Women Answering the Call

Imagine an extraordinary gathering of women, awakening to the truth of who they really are, and committed to live and lead with heart and wisdom.
The Sophia Institute is convening a symposium on this topic: Women Answering the Call: Leadership Rooted in Boundless Love, Wisdom, Creativity, Transformation on Friday evening and Saturday, October 23-24, 2026.
We envision this symposium addressing a leadership centered in boundless love — “the kind of love that is courageous and disciplined rather than sentimental, rooted in wisdom, creativity, trust, dignity, solidarity, and shared purpose. A leadership that organizes, endures, and transforms systems”, as Pat Mitchell puts it. One that empowers people to make a real difference in their own lives, their families, their communities, and that awakens in all of us the truth of who we really are.
The women leaders who have accepted our invitation to offer a session are answering the call. See more about them below.
If you are called to join us, you are one of those women answering the call or yearning to become one. We welcome you!
With love and blessings,

Carolyn Rivers,
Founder and Director of The Sophia Institute

Info: How do we gain “influence” and what do we do with it? In our personal lives as women, wives, friends, colleagues and in our communities. How is it gained or earned and how do we steward it with love and in a spirit of service? We all have influence, even though for most of us, our sphere of influence is a much smaller circle that the numbers social media platforms reach. But it’s also true that our choices of what we talk or write about, how we spend our time and money reflect our personal values; each choice also has the potential to influence others. Let’s influence a new narrative about how we, as women, influence the nature of power by the ways we use it and share it; how we steward our influence towards actions that encourage women to connect rather than compete; how we can, individually and collectively, shift the mindset of scarcity to one of abundance. That will influence everything we do!

Info: What happens when we answer the call to lead? Does leadership change who we are, or reveal more fully who we have always been? Drawing on leadership journeys that span different generations, races, professions, and seasons of life, two friends reflect on the experiences they share, the places their paths diverge, and what each has learned about power, purpose, courage, and love. Rather than offering easy answers, their conversation invites us to consider whether we can answer a call to transform our institutions, communities, and world without also being transformed ourselves.

Info: There is a call that has always existed beneath the noise of our lives. A call to lead from the deepest, most creative and most courageous place within us. A call rooted not in power over others, but in love – boundless, transformative, fiercely tender love.

This session draws from Zoë Holland’s book Crafted by Heart: Living and Leading with Love, tracing a sacred path from Brigid — ancient flame-keeper, well-tender and bridge between worlds — to Bridget: the woman alive today, answering her own call, often in the quiet moments where nobody is watching. These invitations are not a programme. They are a homecoming. Tested in grief and rupture. Illuminated in stillness. Awakened in community — just as they were for the women of Silk Elephant, who during the darkest days of the pandemic stitched handmade hearts for strangers and, in doing so, transformed themselves.

Info: What if our capacity to lead others is directly connected to our willingness to deeply know ourselves? In this engaging and reflective session, Dr. Jeannelle Perkins explores intimacy beyond romantic relationships as the practice of Into-Me-See: the courage to look inward with honesty, compassion, and curiosity. Drawing from her work in relational health, resilience, and human connection, Dr. Perkins invites women to consider how self-awareness shapes the way we communicate, establish boundaries, navigate vulnerability, exercise power, and build trust. Participants will explore what becomes possible when leadership is rooted not simply in what we accomplish, but in the clarity of who we are. Living and leading from the inside out becomes an act of courageous love, one capable of transforming ourselves, our relationships, our communities, and the systems we influence.

Info: After more than two decades of building companies, leading teams and pursuing traditional measures of success, Molly Fienning began to hear a deeper call: to lead not only from strategy and ambition, but also from intuition, creativity, compassion and truth. Her journey reflects a larger shift unfolding across society as we recognize the limits of systems shaped primarily by competition, control and relentless growth. The emerging paradigm asks us to restore qualities historically associated with the feminine, including connection, reciprocity, receptivity and care, while integrating them with the masculine strengths of clarity, structure and decisive action. This is not about women replacing men or one form of power overtaking another. It is about recovering our collective wholeness. Molly will explore what becomes possible when women answer the call to lead from that integrated place and how doing so can transform not only our own lives, but also our organizations and cultures.

Info: Good leadership is good stewardship of people, of resources, of outcomes. But Kenya makes the case that none of it is sustainable without a deeper foundation: radical sacred self-love, the daily practice of trusting ourselves completely and reclaiming full authority over our own decisions and lives. In this session, she’ll share the practices that fortify her own leadership: slow mornings, nervous system regulation, intentional mentoring and offer a framework for leading with both diligence and devotion. Women will leave with permission to steward boldly, precisely because they have first learned to love themselves fiercely.

Info: What if wellbeing is not simply a matter of individual choice, but a reflection of the environments, relationships, and rhythms that surround us every day? Drawing from Blue Zones research on the world’s longest-lived communities, this session reflects on cultures where purpose, belonging, movement, rest, and spiritual grounding are woven into daily life. Dr. Susan Johnson will connect these lessons with nature-based wellbeing, her own leadership journey, and the healing power of nature as a pathway to restoration, creativity, and connection. This talk invites women leaders to consider how we answer the call to create healthier, more connected, and more purposeful communities by shaping the systems, places, and cultures that help people flourish.

Event venue & nearby stays

150 Meeting St, 150 Meeting Street, Charleston, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.

Get the app →

Discover more events by tag