{"id":148813,"date":"2026-04-23T22:41:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=148813"},"modified":"2026-04-23T22:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:41:17","slug":"2026-lehigh-valley-womens-summit-returns-june-4-with-expanded-programming-and-local-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=148813","title":{"rendered":"2026 Lehigh Valley Women\u2019s Summit Returns June 4 with Expanded Programming and Local Voices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Award-winning Journalist and Speaker, Mariana Atencio, to Headline the Region\u2019s Premier Women\u2019s Leadership Event.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. (April 21, 2026) <\/strong>\u2013 Cedar Crest College, the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Women\u2019s Business Council (WBC) and United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley are proud to present the 2026 Lehigh Valley Women\u2019s Summit on Thursday, June<\/u> 4 from 8:00 a.m. \u2013 3:30 p.m. at Wind Creek Casino, Bethlehem<\/u>.<\/p>\n

Now in its 21st year, the Lehigh Valley\u2019s largest women\u2019s event is a day of inspiration, motivation, professional development and connections, attracting nearly 1,000 women business and nonprofit leaders. Easton native Stef Ziev, executive coach, speaker and author, will lead the morning keynote session. Mariana Atencio, the afternoon keynote speaker, is a Peabody Award-winning journalist, bestselling author, entrepreneur and speaker. Ms. Atencio will share her message of leading with confidence and finding purpose through the power of authentic storytelling, while Ms. Ziev will empower the audience to transform challenges into opportunities and take intentional action. Hannah Votta Coleman, founder and executive director of Joyful Giving in the Lehigh Valley, will serve as the Women\u2019s Summit Emcee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lehigh Valley Women\u2019s Summit is a space for connection, reflection, and growth at a time when these opportunities matter more than ever. This year\u2019s keynote speakers will challenge us to lead with authenticity and reframe what drains us into something that truly drives us\u2014both personally and professionally. We\u2019re proud to bring together a community of women who continue to show up, support one another, and move forward with purpose.<\/em>\u201d – Danielle Joseph<\/p>\n

The Women\u2019s Summit will also feature 12 breakout sessions, expanded from nine last year, with three tracks: leadership, personal development and career advancement. Reflecting the Women\u2019s Summit\u2019s commitment to regional talent, 95% of the breakout speakers are from the Lehigh Valley and were selected through a competitive application process. Attendees will have dedicated time for networking and can explore the marketplace to connect with local organizations and nonprofits and discover meaningful volunteer and philanthropic opportunities.<\/p>\n

This event is proudly supported by premier sponsor Capital Blue Cross and presenting sponsor Lehigh Valley Health Network, part of Jefferson Health. For the full sponsor list and event details, visit www.lehighvalleywomen.org<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tickets: <\/strong>Women\u2019s Summit tickets are $199, and Women\u2019s Summit tickets plus a Meet and Greet with Mariana Atencio are $250. Tickets are available for purchase by clicking here<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Support the Women\u2019s Summit<\/strong>: Sponsorship opportunities remain available for organizations looking to support women\u2019s leadership and empowerment. For more information, contact Danielle Joseph, the Chamber\u2019s Executive Vice President, Diversity Councils, at daniellej@lehighvalleychamber.org<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Invest in Her Fund<\/strong>: Recently established by the Women\u2019s Business Council (WBC), this fund provides access to WBC events and programming for individuals who may face barriers to attend with standard pricing. To apply for a scholarship to attend the Women\u2019s Summit, please click here<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaker Biographies<\/u><\/h2>\n

Mariana Atencio, Afternoon Keynote Speaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mariana Atencio is a Peabody Award-winning journalist, bestselling author, entrepreneur and speaker whose TEDx talk on authenticity ranks among the most viewed of all time. After immigrating to the United States from Venezuela, she turned her experience of feeling different into a global message: embracing authenticity unlocks personal and professional potential.<\/p>\n

Mariana built an acclaimed journalism career as an anchor and correspondent for Univision, Fusion and NBC News, reporting worldwide on migration, human rights and social issues. Her investigative and field reporting earned major honors, including Emmy nominations and industry awards.<\/p>\n

Author of Perfectly You: Embracing the Power of Being Real, Mariana now leads her own media company, hosts the hit podcast Lost in Panama and delivers keynotes speeches and moderates events around the world, helping audiences navigate change, build meaningful connections and lead with confidence and purpose through the power of authentic storytelling.<\/p>\n

Stef Ziev, Morning Keynote Speaker<\/h2>\n

Stef Ziev is an executive coach, keynote speaker, TEDx speaker and bestselling author of The Choice Is Yours: A Simple Approach to Live and Lead with More Joy, Ease, and Purpose. A former television executive, Stef spent more than 15 years in the entertainment industry before dedicating her career to helping leaders navigate change and lead with greater clarity and purpose.<\/p>\n

With nearly two decades of coaching experience, Stef has worked with C-suite executives, entrepreneurs and creative leaders from organizations including The New York Times, Google, American Express, Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN and the Philadelphia Eagles. Through her signature TURN\u2122 Technique, she empowers people to transform challenges into opportunities and take intentional action. Stef is on a mission to inspire a million meaningful \u201cTURNS\u201d around the world.<\/p>\n

Hannah Votta Colman, Moderator<\/h2>\n

Hannah Votta Coleman is a natural \u201cJoy Maker.\u201d She is the Founder and Executive Director of Joyful Giving, a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization that packages essential items that look and feel like gifts with the intention of creating joy. Hannah is also the creator of Joyfuls, a custom giftbox business, which sparked the idea of Joyful Giving, because she believes “Everyone deserves a gift.” Prior to these ventures, she taught drama classes at Pennsylvania Youth Theatre and developed Sunshine Studio, a Parent & Child art and music class, at the Banana Factory. After college, Hannah lived in Los Angeles and worked as an actress in film and television, before returning to the Lehigh Valley, and is a proud member of the Screen Actors Guild. Her focus is to spread joy by building community engagement and trusts that “When we give joy, we get joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Event Partners<\/u><\/h2>\n

About Cedar Crest College<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cedar Crest College is a liberal arts college, primarily for women, dedicated to the education of the next generation of leaders. Cedar Crest prepares students for life in a global community by educating the whole student at all stages of life and experience.<\/p>\n

About the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber\u2019s Women\u2019s Business Council<\/h2>\n

The Women\u2019s Business Council strengthens the Greater Lehigh Valley by empowering, recognizing and inspiring women in business and the community. The Women\u2019s Business Council provides information and a networking forum for women in management, professional and private enterprise. The Chamber\u2019s mission is to improve the economy and quality of life in the Lehigh Valley Metropolitan Area. With nearly 5,000 members who employ more than 220,000, the Chamber is the largest in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and in the top six nationwide. Our thirty-plus affiliated chambers, councils and committees are On Every Main Street with more than 1,500 community focused volunteers who actively contribute, at the grass roots, to develop and achieve their respective and collective goals.<\/p>\n

About the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley<\/h2>\n

United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley is one of 1,800 United Ways around the world. United Way partners include global, national and local businesses, nonprofits, civic and faith organizations, as well as educators, labor, health organizations, government and more. Out of all the United Ways across the globe, United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley is in the top 40! In fact, our local United Way Alliance on Aging and our Community School model each won runner-up awards to the prestigious \u201cCommon Good Award\u201d given by United Way Worldwide nationally to a United Way initiative that is making real change in the community. Nearly 2.6 million volunteers and 9.6 million donors around the world support the United Way. Collectively, United Way raises more than $5 billion every year to create community solutions that improve life for everyone-impacting the lives of up to 50 million people every year.<\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nGrace Levy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Award-winning Journalist and Speaker, Mariana Atencio, to Headline the Region\u2019s Premier Women\u2019s Leadership Event.\u00a0 LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. (April 21, 2026) \u2013 Cedar Crest College, the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of … Continue reading 2026 Lehigh Valley Women\u2019s Summit Returns June 4 with Expanded Programming and Local Voices<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lvws26.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=148813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148815,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148813\/revisions\/148815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/148814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=148813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=148813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=148813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}