“You are never too small to make a difference.”
– Greta Thunberg (Environmental Activist)

This event took place August 4 @ 9:00 am – 10:30 am

At The Women’s Fund we advocate and take action to ensure women and girls have the ability and resources to lead and succeed in their lives and their communities!

When women become leaders, they often provide different perspectives, skills and structural and cultural differences that drive effective solutions. In the U.S. less than 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs are female and, according to our Gender Equity Dashboard, locally women hold only 36.6% of elected governmental positions.
We must work together to increase diverse female leadership across all sectors, because having female leaders is shown to improve systems and economies, in addition to breaking down barriers and accelerating progress towards closing the gender inequality gap.

“We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves.
We have to step up as women and take the lead.”
-Beyoncé

Keynote Speaker

  

Michelle Austin Pamies

Michelle Austin Pamies is a member of Austin Pamies Norris Weeks Powell, LLC.    Her practice primarily involves representing municipalities and businesses, handling their transactional and litigation needs, as well as providing legal advice and counsel.

Prior to joining the Firm, Michelle worked for 8 years as Senior Corporate Counsel – Commercial Law in Union Pacific Railroad Company’s Law Department.  Her responsibilities included being the lead attorney for the procurement of goods and services, procurement and management of intellectual property and development of new business ventures. Michelle’s past experience also includes being General Counsel of Planet Automotive Group, Inc. (a/k/a Potamkin Automotive) a holding company for more than 40 automobile dealerships in 7 states; General Counsel of the Agency for Workforce Innovation, an agency of the State of Florida, n/k/a the Department of Economic Opportunity, Corporate Counsel for AutoNation, Inc.; and Corporate attorney in private practice at Holland & Knight LLP’s Miami office.

Michelle is a former member of the Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade County, and Miami-Dade County Ad Hoc Committee for the Creation of an Airport Authority.  She has served on numerous non-profit boards, including, Girls Inc. and SantLa (Haitian Neighborhood Center). She is a founding member and former Vice President of the Haitian Lawyers Association, Inc.  and is Co-Chair of the Women of Color Empowerment Institute, Inc.  She serves on the board of the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce and the University of Miami Law Alumni Association.  She is also serves on the Executive Board of the Greater Miami Chapter, Links Incorporated.

Michelle has received numerous awards, including, among others, the Nostalgia in Gold Caribbean Woman of Excellence Award, the Women of Distinction Award from the Lauderhill Chamber of Commerce,  the Women who Inspire Award from the City of North Miami and one for being one of  South Florida’s 50 Most Powerful and Influential Black Leaders of 2018 from Legacy Magazine.

Michelle is a 1996 Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Miami School of Law where she served on the University of Miami Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif.  She is the proud mother of  two adult sons, one a practicing attorney and the other, a mortgage loan officer for a major bank.

Panelists

Gianna Hutton is an 18-year-old climate justice organizer based in Miami, Florida. She is a GenCLEO strategist for the CLEO Institute, a non-partisan nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing climate literacy and empowering youth to find their voices within the climate movement, and co-president of the 2022 Miami Youth Climate Summit, which aims to increase climate literacy and inspire action in youth.

Kami Bumpers is a Gold Award Girl Scout who actively made strides to reduce drowning rates of children in low-income communities through her Gold Award project “South Florida Swims.” Kami self-produced three water safety videos to teach parents how to properly supervise their children around various bodies of water and funded over 100 swimming lessons for children in under-resourced communities. A graduate of Coral Reef High School and a Lifetime Girl Scout member, Kami is currently a student at The Ohio State University where she plans to broaden her production skills and continue her advocacy work.

Kind Designs, Co-Founder & CEO.  Anya is originally from Ukraine and together with her family lived in Israel, South Africa, and China before settling in Miami to attend law school. Anya worked for the US Attorney’s Office and the Honorable Terry Hatter at the United States District Court before opening her own law firm focused on environmental policy and litigation. Anya is also a member of the Peter Diamandis Abundance 360 Community focused on convergence of technologies, which empowered her to start Kind Designs in 2020. Anya is extremely passionate about technological solutions to global challenges that both support the environment and have economies of scale.

Olivia Martin-Johnson, 18, is an incoming freshman at The College of William and Mary studying Government with double minors in Economics and Japanese Studies. Olivia is the founder and editor-in-chief of a feminist newsletter, Feminism Explained.  The mission of the publication is to debunk the myth that feminism is radical by providing statistical data on inequalities, showing how equality has not been reached, as well as highlights the progress women have made overtime.  Olivia is also a co-founder of a United Nations funded podcast, Voices in Miami, which focuses on publicizing advocacy done by the youth through interviews with “future change-makers.”  Olivia has been politically active since her freshman year of high school when she started interning with former Representative Mucarsel Powell and formed FL-26th Youth Advisory Council.  Olivia’s interests include gender equality, civil rights, climate change, and gun violence prevention.  This summer, Olivia is interning at the office of Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz and at The Women’s Fund.  After completing her bachelor’s degree, Olivia plans to attend law school.  She hopes to stay politically involved and one day run for a federal elected position.  Apart from politics, Olivia is a concert pianist ranked top 5.6% of high school pianists in the nation.