What does the future look like for hospitality leaders? We asked a VIP group of Smart Woman Summit attendees about the legacy they are leaving and got some very honest answers.
Devon Montgomery Pasha: As a speaker and moderator, I encourage others to set their own goals and follow them rather than following the goals of others by default. I’d like my legacy to be strong, verbal permission to take up your space, to not be silent, to use your voice. That is how we take our rightful role.
Lisa Kaszubski: Through Sister, We Hear You, the company I started after winning a Smart Women in Meetings award last year and overcoming burnout, I coach women to embrace their authenticity and take bold, transformative action. Awareness can empower women to advocate for themselves. I am passionate about helping others step outside their comfort zone, challenge status quo, ask questions, identify who they really are at their core and live a life that is meaningful, aligned and fulfilling because it goes very fast.
Kate Patay: My legacy is walking my talk, showing that you can take good care of yourself so that you can be a great ambassador and take care of others. Everyone rises with us and feels heard. I do that through my role at Terramar DMC and as the chair of SEARCH Foundation, taking care of meeting professionals in need.
Tahira Endean: As a Steward of Joy and head of program at IMEX Group, author of “Our KPI is Joy” and college instructor, I have had a lot of fun teaching the next generation that events have a lot of power. They’re about storytelling and bringing people together. We have an immense amount of power to change the world one person at a time by creating experiences that matter and make a difference. Sometimes we do that really well and sometimes we suck at it. We have to continue to push ourselves forward and direct people along with to make events even more amazing.
Quinn Conyers: I transform average events into epic experiences. As a compelling keynote speaker and energetic emcee, my job, my duty, my responsibility, is to ensure that speakers, sponsors—and especially attendees-are raving, returning, building relevant relationships and coming back to your event year after year. I take pride in broadcasting the brilliance of women in business and people who want to grow in their career.
I want to leave a legacy with my language and change the world with my words. Your voice is your secret weapon, especially when it comes to women, and lot of us don’t understand that how we speak and our voices are a living, breathing thing. Our voice is not just the words that come out of our mouths. Our words have arms and legs and a heartbeat. If I can get more women, especially women in events to use their voice, they can really soar.
John Ehlenfeldt: As a trustee with MPI, I help chart the way with grant scholarships and research papers advancing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Even more so now, it’s important to make sure your voice is heard. I want my legacy to be that of a disruptor, a change agent. I want to be that person who speaks up for others, so their voice is heard. When you change our industry, you change the world.
Naomi Clare: As founder and CEO of Storycraft Lab, I create tools and frameworks so event profs, organizations and young designers can build empathy into their processes at speed and scale. You want to know your audience beyond their demographic? There’s a tool for that. You want to understand what belonging means for this particular group? There’s a tool for that. There is no excuse anymore.
Roberta Tisdul: My passion is around sponsorship, encouraging, uplifting and empowering the next generation of young women. In addition to my role as senior director of destination experience, I also serve as co-chair of the Sales and Service Committee for Destinations International. I have a small group of young mentees. I’m constantly encouraging other women by putting them in spaces and sponsoring them by speaking their names in rooms where they don’t have access.
Debbie Garcia: 9/11 changed my life trajectory. I was working in New York as a broadcaster when I saw the coverage and called my dad who worked on Wall Street to tell him to leave. I didn’t hear from him for two days. Two years later, I moved to Nashville and worked every job in events and hotels until I realized I’m really good at operations and systems. I want to make this industry better, so I created virsitour. My goal is impact over income. Do I want to make money? Absolutely. But I did not get into this to be rich. I get into this to change our industry for the better, to be more efficient, so that professionals can get back to the things they love, like their family, having a hobby, reading a book every once in a while. I want to help people stop being busy and start being intentional.
Shelley Brown: Later in my career, I had a mental breakdown before we could say it out loud, working in the event space where results were prioritized over relationships. At heart as a human being, I’m an artist and an author and that just didn’t bode well in the corporate world when it was a one-size-fits-all culture. I never felt like I belonged. I became a speaker because I wanted to teach people about cultivating presence because that’s how we connect with each other, that’s how we create belonging. When we embody our values and what we care about, that’s when people are moved by us, touched by us, drawn to us.
Karen Strgacich: Legacy is a complicated word. My struggle has been marrying my personal and professional life. I’m a single mom who raised two kids by myself. Putting them on their path was my goal. An unexpected divorce four weeks after my baby was born caused me to reinvent myself. I had to find my courage, stop being reactive and be proactive.
And all these years later, I sit on a few boards, including my alma mater California State University Long Beach. I love encouraging students there. I see they’re hungry and willing to roll up their sleeves. We have so much fun talking about real hotel stories compared to what their professors are teaching them. I also support scholarship for California Hotel Lodging Association Foundation. Hearing those stories is powerful. I’m also on the board for California DMO Alliance, a collective of all the California destination marketing organizations, which was born out of the pandemic. I look back on my journey and actively encouraging people to not let the things that that happen in your life stop you. Use those as an opportunity to find yourself at any age.
Sherron Washington: I’ve taught undergrad and graduate students at several universities. Over 25 years, things have changed. I recently launched the Discovering Butterflies initiative S.H.E. Lab shaping her evolution in events to introduce young women in the event industry through mentorship, behind-the-scenes access and real-world exposure so they can understand that they can do anything they want to do in this space. Mentorship is walking young people through the door.
Interested in attending Smart Woman Summit in August 2026? Let us know!
