Past participants in Triple W Forum, A Working Women’s Workshop describe the experience as worthwhile and life changing.
The two-day workshop, which recently took place Chicago, was conceived by Jennifer Connelly, one of three valedictorians in the1995 Crown Point High School graduating class.
“The flow of the 2012 workshop takes women on a journey where they look at what work-life integration means to them from a big-picture perspective all the way down to simple actions they can take on a day-to-day basis to be well, work and live more productively, feel more energized in their careers, and manage stress,” said Connelly, who graduated summa cum laude from Miami University.
Julie Burgener has attended all three Triple W Forum workshops - two in Chicago and one in New York.
“One thing that it did is let me just really set some time aside physically to think about where I was going and what I wanted without all the distractions,” Burgener said. “I think they are absolutely worthwhile and I am going again.”
Michele Malo, owner of Welcome Home Fitness, said the workshops had a profound effect on her life. When Malo attended her first conference two years ago, she had been with corporate America 18 years.
“The amazing network of women from all walks of life let me feel like I needed to let go and follow my dream,” Malo said.
Malo quit her executive marketing position and opened her own successful personal training business.
“This is one of the most inspiring conferences you will ever attend,” Malo said.
Connelly said workshop speakers and participants focus on a specific curriculum around the concept of work-life integration. There are two working documents designed to guide participants throughout the workshop: a Life Transformation Plan and Insights to Action. The curriculum has four core areas: wellness, reflection, transformation and integration.
Triple W Forum, which started with six women and one guest speaker in 2009, has grown to 60 women with 14 guest speakers including doctors, business leaders and entrepreneurs.
The idea for starting the workshops was a combination of Connelly’s feeling she was failing to balance her professional and personal life while working in corporate America and the inspiration of her mother Nancy Goodwin and her late sister Rachelle Goodwin-McClory.
“Starting when I was little, my mother and older sister instilled in me a level of confidence and inspiration about being a strong woman and also about the importance of taking care of myself physically, emotionally, spiritually,” Connelly said.
The name was inspired by her sister, who in 1999 started a "Wo-Man's Weekend" in Atlanta.
“It was a group of women from all different ages and backgrounds getting away together for a weekend, and it was such a fun experience,” Connelly said.
“Rachelle had T-shirts made with the symbol W2 for Wo-Man's Weekend. At that point in time, she was three years recovered from breast cancer. In 2000, her cancer came back aggressively, and she was not able to continue the W2 tradition.”
Connelly said she is grateful to her family for the continuation of W2 into Triple W Forum.
For more information, visit www.triplewforum.com .
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