Shaping South Brunswick's Next Generation of Female Leaders

The South Brunswick Commission on Women will celebrate 15 years of shaping the next generation of young female leaders with the upcoming Women's Leadership Conference and Career Pathways event. The 15th annual conference was started by former South Brunswick Mayor Deborah Johnson to develop leadership skills and promote educational and career opportunities for female students in grades 8 through 12.

"I can look back at my own experience and say that if I wasn't exposed to a particular educational experience or career, I may not have had the same opportunities," said South Brunswick Commission on Women Vice Chair Atiya Aftab. "This gives young girls the chance to find women working in the business or career they may be interested in. It's an excellent opportunity for girls to meet women in a number of different professions and develop relationships and connections."

The conference will include a variety of different panels, including sessions on Corporate Business, Health Professions, Law Enforcement, Performing Arts, Pharmacy, Biological Sciences, Communications and Journalism, Finance and Accounting, and the Culinary Arts.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Rosanne Vita Nahass, a board certified internist and musician, who is the pianist in residence at the Jane Zimmerli Museum in New Brunswick.

"We really try to have keynote speakers from all sorts of backgrounds and we're always looking for women involved in the performing arts," Aftab said. “Dr. Nahass is a physician who ended up following her heart and changing her career path to become a concert pianist. Her story and journey are amazing. She's wonderful and we're thrilled to have her come speak to the women of South Brunswick. Men are also welcome to come hear Dr. Nahass speak and I encourage both men and women to listen to her."

Pre-registration for the conference is closed, but people can still register at the door on the day of the event. Walk-ins are also welcome.

"The conference will present some varied career opportunities and the chance to meet women, listen to their educational experiences and understand the career paths they took to get to these positions," Aftab said. "These women continue to have relationships and young girls get to be mentored by them. It's an awesome opportunity."

The 15th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference and Career Pathways will be held on March 17 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at

Full lineup of panels at the conference:

Session 1

Corporate Business: The panelists for this workshop have achieved substantial positions in well-known large corporations.

Date Rape/Sexual Harassment: This is an educational workshop bringing awareness to issues related to Date Rape and Sexual Harassment by learning what to do to seek help from both medical and legal view points. The panel is usually staffed by professionals such as Sexual Assault Nurse, Investigator from a Prosecutor’s Office, Sex Crimes Prosecutor, Domestic Violence Response Team Coordinator etc.

Health Professions: This panel will introduce you to physicians and dentists with different practice specialties including those in medicine and surgery. The conference has had internal medicine, general practice, ob-gyn, critical care, pulmonology, sleep,emergency room, etc. physicians and dentists.

High School and Beyond: This panel will be run by current high school students. This is intended to be an informative session on transition to high school, time management, extra curricular activities and a tour of the school.

Law Enforcement: This is to open the window into the world of law enforcement. Officer from the South Brunswick Police Department, New Jersey State Trooper, FBI agent etc, Investigator from a Prosecutor’s Office might be present as speakers.

Performing Arts (Music, Dance & Theater): This panel shall include speakers who are career professional in music, dance and theatre. In the past we have had a well-known conductor, dance instructors and professionals who work in the NJ State Theater and Crossroads Theatre.

Pharmacy: In this panel we include licensed pharmacists, pharmaceutical research scientists and people working in pharmaceutical labs as speakers to share their experiences and also go over the training and education required to succeed in this field.

Session 2

Biological Sciences: This panel will consist of practitioners from the following fields: biology, biomedical, bio-informatics, bio-chemistry etc.

Communications and Journalism: Past speakers in this workshop were newspaper editors, public relations officers, reporters, news anchors etc. You can find out about gathering and reporting information of local and global interest in different forms of media.

Culinary Arts: Chefs from a variety of career experiences and backgrounds and teachers from culinary schools.

Fashion/Home Fashion: These speakers will consist of fashion designers and professionals in the fashion industry. Speakers in the past have included designers who run their own design businesses and boutiques as well as fashion executives from large department stores.

Finance and Accounting: Speakers include auditors from State of NJ, Division of Taxation, certified professional accountants as well as accountants in large accounting firms.

Health and Wellness: This is an educational workshop where the panelists will consist of social workers, therapists and others from whom you can learn to address issues such as managing stress, time management, keeping fit physically and emotionally.

Higher Education: This panel includes speakers from academia – research and teaching faculty from Universities.