The Executive Women In Tech (EWIT) group of WTIA is proud to be a partner of the Creativity Symposium for Women Leaders, which provides inspiration, education and meaningful connections to current and future women leaders. As the new chair of the EWIT Advisory Board and Co-Organizer of the Creativity Symposium, I’m passionate about empowering women in leadership, and excited about events that foster both creativity and meaningful connections. This event is particularly relevant in a time when more women than ever are graduating from college and still not gaining ground in formal leadership roles in the public or private sectors. We’ve carefully curated an impressive roster of women leaders who have something to say about this and are interested in making a contribution.

Chaitra Vedullapalli (Dutt), a recent EWIT panelist, will be a special guest speaker at the event. Chaitra is currently the CMO of Meylah, an online e-commerce platform for local businesses, and was recognized as top 100 small business influencer in US. She is the Former Microsoft Senior Director of WW Sales and Marketing Communications at Microsoft and Former Director of Licensing and Partner Network at Oracle. Currently, Chaitra is leading a state-wide initiative Ignite Washington, empowering local brands and small businesses to become digitally ready in the 21st Century. Learn more at www.ignitewa.com.

The closing keynote speaker is Susan Preston, an award-winning and world-recognized expert in angel financing and angel organizations. Profiled in Red Herring, Inc. magazine, Smart Money, Worth and other local and national publications, Susan is the founder of Seraph Capital Forum, the first all-women’s angel investment organization. She is also the architect of the Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs Act, a bi-partisan federal income tax credit bill for private equity investing, which was introduced in the House and Senate in 2006 and 2007, and has been re-introduced in the current Congressional session. Currently, Susan is General Partner for the CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Fund and the Burke Endowed Fellow for Entrepreneurship at the University of Washington. Hear Susan’s take on what holds women back:

This annual, one-day event is Saturday, March 7 from 10am to 4pm at the Brightwater Education and Community Center in Woodinville. Tickets are $125 until February 28, 2015. Online ticket sales end Feb 28. EWIT members can receive a 10% discount by entering the discount code EWIT at check out. I hope you’ll join me and book your seat today at http://www.creativitysymposium.com.