The Livingston Parish Women’s Leadership Conference & Expo on September 24th was a bustling, jubilant event, with every seat filled by beautifully dressed ladies eager to hear stories of success and encouragement from leading women in their respective fields.
Beautifully decorated tables, laden with goodies and trinkets from participating sponsors, filled most of the meeting space, each with a crowning centerpiece that one lucky individual at every table would take home at the end of the event.
The Women’s Committee, made up of Angela Alessi, Shannon Bernard, Sybil Cotten, Nickey Gautreau, Kathy Maust, Brandy Robertson, Regina Scott, and Shelley Simmons, was responsible for much of the event’s planning and coordination. Each member was given time to walk the stage with a dash of their own personal flair before the event began in earnest.
The focus of the event centered on hearing the stories and anecdotes of several successful women from around the state. Each speaker encouraged the audience to “own their story” by sharing how they found their path through life and hardships with the help of family and community.
First to speak was Lori Steele, the Public Information Officer for the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office. Steele shared a story of perseverance and the importance of friendship, detailing how she found support during one of the toughest times of her life in the form of two of her closest and dearest friends.
“I didn’t know I needed them, but I did. They physically got me up, made sure I was eating, wiped my tears, coordinated with folks to make sure my kids were okay,” Steele added. “Look at [your] village. Sometimes it’s the proof that you’re surrounding yourself with people who help you be the person who you’re destined to be.”
“We have lots of people who are suffering around the parish… I want to be that person who helps them. I’ll sit with you. I'll cry with you… We do what we can to help others,” Steele concluded.
Angela Alessi, co-owner of Heirloom Journeys and Interim President and CEO of the Livingston Parish Chamber of Commerce, was next to speak. Alessi shared a word to the wise, noting that “you don’t know when tomorrow will come… we don’t know why we go through the things we do in life… they become who you are, they become your memories, so make sure that you’re owning your story and not just fading through life.”
Then, Dr. Brenna Barzenick, author of Tsumommy! Riding the Wave of Motherhood and co-founder of Downtown Yoga, emphasized the healing power of stepping back in an age of rapid consumerism to enjoy what makes a person happy and connected to their life.
“We spend so much of our lives doing, analyzing, responding, consuming information, solving problems and moving quickly from one thing to the next… Writing, painting, gardening, bird watching, being in nature, sitting in silence – these quieter moments create space for wonder and life’s deeper questions,” Dr. Barzenick began. “The paradox is that we feel completely disconnected while being completely connected to everything, everywhere, all the time.”
Dr. Barzenick took the crowd on a journey through the stages of her life, citing the period when she abided by her perfectionist playbook to have “a perfect body, the perfect life, the perfect family, the perfect everything.” However, as a “recovering perfectionist,” Dr. Barzenick noted that time and life can change a lot about a person. Having children ended up being “the toughest job [she] ever had and the most important job [she] ever had” during which she found a refuge in writing a newspaper column, Tales from the Crib, and then eventually her novel.
Through writing and motherhood, Dr. Barzenick found that “the story [she] was actually living was far more interesting than the perfect one [she] had imagined” back in her perfectionist playbook.
“We all have a story we’re sharing, and owning your story can heal you. And when women are healed, the world has a fighting chance,” Dr. Barzenick concluded.
Afterward, Rachel Schneider, author of the Fire and Metal Series, spoke to the audience in the form of a video she had pre-recorded for the event since she couldn’t make it due to a double-booking of events.
Schneider told a tale of how she discovered her love for writing as a teenager when she read one of her mother’s Danielle Steel romance books. After self-publishing three novels, pulling them, and then honing her craft while being a new mom, Schneider eventually published her novel Metal Slinger on Amazon. While working as an office manager for a construction company, Schneider promoted her book through influencer reviews until a publishing house noticed and reached out, securing her success.
“I ended up leaving my job of 13 years to be an author full time,” Schneider told the audience, highlighting that "perseverance [and] overcoming the odds” isn’t just something that Schneider writes about in her novels, but also something she went through in her own story.
The keynote speaker was Lisa Maggio, whose novel, Crushed: A Miracle Was Her Only Option, takes the reader through Maggio’s experience of suffering a traumatic horseback riding incident and follows her journey of recovery and the miracles she experienced through her faith.
Maggio’s speech focused not only on her story, but also on the potential for others to share their own stories, and on the connections and opportunities that can form through honest, friendly communication.
“Don’t y’all miss when people just talked to each other?” Maggio asked the crowd. “Everybody’s looking at their cellphone and not talking to one another. Bad social skills is bad business [and] we are in need of social skills.”
Maggio encouraged attendees to turn to a neighbor and introduce themselves, making connections not just for business but for the simple pleasure of human interaction and conversation.
Maggio wrapped up her speech by retelling her horseback riding accident and how her faith carried her through the toughest times of her recovery and journey into the present.
“There comes a point in our life where we realize that we are either benefiting or suffering from the decisions we make and what we believe,” Maggio stated. “There was a time… I couldn’t walk without assistance. If I had not lived it, I too would have a hard time digesting the magnitude of what happened to me that fateful day.”
