Northeastern’s Women’s Interdisciplinary Society of Entrepreneurship, or WISE, transformed the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex, or ISEC, lobby into an elegant venue for its fifth annual summit March 29. Centered on the theme “Built to Last,” the nine-hour event included keynote speakers, moderated panels and hands-on workshops.
“Built to Last” explored sustainability across sectors, including health and wellness, community, careers and business. Attendees included a diverse mix of entrepreneurs, professionals and Northeastern students, along with others. Many of the speakers were Northeastern alumni and offered student attendees tangible insight into potential career paths.
“I got to have some really cool conversations,” said Grace Kennedy, a fourth-year health science major who attended the summit. “It helped me think about my future career and continue to invest in relationships with people who are doing really cool things in the world.”
The first two keynote speakers, Madyson Wallace-Stupart, solutions consultant at Adobe and marketing and communications manager at G{Code}, and Charmain Jackman, psychologist and founder and CEO of InnoPsych, kickstarted the program. Through the stories of these accomplished professionals, WISE sparked conversation about minority representation, community empowerment, managing burnout and balancing skilled work with meaningful impact.
Following the opening keynotes, attendees chose from expert-led workshops in long-term investment, nutrition, consistency and wellness. Another series of workshops including content creation, venture capital, sustainable fashion and data visualization ran later in the day.
Between the workshop series, everyone reconvened in the lobby for lunch, while the vendor marketplace opened to the side. While entrepreneurs showcased a diverse range of businesses, from candles and plants to jewelry and art, the Better Business Bureau, a WISE Summit sponsor, offered professional headshots free of charge. The summit cultivated entrepreneurial exposure opportunities for attendees and businesses alike.
Uvida, Boston’s only zero-waste store that sells plastic-free home essential products, reflected the summit’s theme of sustainability as a returning marketplace vendor. Maria Vasco, founder and CEO of Uvida, reconnected with students who recognized her as a speaker from other WISE events.
“I think their summits have grown and improved,” Vasco said. “I would definitely say the traffic has increased over the years.”
Strwbry Wrld, a print and doodle studio, was another vendor at the marketplace. Beatrice van der Velde-Kraft, founder and artist of Strwbry Wrld who graduated from Northeastern in 2024 and was involved in WISE throughout college, was excited to see her friends and reconnect with her community.
“I was hoping to show people what I’ve been working on over the last couple months,” Velde-Kraft said. “It’s always good to get exposure as a creative.”
Following lunch and a second series of workshops, two lightning speakers delivered fast-paced presentations, providing powerful insights in a condensed format. The first lightning speaker, Lamiaa Laurène Daif, worldwide strategy and business planning leader at Apple, shared how she found fulfillment through career redirection.
The second lightning speaker, Ammy Lowney, co-founder of Boston-based health food restaurant Juicygreens, shared her journey from public school teacher to entrepreneur and how she discovered purpose in creating social impact through building something of her own.
WISE wove its mission to support underrepresented entrepreneurs into every detail of the day. At the beginning of the event, attendees received goodie bags filled with promotions from summit contributors. The breakfast was catered by Juicygreens and the plant arrangements in the ISEC lobby were designed by Rooting For You, another marketplace vendor.
Founded recently by Peggy Enayo, a 2016 Northeastern graduate, Rooting For You is a local plant and self-care shop.
“Being a new business and being able to provide some of the arrangements at the summit was really exciting,” Enayo said. “From the beginning, the team was really warm and inviting, super clear and I was really thankful to be part of the event.”
Enayo ensured that the arrangements creatively embodied the summit’s theme. The arrangements featured blooming plants designed to be taken home, cared for and “Built to Last” themselves.
“It’s all crafted with intention to make sure that in all aspects of the day, attendees, speakers, friends and family, all feel that the theme really came to life,” said Christine Ahn, director of marketing for the WISE Summit. Ahn, a fourth-year business administration major, alongside the entire Summit team, was proud to bring the day they spent the last 10 months planning to life.
The lightning speakers were followed by a moderated panel of entrepreneurs, including Meaghan St. Marc, founder and CEO of indoor cycling studio Rev’d, Sumeit Aggarwal, co-founder and managing partner of Finhive, as well as TeLisa Daughtry, serial entrepreneur and chief innovation officer at FLYX Labs. They shared insights on what it takes to make a career change and invest in entrepreneurship, drawing from their personal experiences and expertise.
The final keynote speaker, Judy Thelen, co-founder and CEO of restaurant list-keeping app Beli, shared her experience in starting a company from the ground up. She discussed her journey in building a successful, data-driven startup, providing an inspirational closing to a packed day.
“We were able to host the summit because of the summits that came before us,” Ahn said. “In a way, that’s why we were able to build on it, build something to last, because we had that strong foundation to go off of.”
