GREATER BURLINGTON WOMEN'S FORUM

Thursday, March 26th, 2020

Making Savings Fun!

The Greater Burlington Women’s Forum is excited to present a lunchtime event that will make finances fun. We know that seems impossible but this interactive event will include personal stories and strategies, engaging conversation, access to local resources and practical ways to manage and thrive.

We’ll kick off the conversation with a brief look at how to have inclusive conversations about finances within your household. Do you take a divide and conquer approach to budgeting, paying bills and planning for the future? Are you having open, honest conversations about money at home? Our panelists will discuss some of the challenges and unconscious biases that women often face when it comes to finances and strategies to work through them.

Breaking out in small groups, Andria Denome of Baystate Financial will walk us through an exercise in setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Based) financial goals based on your individual needs. You’ll have an opportunity to ask questions, hear from your tablemates and share personal strategies for success. We’ll wrap up with a quick rundown of resources and support services available locally to help you manage money.

The women’s forum is pleased to introduce a series of forums designed to engage everyone. With an overarching theme of money, work, and law, we’re going to offer panels that give you insights and some practical ways to manage these basic realities of our lives. This is Episode 1: Budgets and Savings.

Panelists:

Connie Beal (she/her), Working Bridges Initiative Director
Connie leads training development, innovation, and supports a team of skilled and caring Resource Coordinators. An exciting part of her work is convening the Working Bridges employer network to identify and design strategies, partnerships and pilots to elevate resources and identify gaps in supporting the ever-changing needs of Vermont's diverse workforce. She is also a Resource Coordinator and helps individual employees at workplaces navigate various community resources related to housing, childcare, transportation, health care, and more. Helping individuals find stability, thrive, and reach their goals is a key driver of her work. Prior to Working Bridges, she was the Senior Resource Coordinator at Vermont 2-1-1, a 24/7 health and human service helpline serving Vermonters. She has experience working for nonprofits in the anti-violence and substance use prevention fields, as well as public health experience in the public sector. She holds a BA in Psychology from Colby College and Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Vermont. She is a graduate of Leadership Champlain, class of 2019. Connie maintains work-life balance by escaping to a Vermont mountain top, playing with my young children, and eating plentiful amounts of dark chocolate.

Andria Denome (she/her), Financial Advisor
Andria provides holistic financial planning and education for both individual and organizational clients. She identifies client goals and priorities through relationship-building and works with a team of advisors at Baystate Financial to provide dynamic solutions for every stage of life. Her professional passion projects include increasing awareness and accessibility of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investing, and working with companies to implement employee financial wellness strategies. She’s a graduate of UVM’s Sustainable Innovation MBA Program and has a background in family business. When she’s not in the office or visiting businesses, she can be found playing in the snow or biking to the beach.

Bring a lunch, listen, learn, share, and network with women in our community. The program closes at 1:15pm with time for participants' announcements (job openings, services available, upcoming events...). The space is available until 1:30pm for informal networking.

Please register to save your seat at the table (no need to print out a ticket, though!).BY DONATION. For our events to be accessible and affordable for all women, we rely on your contributions! We ask for a $5-$15 sliding scale donation at the door—credit card, cash or check (payable to Greater Burlington Women's Forum). To make your contribution online, please click DONATE.

Our sponsors for this event include People's United Bank

Thursday, April 30, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Women, Sports and Social Change (RESCHEDULED)

How have recreational and competitive sports impacted our lives, our communities, and our world? Join us Thursday evening, February 6th at Petra Cliffs Climbing Center in Burlington for a panel discussion with local leaders who are actively involved in promoting sports in Vermont and are engaged in uplifting the voices of all girls and women in sports. We invite you to reflect on your own experience, and learn how the journeys of these diverse panelists - athlete/guide/business owner, teammate/student/advocate, and sociologist/author/professor - have been enriched by the power of sport.

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Panelists

Dr. Maya Bhave obtained her PhD from Loyola University, Chicago and focused on Ethiopian immigrant women. After teaching Sociology at North Park University for ten years, she now lives in Vermont researching life, work & family balance, gender identity among female soccer players, motherhood and child loss. She teaches as an adjunct professor at St. Michael’s College and lives with her husband and two sons near Burlington. Her latest book is entitled “War and Cleats: Women in Soccer in the United States.”

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Andrea Charest is a climber, skier, guide, mother of an almost three year old daughter, wife, and business owner. Originally from Pittsburgh PA, Andrea moved to Vermont to attend UVM (BA, Psychology) and fell in love with the community and the opportunities the mountains provided. She began working at Petra Cliffs in Burlington in 2002 and began rock and ice guiding soon after. She and her husband Steve purchased the business 10 years later, and are expanding. Andrea is an American Mountain Guides Association Single Pitch Instructor, Assistant Rock Guide and Apprentice Alpine Guide, as well as a NY State Licensed Guide. Through climbing, Andrea began leading women's-only programs and mentoring other female climbers and guides. In a male-dominated field, she has witnessed an increase in women's representation in climbing over the years, and she is passionate about playing a role in the continued visibility and opportunity for women in the future.

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Lydia Sheeser is a ninth grade student at Burlington High School and a member of the BHS women’s varsity soccer team who took their #EqualPaymessage global in the fall of 2019, selling over 5000 jerseys and raising money to increase access to sports for girls and support efforts to close the wage gap in Vermont. This isn’t Lydia’s first venture into activism - she is involved in leading efforts to exempt tampons and other period products from the Vermont “luxury“ tax, starting in middle school with a petition that garnered over 2,000 signatures. Lydia started playing soccer with the Greater Burlington Girls Soccer League (GBGSL) in kindergarten and has been playing club and school soccer ever since. She spends summers on all-women wilderness canoe trips in northern Ontario. She also plays lacrosse and volleyball, and skis (both Nordic and downhill). She loves traveling and plans on spending time abroad studying and working on efforts to empower women and girls in developing countries.

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PLEASE NOTE: This special event can only accomodate 75 people! Please be sure to register to attend.

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Parking in the parking lot is limited. Street parking along Briggs Street is allowed; please obey street signs and respect our residential area. Please look for overflow event parking signs at 75 Briggs Street. 

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Join us to listen, learn, share, and network with women in our community.This special evening event opens at 6:00 p.m. with a panel discussion followed by by questions, closing remarks and a book signing!

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Please register to save your seat at the table (no need to print out a ticket, though!).

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BY DONATION. For our events to be accessible and affordable for all women, we rely on your contributions! We ask for a $5-$15 sliding scale donation at the door—credit card, cash or check (payable to Greater Burlington Women's Forum). To make your contribution online, please click DONATE.

Special thanks to the legal firm of PRIMMER PIPER EGGLESTON & CRAMER PC, our Founding Business Supporter; DUNKIEL SAUNDERS, Community Supporter; MERCY CONNECTIONS, our Fiscal Agent, providing fiscal oversight and tax-exempt status