The JVS SoCal Women’s Leadership Network Presents:

Thank You to everyone who made our 11th Annual Woman To Woman Conference a success!

We at JVS SoCal and the Woman’s Leadership Network are grateful to our generous sponsors and supporters for coming out to celebrate inspirational leaders in our community.

THIS YEAR’S DISTINGUISHED HOST

Giselle Fernández

As a seven-time Emmy Award winning journalist and two-time winner of the LA Press Club’s Journalist of the Year, Giselle Fernández is known for her cutting-edge reporting in hot spots throughout the world and interviewing prominent global and local leaders.

Today, this veteran anchor is on Your Morning on Spectrum News 1, helping Southern Californians get all the information they need to start their day. She is also on the Emmy Award-winning LA Stories with Giselle Fernández, highlighting changemakers who shape lives and create an impact throughout the community.

Our Featured Speakers

 

Susan Burton

Susan Burton is a visionary, inspirational leader of the criminal justice reform movement, author of award-winning memoir, Becoming Ms. Burton, and founder of A New Way of Life Reentry Project (ANWOL). ANWOL’s approach to reentry is internationally recognized as an innovative model that creates welcoming and healing spaces for women to rejoin their communities after incarceration while developing as leaders to work toward liberation.

In 2018, Ms. Burton launched the SAFE (Sisterhood Alliance for Freedom and Equality) Housing Network to replicate the effective and humane reentry model.  The network now includes 31 members located across the United States, Uganda, Nigeria, and Kenya.  It is through this work that she thrives, enjoying the progress of her foundations, all while knowing how many individual lives she has touched and changed throughout her own journey.

Jessica Sarowitz

Jessica Sarowitz, founder and Managing Partner of Stocker Street Creative as well as the founder of Miraflores Films and Executive Producer of WITH THIS LIGHT, is a social impact investor and entrepreneur. As a Latinx woman and the daughter of immigrants, she seeks out projects around the world that directly benefit people of color with much needed facilities and resources. She works in collaboration with communities in need to create transformative opportunities and experiences. Jessica created Miraflores films to bring awareness to the stories of marginalized groups and amplify the voices of inspiring women through documentary film.

She is an active philanthropist, advocating for the missions of several nonprofits including one that she co-founded, the Julian Grace Foundation, and she is a proud mother of twins.

Our Honorees

 

Alison Hoffman

Alison Hoffman, a native of New Jersey, is the President of Domestic Networks for STARZ and this year’s recipient of the Rosaline L. Zukerman WLN Women’s Empowerment Award. She is responsible for the company’s U.S. retail and wholesale business and oversees distribution, marketing, publicity, product development, analytics, and program planning.

Her influence at STARZ, which she joined in 2012, includes being one of the key executives responsible for launching the STARZ app and managing the direct-to-consumer business.

Previously, she served as Chief Marketing Officer, where Hoffman launched a master brand strategy, repositioning STARZ as the premium streaming content platform for women and underrepresented audiences.

Hoffman has been recognized multiple times for her influence in cable and streaming.

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three sons.

Celia and Joe Ward-Wallace

Celia and Joe Ward-Wallace, founders of the South L.A. Cafe and recipients of the Women’s Leadership Network Impact Award, have been driven by their desire to empower the South Central L.A. community.

They developed the Community Center Business Model, which explores the intersection of people, place and profit in an innovative way where everyone can win. It balances for-profit and nonprofit strategic partnerships to maximize impact and build both community and generational wealth.

With 30 years of experience in business development, community organizing, and social enterprise, as well as the restaurant and hospitality industries, this couple leads SLAC Hospitality, whose mission is to create equal access and equity for local, minority, and women-owned businesses. They also created the grocery bag program through the South L.A. Market, a community grocery store that provides fresh, healthy, and affordable produce in the middle of a food desert.

Our Impact

The Women’s Leadership Network is proud to assist women experiencing career crisis and transition.

Thanks to the JVS SoCal programs we support, we are uniquely positioned to help women through this time and see them on the road to recovery.

Since its founding in 2008, the WLN has raised over $5 million dollars to provide free mentoring, career training and job placement support to over 3,500 women participating in JVS SoCal program across Los Angeles and Southern California. We are able to do this with the support of our members and sponsors of our annual Woman to Woman Conference.

Get Involved

You can help support the WLN by subscribing to our mailing list, making a donation, registering for our conference or becoming a volunteer with our women’s career development programs. Learn more.

THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS

Presenting Sponsor

Terri and Jerry Kohl

Empowerment Sponsors

Susan W. Robertson
of blessed memory
Carl W. Robertson
Cara W. Robertson
Chip & Carrie Robertson

Don Levin Trust

Encouragement Sponsors

Susan and Fred
Kunik

Debbie and Rick Powell

Inspiration Sponsors

Cedars Sinai 2021 Sponsor - JVS SoCal

Tobey Cotsen


Don and Eileen Coskey Fracchia

Allen and Anita Kohl
Charitable Foundation

Barbara and Tom
Leanse

Carol Muchin

Harriet and Steven
Nichols

Leslie and Bobby
Spivak

Impact Sponsors

Joan and Marshall
August

Karen Kaplan Berger

Linda Brown

Nancy and Jeff
Cherry

Jane Z. Cohen

Linda Essakow and Stephen Gunther
Foundation

Deborah Kallick

Lauren and Larry
Kurzweil

Deborah and Alan
Levey

Nicole Mutchnik

Nancy and Jeff
Paul

Grant Thorton

Brooke and Micah DeKofsky

Essential Sponsors

Swerdlow & Wimmer law firm

Bonnie and Ronny
Bensimon

The Berman/Rutenberg
Family

Harriet Bernstein

Lynn Bider

Alexandra Carter

Tina Elowitt

Linda Essakow

Bonnie Fein

Lawrence P. Frank Foundation
and
Lois & Don Hoffman

 

Pat Gage

Eileen Goodis

Nan Goodman

Vera and Dana
Guerin

Linda and James
Hausberg

Pamela and Steve
Hirsh

Sue Hochberg

Swerdlow & Wimmer law firm

Harry and Yvonne Lenart
Charitable Foundation

Virginia Maas

Joni and Jeff
Marine

Laura Maslon

Swerdlow & Wimmer law firm

Elizabeth Naftali

Teresa Nathanson

Bob Pearman

Renee Remeny

Homewood Realty
Judy F. Rosenberg
and
Judy Flesh

Laurie Konheim and
Corrine Sands

Dr. Michelle Israel
and
Robbie Shipp

Robbi and Tom
Schiff

Trinka Stotsky Soloway

Jack Suzar

Ceci Vajna
and
Steve Solton

Swerdlow & Wimmer law firm

Marcie Zelikow

Susan Zolla

WLN Ambassadors

Adam Abramowitz

Arnon Adar

Madelyn Alfano

Sophie Alpert

Anne Barnett

Lynn Behar

Barbara and Richard
Bergman

Jamie and Joel
Berman

Joanie and Jack
Black

Rhea Coskey

Nancy Eisenstadt

Nancy Epstein

Sari Eshman

Celia Farkas

Rusty Feldman

Ann Freund

Sharon Glaser

Vicki Gold

Lynne
Gordon DeWitt

Jackie Gottlieb

Teri Greenbaum

Salli Harris

Barbara Herman

Jeanne Herman

Adrienne Horwitch

Pat Hubbard

Charlie Isaacs

Janet Wells Kahane

Terri and Michael
Kaplan

Carol and Jon
Karp

Pamela Kluft

Robin Leonard

Pearle Rae Levey

Susan Levin

Marlene Louchheim

Barbara Marcus

Jeannine Nadel

Bonnie Nash

Marylouise Oates

Vicki Reynolds Pepper
in honor of
Leslie Spivak

Ellen Sandler

Allison Segan

Annette Shapiro

Carrie Shapiro

Deborah and Tom
Shapiro

Jill and Harris
Smith

Diane Shader Smith

Andrea Sonnenberg

Susan Sugarman

Peter Tu

Sunnye Tuch

Toby Waldorf

Rosaline L. Zukerman

Donor list last updated on Nov 6, 2023.

THANK YOU TO OUR STRATEGIC PARTNERS

Max Factor Family Foundation

Lisa See

Watch the full 2022 Conference

Additional Information

If you have questions regarding this annual Conference or the Women’s Leadership Network, contact

Your gift will empower women to achieve dignity and economic independence through sustainable employment.

JVS SoCal is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization
Our Tax ID is 95-1691012