Some of the most powerful and well-connected women in business gathered at Newsweek‘s New York headquarters at One World Trade Center today for the company’s inaugural Women’s Global Impact Forum.
The event kicked off with a breakfast and continued with opening remarks by Newsweek’s Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Cunningham who set the stage for the topics of the day, including entrepreneurship, gender equity, women’s health, transformations in customer engagement, directing business from the board room, leadership, artificial intelligence, female audiences and how to define having it all.
Across 12 panel discussions and three fireside chats, over 300 guests listened to high-profile guests from Mercedes-Benz, the American Heart Association, SoulCycle, Sakara, Clinique, Hulken and Nissan dispense invaluable advice and tell stories of their success.
One attendee said, “Everything feels really actionable and relatable” when describing the morning’s panel lineup.
Weston Kloefkorn | For Newsweek
Weston Kloefkorn | For Newsweek
In addition to the discussions, attendees were able to mingle with one another and learn about each other’s respective industries and the impact they were making through their work.
“What I observe in our wellness industry are so many fads, whether it’s pursuing cold plunges, protein, Pilates,” SoulCycle CEO Evelyn Webster told the crowd. She added that the biggest killer of women in America was heart disease and that exercise was an essential part of staying healthy and well.
“That doesn’t mean you need to be running marathons. It means that you need balance, a balanced exercise regimen,” she said. “So if that is with SoulCycle, great! But even if it’s not SoulCycle, please move your body and get your heart pumping 150 minutes a week.”
Weston Kloefkorn | For Newsweek
Weston Kloefkorn | For Newsweek
Webster added that exercise also helped to shape better business leaders. Quoting Legally Blonde icon Elle Woods, she said, “Exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy. And happy people just make better leaders.” The crowd ate it up.
Many attendees showed interest as Kelly Fanning, general manager of Clinique and Dermatological Brands, North America, shared the unusual “reverse mentorship” program offered by her parent company, Estée Lauder.
“Estée Lauder has a long-standing, very formalized program of reverse mentoring,” Fanning explained. “Essentially, what it is is more junior-level talent in our organization has the opportunity to be connected with VP-level and above, and they mentor us.
“The first time I did it, I had no idea how to prepare, because I think through our career as a mentor, when you have a mentee, you think about questions you’re going to ask,” she continued, adding that she’d had a meeting with her reverse mentor on Tuesday morning.
“And from the past year, I’ve learned TikTok differently. I’ve gone to a store to shop Sephora with them, see how they shop. What do they do? Why don’t they pick our brands? Why do they pick our brands? I’ve learned AI and how to do the most easy tasks, all the way through to ‘Hey, how do I take all this data and just make a report to pull that off my team’s plate?’ Right?”
Weston Kloefkorn | For Newsweek
Weston Kloefkorn | For Newsweek
During the lunch break, attendees dined on a variety of fare with a New York City theme. After, the panel discussions continued.
Daniella Pierson, founder and CEO of The Newsette and CHASM, discussed how to achieve gender equality in the workplace. “I believe the way that we are actually going to have gender equality… is by making as many badass female entrepreneurs as we can,” she said.
KaLeigh Long, founder & CEO of Westwin Elements, urged her fellow female Gen Z aspiring business leaders to focus on “doing something, not being someone.”
The day concluded with a one-on-one interview of Indra Nooyi, former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, by Cunningham, and a cocktail reception.
“Speaking at Newsweek’s Women’s Global Impact Forum was more than an honor—it was a powerful reminder of what’s possible when purpose-driven leadership meets collective ambition. At Nissan, we know that real change begins with listening, learning and leading boldly. Being surrounded by trailblazing women from across industries reaffirmed the strength of our voices and the impact of our actions. Thank you to Newsweek for championing progress and creating space for meaningful dialogue,” Allyson Witherspoon, chief marketing officer of Nissan U.S., told Newsweek.
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