In-person and Zoom registrations are now closed.
Please contact iwa@iwachicago.org to be added to the WAITLIST for IN-PERSON reservations.
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2022 International Women's Day Hybrid Celebration!
International Women Associates I Chicago Consular Corps Ladies Club I WorldChicago
Celebrating Together!
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
4:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. CST
In Person at the Woman's Athletic Club OR Virtual on Zoom (details below)
In Person: Woman's Athletic Club, 626 N. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
Tickets: $35
Hors d'oeuvres | One complimentary drink | Cash bar
Valet parking available (3 hours $15 I Cash only)
Virtual: Zoom (Free)
For guests attending via Zoom, the link will be provided upon registration.
Program:
4:00 p.m. Cocktail Reception (in person)
4:45 p.m. Zoom Doors Open for Virtual Attendees | Pre-program Slide Show
5:00 p.m. Welcome and Trivia Game
5:20 p.m. Keynote | Guest Speakers | Q&A
6:30 p.m. Program Adjournment
Please click the Register button to the left to attend the event!
We encourage you to invite young adults to inspire them as future leaders.
For guests attending in-person, proof of full vaccination (digital or hard copy along with ID) or a negative Covid test taken within 3 days of the event are required.
Masks (except when eating and drinking) are also required.
SPEAKER BIOS:
Shermin Kruse, JD
Shermin Kruse is a law professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, teaching leadership, complex negotiation, and global transactions; a TEDx producer and speaker; a strategic negotiation consultant specializing in weaponizing empathy and stoicism; and a thought leader with a long history of civic engagement.
Ms. Kruse is also the author of the critically acclaimed, best-selling novel “Butterfly Stitching,” inspired by the true experiences of herself and the women in her family before and after the Iranian revolution. Prior to this, Ms. Kruse was a partner at the law firm of Barack Ferrazzano where she represented international and Fortune 500 companies for 17 years.
Ms. Kruse is a frequent speaker on issues relating to complex negotiation, tactical empathy, stoicism, change-agency, leadership, and professional development. She is also often asked to speak on issues of international relations, non-profit management, and civil and human rights. She was recently named as the annual Woman Extraordinaire by the International Women Associates, featured by WomanScape Magazine for her global humanitarian work, and named one of the nation’s top 100 “Women to Watch” by BizWomen Magazine, one of Chicago’s most influential women by Chicago Business Journal, and one of Chicago’s Women of Inspiration by Today’s Chicago Magazine. Dedicated to her local and global community, Ms. Kruse is a founder of Pasfarda Arts and Culture Exchange, a director of the international refugee center RefuSHE, a founding member of the Chicago Council for the American Writers Museum, and a former director of the ACLU of Illinois. Ms. Kruse is currently authoring a textbook on global transactions issues, to be published by Northwestern Library in 2022. In addition, she is a frequent columnist and commentator for a variety of international magazines, including WomanScape, Fete Lifestyle Magazine, and the Huffington Post.
Ms. Kruse’s educational alumni institutions include the University of Michigan Law School (J.D., cum laude), The University of Toronto (BSc, honors dual degree in Psychology and Philosophy), Northwestern University School of Professional Development (negotiation certification), and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs (fully funded Emerging Leader Fellowship).
Dr. Heather M. Prendergast, MD, MS, MPH, FACEP
Dr. Heather Prendergast is a Professor and the Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs for the University of Illinois College of Medicine, as well as the Vice-Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Illinois Hospital. She is also currently serving as the Interim Executive Director of the University of Illinois Physicians Group.
Dr. Prendergast is a Past-President for the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians (ICEP) and a Past Section Chair for the Emergency Medicine section of the National Medical Association (NMA). As an active clinician-scientist, her clinical research areas of interest are Health Disparities and Cardiovascular Disease. She is the recipient of several federally funded grants and is currently conducting the first NIH randomized clinical trial (RCT) in the emergency department focused on asymptomatic hypertension in an at-risk predominately minority patient population. She has over 50 peer-reviewed publications and is a reviewer for a number of medical journals.
She is one of only 4 tenured African American women full professors in Emergency Medicine in the country.
Bushra Amiwala
Bushra Amiwala is a media icon, activist, dynamic speaker, and the youngest Muslim elected official in the United States. She is the Founder and CEO of Amiwala Foundation with a mission to support, uplift, and inspire young people across the greater Chicago, DC, New York area.
At the age of 19, Bushra announced her candidacy for the Cook County Board of Commissioners, with the goal to serve as a voice for her underrepresented generation and other marginalized communities. Her campaign has been covered nationally by outlets such as Bloomberg, the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times,Teen Vogue, and landed her on the cover of TIME magazine. Bushra recently went down in the Chicago History Museum as the Youngest Muslim Elected in the United States.
Her leadership has extended far beyond her campaign as she’s inspired countless others to increase their civic participation. As a result, she’s been named Glamour magazine’s College Woman of the Year, Seventeen magazine’s Voice of the Year, and internationally as CosmoGirl’s Change Maker of the Year. Bushra was awarded the Public Peace Ambassador award sponsored by the United Nations, and has been named as one of the 18 people to remember from 2018. In February 2020, Pakistani-American Amiwala was awarded the Asian American Coalition of Chicago award for exemplary community service and youth excellence.
In addition to these awards, Bushra is the subject of an original PBS documentary called And She Could be Next, the female candidate on Amazon’s RUN mini series, has just debuted in a Hulu documentary called Our America: Women Forward, and she has made hundreds of TV and radio appearances, including outlets such as Fox, CBS, NPR, ABC, and PBS.
Bushra has spoken at countless colleges and universities, organizations and international companies, with live audiences ranging from 25 to 15,000 people. She is a recent graduate from DePaul University and serves on the Board of Directors of the Indo-American Democratic Organization (IADO), GenerationVote, Women Empowering Women in Illinois Legislation (WeWill) and SheVotesIL. She holds her elected seat on the Skokie Board of Education, as its youngest member and is and Account Associate at Google Chicago.
Please consider making a donation in support of the event!
Your donation will go toward the technical production costs of hosting a hybrid event, offering the same engaging experience both for in-person and virtual Zoom attendees.
Click here to make a donation!