SAN FRANCISCO — Lori Felix showed up at the Professional BusinessWomen of California’s 22nd annual conference Tuesday for two reasons: inspiration and contacts. And she wasn’t disappointed.
“The speakers — wow!” said the Livermore woman, a claims adjuster for State Farm. “We’re all a bit down these days because of the recession. The speakers showed us that you cannot only survive failure, but turn it into success.”
Felix was referring to speakers including Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, political strategist Donna Brazile and Congresswoman Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough. Speier founded the conference in 1989, inspired by the success of Women’s Day for San Mateo County Women event.
Speier strode onto the stage at Moscone Center with the aplomb of a rock star, wearing a headset microphone. “Are you ready to change your life?” she called out to the crowd of more than 3,000 in attendance. The crowd roared back, “Yes!” Speier continued, “Are you ready to change the world?” and once again received a rousing assent.
In addition to the speeches, the conference offered “speed mentoring” — brief hits of advice for specific entrepreneurial questions such as “Should I rent or lease my building?” — along with workshops on subjects like negotiating skills, career planning and creating effective visual presentations. The almost exclusively female crowd also roamed through an exhibition hall replete with commercial booths selling everything from jewelry to digital services.
“In school, you only know what you hear and see. All these stories are showing me some of the opportunities that exist,” said Janelle DeCourcey, a project manager at Chevron who moved to Walnut Creek four months ago.
Speier recalled how she was shot five times in the Jonestown tragedy when she accompanied Congressman Leo Ryan to Guyana in 1978 at the age of 28. She lay in agony for days before being airlifted to the U.S.
“I promised myself if I survived I would never take another day for granted, and I would dedicate myself to public service,” Speier said. The steely will to survive, and to succeed, developed during that grueling episode has powered her subsequent successes, the congresswoman said.
“You can negotiate anywhere, for anything. You can learn to negotiate a $4 million contract or bedtime with a 4-year-old — and the latter is often more difficult than the former,” said Karen Hough, chief executive of ImprovEdge and the leader of a workshop on negotiation.
Believing in one’s own worth and initiating negotiations are critically important skills for women, Hough said.
Diana Marulanda, who moved to San Francisco from Colombia recently and wants to start her own business importing jewelry made by indigenous people in her home country, said the negotiating workshop was helpful.
“I learned that when I go to present my ideas, I have to be confident,” said Marulanda, a recent college graduate. “Sometimes we underestimate ourselves because we are women and, in my case, because we are from another country, and we shouldn’t do that.”
Sarah Mangan, who works at South San Francisco-based Genentech, came with a group of employees from her company, as did many other attendees. She said she found the conference helpful in reminding her to maintain contact with the people and things that are important to her, rather than any specific lessons about business.
“My friends, take a look around you,” Brazile said to the luncheon crowd. “If you are looking for a good contract lawyer or someone with specific skills, they are probably no more than two or three tables away.
“The old boys’ network operates with the efficiency of a Swiss watch. In order to crack our way in, we have to create a woman-promoting machine,” Brazile said. “If the door could open for me, it can open for you. Believe that.”
Contact Janis Mara at 510-301-8373. Follow her at Twitter.com/jmara.
