A candid UWIB virtual panel on leaving corporate, building your own business, and redefining success on your terms.
This July, UWIB will host a virtual entrepreneurship panel focused on what it really looks like to build a business after leaving corporate. Panelists feature Current & Previous UWIB Board Members, each sharing their experience building businesses as consultants, agency owners, solopreneurs, and independent professionals.
Grounded in UWIB’s mission to support women in their personal and professional development, this event is designed to give attendees a candid, practical, and empowering look at non-linear career paths. The discussion will explore the who, what, when, where, why, and how of entrepreneurship — from deciding to leave corporate, to getting the first client, building confidence, pricing services, navigating uncertainty, and creating a business that aligns with each panelist’s skills, values, and goals.
Rather than presenting entrepreneurship as a perfectly polished success story, this panel will offer a realistic conversation about the opportunities, tradeoffs, and challenges that come with building something independently. Attendees will hear directly from women who have taken different paths into business ownership and will gain insight into what helped them start, what they learned along the way, and what they wish they knew earlier.
This event will also create space for attendees who are entrepreneur-curious, actively building, freelancing, consulting, or simply exploring what career ownership could look like for them. Through honest storytelling and tactical advice, the panel will help attendees feel more informed, supported, and confident as they think about their own career possibilities.
WHAT YOU'LL GET:
A realistic understanding of entrepreneurship after corporate — including the practical, financial, emotional, and operational realities of building a consulting, agency, or solopreneur business.
Clarity on different paths into business ownership — how each panelist made the transition, what prompted the decision, and what entrepreneurship looked like in the early stages.
Tactical insight into getting started — including how to find first clients, define services, price offers, build credibility, and create structure without a corporate playbook.
Permission to explore a non-linear career path — entrepreneurship does not have to look one specific way, and attendees can define success based on their own goals, values, and lifestyle.
Connection and confidence through shared stories — attendees leave feeling less alone, more informed, and more empowered to ask the right questions about whether entrepreneurship could be right for them.