On Sunday March 13, WALTER will host its fifth annual WINi summit at Market Hall. Here are the accomplished women will be speaking.
Our fifth annual WINi summit celebrates young women, diversity, and innovation. Hear these female leaders in our community share their career journeys — from overcoming obstacles and pushing boundaries to achieving their goals.
The afternoon of WINi includes a professional development workshop, short talks from four women, and a q&a session afterwards. It’s an opportunity for young women to learn about different career paths that they could take to follow their interests. WALTER always works to find speakers who will each offer a different perspective on work and life. This year, our speakers are Cary Heise, executive director and founder of Designed for Joy; Dawn Blagrove, executive director of Emancipate NC; Daisy Magnus-Aryitey, co-executive director of Code the Dream; and Emily Neville, founder and CEO of Reborn Clothing Co. Learn more about them below.
Cary Heise; Executive Director & Founder, Designed for Joy
Cary Heise is a serial entrepreneur and Founder and Executive Director of the Raleigh nonprofit Designed For Joy. With a mission to provide immediate, living wage work for Raleigh’s most vulnerable women, the DFJ team has hired over 70 women in crisis. Cary is passionate about using the Designed For Joy platform to empower and equip all women who walk into their studio doors. Those who need dignified work, board members, volunteers, interns, and shoppers all get an invitation from her to grow and gain experience as a positive change maker and community leader.
Daisy Magnus-Aryitey; Co-Executive Director, Code the Dream
Daisy Magnus-Aryitey moved to the U.S. from Ghana at the age of 4. She lived in New Mexico, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York before settling in North Carolina in 2009. She wrote her first line of code in a Code the Dream class, and within a year was working as a full-time software developer at Duke University. Daisy has played many roles at CTD, from a student in the initial CTD pilot to CTD Director to Board Vice- Chair. She has a Master’s in Education Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dawn Blagrove; Executive Director, Emancipate NC
Dawn Blagrove is an attorney, Executive Director of Emancipate NC, and adjunct professor for the Criminal Justice Department of Fayetteville Technical Community College. She obtained a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and graduated from North Carolina Central School of Law. After graduating law school, Blagrove worked for eight years as a post-conviction staff attorney with North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services. Her experiences fuel her passion for educating youth and the public about challenges in the criminal justice system. She is also a proud co-sponsor of the Capital City Chapter of Jack and Jill of America.
Emily Neville; Founder & CEO, Reborn Clothing Co.
Emily Neville is a 2019 graduate of the Park Scholarships program at North Carolina State University. While in college, Emily started the first Boys & Girls Club in her home region of Harnett County, as well as her company, Reborn Clothing Co. Reborn has continued to grow since its infancy in 2018, most recently, through a pop-up shop in North Hills. Reborn serves as the solution to consumer and corporate textile waste across several industries, including upcycling spent grain bags for a growing number of national breweries, and for the clothing in the back of your closets through Reborn Closet. Emily believes that business can and should be used for good.
