Women Passionate About Their Work

Valerie Medina knows that the Defining Her Future(DHF) Conference has a big impact on the students at Cal Poly.

DHF, a conference put on by Cal Poly Women in Business, brings together business women from the industry to give talks, run workshops and answer questions.

“Being able to come to this event and see people who looked like me being in such high achieving roles was so empowering, and hearing their stories, pushed me to want to be the best version of myself and strive to have, you know, as much impact as they had on me on someone in the future,” Medina said.

However, as conference director for DHF, Medina wants to make an impact beyond San Luis Obispo. This year, the DHF conference will feature a raffle with all proceeds going directly to Fire Aid to support those affected by the LA Wildfires.

Prizes for raffle winners include a Brown Butter Cookie Co. treat basket, a one-night stay for two at the Madonna Inn, a one-night stay at Hotel Cerro and a $75 gift card to Petra.

“There’s lots of students and faculty, staff that have family friends and even live in LA,” Medina said. “So being able to support them that way was one of my biggest goals and something new we’re implementing and will be executed at the conference.”

The DHF Conference is on March 7, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the Performing Arts Center. This year’s conference is centered around the theme of passion.

“With the theme ‘Passion,’ we wanted to look for people who were really involved with and — for a lack of a better word — passionate about what they do,” Medina said. “As I was looking for speakers, I looked for people who were Cal Poly alum or that were experienced in their field or showed that they’ve done impactful work and want to work with their community and empower and uplift one another.”

The budget for the conference is $20,000, according to Medina. The conference is completely free for students and includes lunch and free merchandise.

Mrinalini Ingram, former VP of Verizon Smart Communities, will deliver the keynote address with Lisa Hufford, CEO of Simplicity Consulting, delivering the secondary address in the Spanos Theater following the conference introduction.

“And that’s how I came across these wonderful women,” Medina said. “They’re great at what they do, they’re lovely public speakers, and they’ve just had such a big impact on those around them that bringing them to the conference was the only right answer.”

San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart, who recently joined the Orfalea College of Business faculty, will speak on a panel during the Defining Her Future conference.

After the lunch break, attendees will get a chance to ask questions at various panels from women in the field. San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart, who recently joined the Orfalea College of Business faculty, is serving as one of the panelists for the Women in Leadership panel.

“Students should definitely take advantage of being able to talk to so many Cal Poly alum and just honestly gain so much feedback because so many of the speakers that come in are working at fortune 500 companies, are just super insightful, are experts, and they know their stuff,” said Kaitlyn Wong, marketing strategy team committee member.

To end the day, students can go to a marketing workshop or “find your passion” workshop and then network with the various companies and speakers in the PAC.

“It’s a way for you to interact, and really develop learn by doing, essentially, at the conference,” Medina said. “They’re great opportunities to put into action what you’ve been learning at the conference.”

Other opportunities offered to students at the conference include free professional headshots and a vision board making station, where students can make a board based on personal and professional goals as well as things they learned at the conference.

In preparing for this event, Cal Poly WIB has three teams: Marketing Strategy, Marketing Creative and Logistics.

The Marketing Strategy team orders and picks out all the merchandise around the event and runs the DHF social media

Wong has a minor in event planning and experience management and can apply some of these skills to her work on the committee.

“Running one of the biggest events on campus, I think it’s extremely like Learn by Doing just because it’s a student run, you know. It’s literally by women in business. It’s all students like working together to pull us off,” Wong said.

The marketing strategy team worked with the marketing creative team to figure out the best designs, materials and colors. The marketing strategy team also works with the logistics team, who deals with the giveaways, to upload the giveaway information

Isabella Vaka, director of marketing for DHF, served as a member of the Marketing Strategy Committee last year, and said she gained valuable experience in event planning.

“Ultimately, I’ve learned how to be a better leader, teammate, and communicator,” Vaka said.

Vaka described this event as “a brilliant opportunity for professional development.”

“Our conference empowers people to be their best selves,” she said. “I hope that our attendees come to recognize where their passions lie and learn how to harness it in their pursuit of success.”