On February 21, WALTER will host its fourth annual WINi summit. Here’s who will be speaking.
by Addie Ladner

Inspiring a new generation of women leaders: join us virtually for our fourth annual WINi summit celebrating young women, diversity and innovation. Hear five female leaders in our community share their career journeys — from overcoming obstacles and pushing boundaries to achieving their goals. The event is presented by Bank of America with support from Diamonds Direct.

Our workshop will be led by UNC Chapel Hill’s Innovate Carolina. Here are the five women who will be speaking at the event.

Jennifer Dasal

Jennifer Dasal is the curator of modern and contemporary art at the North Carolina Museum of Art. She received her Bachelors in Art History from the University of California, Davis, her Masters in Art History from the University of Notre Dame and her doctorate in art history from Pennsylvania State University. In 2016 Dasal launched the ArtCurious podcast, an internationally popular, bi-weekly show exposing “the unexpected, the slightly odd, and the strangely wonderful in art history.” It was chosen as one of PC Magazine’s Best Podcasts of the Year for three years in a row and selected as one of the Best History Podcasts of 2019 by O, the Oprah Magazine. In September 2020 Dasal released her first book, ArtCurious: Stories of the Unexpected, Slightly Odd, and Strangely Wonderful in Art History.

Jess Ekstrom

Jess Ekstrom founded Headbands of Hope in 2012 as a junior in college with a mission: for every headband sold, one is donated to a child with cancer. Since then, she’s been named The Ultimate Game Changer by Women’s Health magazine and a “top motivational speaker” by Forbes. Additionally, Ekstrom and Headbands for Hope have been featured on Today, Good Morning America, Seventeen, Vanity Fair, Forbes and People, when the magazine ran an exclusive on her book, Chasing the Bright Side. More importantly, Headbands of Hope has donated over half a million headbands to kids in children’s hospitals all over the world. She and her husband Jake enjoy traveling around the country in their Airstream with their dog, Ollie.

Carly Jones

Carly Prentis Jones is a performing artist and cultural arts leader from Raleigh. She currently serves as the program director for artists & organizations for the North Carolina Arts Council. Diversity, equity and inclusion are a part of her core values, and she leads work surrounding ways to make the arts more inclusive and accessible across socioeconomic boundaries for all. These values translate into her involvement with social justice movements and community planning organizations. Jones attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Black Music History, with a minor in arts management. 

Cari Roccaro 

Professional athlete Cari Roccaro is a Women’s World Cup Champion and two-time NWSL Champion soccer player on our state’s winning team, the North Carolina Courage — the first team to win the Championship on its home field. Originally from New York, Roccaro is a graduate of Notre Dame College, where she studied sociology. Roccaro has made 16 appearances with the United States Youth National Team and has played five seasons of professional soccer. In 2020, Roccaro was the recipient of the Community Service Award with the NC Courage.

Victoria Scott-Miller

Victoria Scott-Miller owns Liberation Station Bookstore, a local, globally-recognized independent pop-up bookstore with four permanent locations in Durham and international locations forthcoming. An innovator and literacy advocate, Scott-Miller believes in the power of community and creates initiatives around legacy building and historical guardianship. Her work has been in O, the Oprah Magazine, CNN, The Washington Post and Good Morning America. Scott-Miller is a member of the American Bookseller Association and founder of The Getaway, a program that partners with the hotel industry to offer micro-residencies for published authors of color.

Click here for tickets to our fourth WINi Summit and to learn more!