THE SPEAKERS
Erin L. Ilgen loves to learn. Her passion for new experiences and adventures has led her to fill three passports while she consulted and delivered employee
education in more than 50 countries. With an undergraduate degree in Business
Logistics and a MBA with concentration in Finance & International Business, she has leveraged her business acumen to improve operations and make a difference in Toyota & Lexus affiliates around the globe.
Outside of the office, Erin enjoys skiing, playing tennis, and swimming; as well as, globetrotting and spending time with family and friends. She resides in Los Angeles, California where she can often be found completing DIY projects around the house.
Emma is a writer, editor, and creative director with a lifelong branding obsession. She has created and refined brand identities for a variety of people, products, and businesses. Her clients most often say that she just gets it, quickly homing in on the core of the message and determining the best method of delivery for maximum impact.
Her media background includes everything from copywriting to ad creation; from photography to project management; from ad sales to press checks. She's worked in advertising, publishing, film and television production, PR, the automotive industry, and the health and wellness industry. Her current niche is higher education.
Emma has founded three online publications; recorded with two bands; written, produced, and starred in a two-woman stage show; interviewed various artists, writers, and thought leaders; and once received round-trip tickets to Toronto for being an early adopter of Twitter. A native of Los Angeles, she lives near the ocean with her husband and son, and is writing a novel. Learn more at emmaalvarezgibson.com.
A creative communications and brand strategist with over 25 years of experience, Jane specialises in brand, content and digital strategy, innovation and engagement, and technical and creative direction at The Lunar Works.
In addition to working in branding and communications in the corporate, pharmaceutical, entertainment, charities and social enterprise sectors, both agency and in-house, for the past 15 years Jane has specialised in the water industry and is currently Digital Strategist and Consultant with several water companies in the UK.
Jane has also devised and delivered many complex multi-party communications projects, including online customer services, knowledge and social networks for global organisations and award-winning consumer engagement campaigns.
As a creative communications and digital strategist, Jane's expertise lies in identifying and using technology to create innovation and enthusiasm to change the story, making communication easier, more meaningful, and more memorable.
Based in Brighton on the south coast of England, on a Friday night Jane can be found mixing a mean round of Old Fashioneds and spinning great vinyl on the turntable.
Renee White Fraser is a social psychologist who has grown Fraser Communications into one of the top independent advertising agencies in Los Angeles and one of the fastest growing women owned businesses in the U.S. Renee was recently honored as one of the 50 influential women in Los Angeles, by Los Angeles Magazine.
Renee also has a successful radio show on CBS Radio called Unfinished Business where she and co-host Betsy Berkhemer encourage and inspire entrepreneurship among listeners. She serves on the national boards of Volunteers of America and National Association of Women Business Owners, as well as the boards of United Way of Los Angeles and WISE and Healthy Aging.
Renee co-chairs the Business Leaders Task Force to end homelessness in Los Angeles, a joint effort between United Way and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Renee is currently President of the International Women’s Forum, Southern California. She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from the USC, where she serves as an adjunct professor at the Annenberg School of Communications. She has three wonderful, happily married daughters.
Renee White Fraser, Ph.D.
Founder/CEO
Fraser Communications
Abby Cath Kerr
Founder/Creative Director
The Voice Bureau
Jane McLaughlin
Founder/Creative DIrector
The Lunar Works
Abby Kerr is Creative Director at The Voice Bureau, a boutique digital agency that helps values-based business owners show up in the online conversation with smart, empathic brand development and copywriting.
She’s a brand voice specialist, creator of the Voice Values Paradigm for Branding, and the author of learning materials for entrepreneurs. Along with her collaborative partner Tami Smith, she is the Co-Creator of Empathy Marketing, a holistic business and brand development framework for people who want to market with empathy, integrity, and strategy to their Right People readers and buyers.
She has 8 years of business ownership under her belt, beginning with THE BLISSFUL, a nationally award-winning, funky French-inspired brick-and-mortar lifestyle store she opened in her Ohio hometown. She’s a graduate with Honors from The Ohio State University (B.A. English, focus in Creative Writing), and from Kent State University, where she earned her Master of Arts in Teaching. Pre-entrepreneurial life, she taught in both traditional classrooms and alternative learning settings.
When she’s not writing for or about her business, she’s playing with her two FrenchBo boys (three-quarter French bulldog, one-quarter Boston Terrier), experimenting with vegetarian and vegan recipes, and planning her next trip to see alternative country and folk rock singer Brandi Carlile in concert. Abby lives in Walla Walla, Washington, which is part of the wine country of the Pacific Northwest.
Emma Alvarez Gibson
Co-Founder
The Business of Women
Erin L. Ilgen
Co-Founder
The Business of Women
.