Business Sisters Annual Conference 2025
Where:
RiverRock Inn, 2808 Chamberland St, Rockland, ON K4K 0B2
🌟 Business Sisters Annual Conference 2025: Empower, Connect & Transform! 🌟
After a highly successful event in 2024, we’re thrilled to return to the RiverRock Inn for our Annual Conference on Monday, November 3! This event builds on last year’s success, offering an immersive day of inspiration, learning, and connection designed exclusively for women entrepreneurs. Get ready for transformative sessions, interactive panels, and rich networking opportunities that will empower you to take your business to the next level.
- 📅 Date: Monday, November 3
- 📍 Location: RiverRock Inn
- ⏰ Time: Full-day event
- 🎟 Tickets: Limited to 125 spots
- 💵 Registration: $299 (includes all sessions, breakfast, lunch, two breaks, and the end-of-day cocktail reception)
Agenda (subject to change without notice)
8:00 Registration & breakfast
8:45 Welcome - Land Acknowledgement & Opening Ceremony
- Doreen Ashton Wagner, Founder, Business Sisters | Consœurs en Affaires
- Elaine Kicknosway, Carrier of Ceremonial Indigenous Teachings
9:15 Q&A with a Visionary - Radical Generosity, Reimagining Business, And Reshaping Systems
Join us for a powerful Q&A with Vicki Saunders, founder of Coralus (formerly SheEO), and a global champion for doing business differently. In this candid conversation, we’ll dig into what “radical generosity” really means—and how it can shift the way we work, collaborate, and build lasting impact in our communities. Vicki will share bold ideas for redesigning business with women at the centre, plus practical insights you can take home to your farm, shop, studio, or kitchen table. This is your chance to ask real questions, hear honest answers, and feel part of something bigger. Because better systems start with us.
10:15 Coffee, tea break & visit exhibitors
10:45 Workshop - Me First: Entrepreneurship Without Losing Yourself
A workshop for women entrepreneurs who want to move forward without leaving themselves behind.
This workshop was created for those who carry their business on their shoulders, juggle countless responsibilities, and sometimes lose sight of themselves along the way. It is a one-of-a-kind workshop that blends group coaching, authentic storytelling, and deep reflection. We will take the time to reflect together, guided by the real-life stories of fellow Business Sisters. Building on your own insights, you’ll leave with concrete ways to approach entrepreneurship differently — in a way that is aligned with who you are, and what matters to you without losing yourself in the process.
It’s a time to take care of yourself, recenter, and reconnect with what truly drives you.
12:00 Buffet lunch
13:00 Marketing Your Business When the World Feels Like A Dumpster Fire
Global crises. Divisive politics. Economic instability. Climate anxiety. It’s a lot—and yet, we’re still expected to show up, sell our work, and somehow stay “on brand.” This session kicks off with a no-fluff briefing on what small businesses are up against in today’s landscape.
There is what’s happening “out there” in business and society, but how we feel inside is a HUGE part of how we show up (or don’t when marketing our business). The second part of this marketing session has Shulamit Ber Levtov, The Entrepreneurs’ Therapist walk us through an exercise to overcome visibility fears so we can market authentically and with confidence.
Thirdly in this marketing session, you choose your own path: we offer three breakout sessions that dig into practical, action-ready marketing strategies—relationship marketing, social media and using AI. No vague theory. No toxic positivity. Just real tools for real businesses run by real women in very unreal times.
- Relationship Marketing with Eden Spodek, Spodek & Co. - Growing Through Community & Connection
- Social Media Marketing with Mariah Scrivens, Business Coach & Strategist & Kat Tepylo Murphy, Social Kat Media - Rinse, Repeat, Repurpose: Turn One Idea Into a Whole Marketing Ecosystem
- Marketing with AI with Elaine Turcotte Alexander, Reclaimed Practice - Invisible to Referable: Teach ChatGPT to Send You Clients
Note: All marketing session speakers will be offering free, one-hour workshops in the weeks prior to the conference. These will take place in the HeartBeat.chat Business Sisters platform, so you must be a member. Sessions will be recorded. Don't miss this unique opportunity for specialty marketing wisdom to help you in your business! If you are not on the platform, please contact Doreen at hello@business-sisters.ca.
14:45 Coffee, tea break & visit exhibitors
15:15 Fireside Chat with Trailblazing Women Business Owners - presented by the Scotiabank Women’s Initiative
A dynamic exchange with four pioneering women entrepreneurs (see who is on the panel here!), based right here in Prescott-Russell and Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry, who will share their views on success, failure and the judicious balance needed to take care of business, loved ones and oneself!
16:30 Closing remarks & draw
17:00 Cocktail reception & networking
Join us for a day that promises not just a conference, but a celebration of growth, community, and success. Reserve your ticket today and be part of an event that will inspire and elevate your entrepreneurial journey!
Make this a treat for YOU and stay overnight
You're always on the go, doing for others. As this is a business event, why not treat yourself to a business overnight too? Avoid the early morning drive, come the night before! Get there early to relax. You come have a drink or dine with other Business Sisters and speakers. And just walk to the registration desk bright-eyed and rested in the morning! The hotel has a special block of rooms for only $145 (+taxes) per night. A code will be emailed to you following registration.
Last call for Sponsors & Exhibitors
We still have a few spots left for a few sponsors and exhibitors who share our passion for empowering women entrepreneurs. If you’d like to showcase your brand or partner with us at this transformative event, please contact Doreen Ashton Wagner at 613-362-4474 or email hello@business-sisters.ca for more details.
IMPORTANT:
- Please note that we like to take photos at our events, and reserve the right to use them in social media posts and on this website.
- Thank you for indicating if you have any food allergies (e.g. nuts, gluten, seafood) or dietary restrictions (vegetarian, vegan) on the ticket registration form. Our aim is to provide a safe and enjoyable experience for all participants. At the same time, we ask for your understanding as a responsible consumer if you have any severe allergies, as cross-contamination is always a risk.
- We provide a guarantee to our caterer and therefore your ticket is non-cancellable FIVE days prior to the events. You are welcome to pass on your ticket to a Business Sister, and we may be able to facilitate a transfer of tickets, with advance notice. Partial refunds or rainchecks may be provided at our discretion.
- This networking event is open to anyone who owns or operates a business or wishes to work with women, entrepreneurs, with a special invitation to business owners from rural areas and small towns throughout eastern Ontario and beyond. Allies are always welcome.
