WLiT Q1 2022
Featured Topic:
Seeing Yourself as Others Do
Authentic Executive Presence at Any Stage of Your Career
Date: Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Time: 4:45 to 5:50 p.m. CDT
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free (Please register below)
**Please consider a donation to the WLiT scholarship fund**
Speakers: Carol Keers and Tom Mungavan of Change Masters
- Have you ever had an interaction in which you later thought, “That’s not what I meant”?
- Have you ever had your idea be championed by someone else who gets all the credit?
- Have you ever had to influence or persuade others when you don’t have the authority?
- Would you like to have more impact on others in the organization?
If you answered yes to any of the above, then join us for the first Women Leading in Technology (WLiT) event of 2022!
This audience-driven Q&A session will rely entirely on input from YOU, both prior to and during the event, to ensure the discussion focuses on what’s most important to our WLiT Community! Carol and Tom’s responses will be based on their experience providing practical tools, tips and techniques to increase your authentic presence and better manage how you’re perceived.
Unlike other virtual WLiT events, we recommend that you do about 20 minutes of advance reading and send us one or more questions so Carol and Tom can optimize our time together on April 19. Here are next steps:
- Register for the April 19 event (free).
- Read the first chapter of Carol and Tom’s book, Seeing Yourself as Others Do – Authentic Executive Presence at Any Stage of Your Career. Below is a PDF to chapter one for your 20-minute advance read. The first chapter is titled, “Perception is Reality.” Password to access the PDF (case sensitive): WLiT#202204
- Attend the event on April 19. A Microsoft Teams join link will be sent prior.
Carol Keers and Tom Mungavan
Change Masters

“You don’t get to vote on how you are perceived. How others see you is their reality, no matter what you might have intended. That’s because we judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behaviors. How others respond to you as a person and a leader will depend entirely on their perception of you.”
“Do you think you know how you come across to others? Think again. At Change Masters, we’ve provided individual leadership communications coaching to over 3,000 very talented people in the United States and internationally. Not one of them completely understood how they were impacting others when we started coaching them.”
Carol Keers & Tom Mungavan, Change Masters® Incorporated
SUPPORT THE MISSION OF WLiT: Donate to the WLiT Scholarship Fund
WLiT seeks to promote, educate, and empower women in technology across Minnesota. We believe in “reaching back” to support our future technology leaders and practitioners. With the help of the Minnesota Technology Foundation, WLiT awards scholarships to underrepresented individuals who aspire to a career in STEM. Funds raised in 2022 will create scholarship awards to off-set the cost of tuition for deserving individuals at Prime Digital Academy, a local technology bootcamp.
In lieu of a registration fee for this event, WLiT gratefully accepts your donations. While we ask that you consider a donation of $20, donations in any amount are much appreciated. Donate thru the Minnesota Technology Foundation’s GiveMN site here. The donation process is separate from event registration. If your company has a matching program, please send the match to the Minnesota Technology Foundation so it can be added to the scholarship fund.
ABOUT CHANGE MASTERS
Serving premier customers from around the world … Change Masters® has specialized in leadership communications for individuals and teams. Clients include high-talent executives, middle managers, professionals, and technology leaders across 200+ organizations worldwide, comprised of more than 50 Fortune 500 companies as well as medium and small companies, partnerships, and non-profit organizations. Change Masters® has coached over 3,000 executive and professional clients the last 35 years.
Carol Keers has coached over 2,000 executives to be more effective communicators. Carol worked for the Guthrie Theater as a commercial actress for radio and television and as an outplacement consultant before joining Change Masters in 1988. Her focus is to combine insightful, practical and candid feedback with humor and compassion to rapidly improve the impact of her clients as leaders and communicators. Carol holds a master’s degree in Communications Assessment from the University of Wisconsin.
Tom Mungavan has over 40 years’ experience in marketing, computer applications and executive management with IBM and Target Corp. He formed Change Masters in 1986 to help companies and individuals deal with change quickly and successfully. He has helped executive teams, boards of directors, and technology teams be more effective. As a translator between business and technology leaders, Tom has a strong track record helping companies strategize, negotiate and win large contracts in complex sales environments. He is a professional member of the National Speakers Association, a Certified Systems Professional, and holds an MBA from the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota.

Tom and Carol are the authors of Seeing Yourself as Others Do – Authentic Executive Presence at Any Stage of Your Career, a practical guide to understanding and managing how others perceive you. Individual books are available on Amazon.com for $39.95 and boxes of ten books are available at a discount of 10% with additional discounts for more than one box. Free standard shipping in the USA is included. The books include a study guide to be used by teams to enhance their effectiveness and executive presence. Links are available at SYAOD.com.
THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS
Presenting Sponsors
Annual Sponsors
Event Sponsor
WLiT Q4 2021
Women Leading in Technology (WLiT):A Conversation with Deb Cupp, President, Microsoft US
Date: Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Time: 4:45 to 5:45 p.m. CDT
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free (Please register below)
**Please consider a donation to the WLiT scholarship fund**
Guest: Deb Cupp, President of Microsoft US
Event Summary
Please join us Tuesday, November 9th, for a conversation featuring Deb Cupp, President of Microsoft US! This engaging conversation facilitated by WLiT’s own Robin Brown is sure to be illuminating as they’ll talk about hybrid work trends and the transformational impacts of this new reality on each of us, both personally and professionally. Learn cutting edge insights about what’s next and how we can create great experiences, both individually and collectively. We’ll also seize the opportunity to hear about Deb’s own leadership journey within the tech industry, gleaning bits of wisdom for women at all stages of their careers with both the prepared questions and crowdsourced questions from our WLiT community.

Deb Cupp is President of Microsoft US, a $47 billion subsidiary responsible for delivering sales, marketing and services to customers based in the United States. US subsidiary is Microsoft’s largest sales subsidiary, managing over 11,000 customers and 900 partners. Focused on driving transformation within Microsoft’s largest commercial organization, Deb leads a 10,000-person field team pursuing Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
Deb sits on the Board of Directors for Avanade, the leading provider of innovative digital and cloud services, business solutions and design-led experiences on the Microsoft ecosystem.
Deb holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration with concentrations in marketing and finance from the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia, where she was a Division One field hockey and lacrosse scholarship athlete. In addition, she holds an MBA from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Deb lives in the Philadelphia area with her husband Sam and their dog Penny. In her free time, she enjoys being active including hiking, yoga, and her Peloton bike!
SUPPORT THE MISSION OF WLiT: Donate to the WLiT Scholarship Fund
WLiT seeks to promote, educate, and empower women in technology across Minnesota. We believe in “reaching back” to support our future technology leaders and practitioners. With the help of the Minnesota Technology Foundation, WLiT awards scholarships to underrepresented individuals who aspire to a career in STEM. Funds raised in 2021 will create scholarship awards to off-set the cost of tuition for deserving individuals at The Software Guild, a local technology bootcamp.
In lieu of a registration fee for this event, WLiT gratefully accepts your donations. While we ask that you consider a donation of $20, donations in any amount are much appreciated. Donate thru the Minnesota Technology Foundation’s GiveMN site here. The donation process is separate from event registration. If your company has a matching program, please send the match to the Minnesota Technology Foundation so it can be added to the scholarship fund.
Event Registration
THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS
Presenting Sponsors
Annual Sponsors
WLiT Q3 2021
Women Leading in Technology (WLiT) presents:
A Conversation with Jana Shortal, Host of Breaking the News on KARE 11,
in celebration of WLiT's 10-year Anniversary!

Date: Tuesday, August 10, 2021
Time: 4:45 to 5:45 p.m. CDT
Location: Virtual Zoom Webinar
Cost: FREE – PLEASE CONSIDER A DONATION TO THE WLiT SCHOLARSHIP FUND IN LIEU OF REGISTRATION FEE
Topic: Thoughts on re-entering the world post-COVID, enlisting empathy & grace amidst all the change, and being true to ourselves
This summer marks the 10-year anniversary of Women Leading in Technology’s founding! On Tuesday, August 10th, WLiT will honor our 10th anniversary of Connecting, Educating and Reaching Back with a celebratory program to include a conversation with KARE11 News anchor and trailblazer, Jana Shortal!
Event Registration
WLiT seeks to promote, educate, and empower women in technology across Minnesota. We believe in “reaching back” to support our future technology leaders and practitioners. With the help of the Minnesota Technology Foundation, WLiT awards scholarships to underrepresented individuals who aspire to a career in STEM. Funds raised in 2021 will create scholarship awards to off-set the cost of tuition for deserving individuals at The Software Guild, a local technology bootcamp.
In lieu of a registration fee for this event, WLiT gratefully accepts your donations. While we ask that you consider a donation of $20, donations in any amount are much appreciated. Donate thru the Minnesota Technology Foundation’s GiveMN site here. The donation process is separate from event registration. If your company has a matching program, please send the match to the Minnesota Technology Foundation so it can be added to the scholarship fund.
THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS
Presenting Sponsors
Annual Sponsors
WLiT - June 22, 2021
Women Leading in Technology (WLiT): What I Know Now That I Wish I Knew Then

Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Time: 4:45 to 5:45 p.m. CDT
Location: Virtual Zoom Webinar
Cost: FREE – REGISTER BELOW | Please consider a donation to the WLiT scholarship fund
Topic: What I Know Now That I Wish I Knew Then
Panelists: Jackie Hartman, Global Data Management & Governance Lead, Cargill
Alana Karen, Director – Search Platforms, Google
Jayshree Seth, Corporate Scientist & Chief Science Advocate, 3M
Shivani Stumpf, VP – Analytics, PowerSchool
Event Registration
Event Summary
Are you early in your career or newly on your leadership path?
Are you curious to learn from the experiences of other women technology leaders who’ve been there and done that?
Would you like to accelerate your own career progression by enlisting strategies other successful female executives have used in navigating the twists and turns of their careers?
If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, please join us for the next Women Leading in Technology (WLiT) event, “What I Know Now That I Wish I Knew Then.” This panel discussion will feature four women leaders and their unique perspectives as we delve into a candid discussion about professional advancement strategies, lessons learned, and crises averted.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS:
Jackie Hartman, Global Data Management & Governance Lead, Cargill
Serving in technology and data leadership roles over the last 20 years, Jackie’s relationship-centered approach leads to the achievement of organizational goals while inspiring people and teams to realize their potential. Jackie’s thrilled to share this passion with the Ann Bancroft Foundation whose mission is to encourage girls to “Imagine something bigger”. A proud Iowan, Jackie graduated from Iowa State with a degree in Wildlife Biology.
Alana Karen, Director – Search Platforms, Google
Alana Karen is an award-winning tech leader, author, and speaker whose work impacts many of our everyday lives. From Google Search to Ads, Fiber to Google Grants and beyond, Alana has been leading the charge to develop, scale, build, and drive team and product development that has seen a rippling industry impact. Alana has spoken at conferences and summits on technology, leadership, DEI, talent, and innovation. Her book, The Adventures of Women in Tech: How We Got Here and Why We Stay, aggregates hundreds of stories on these topics as well. She lives with her three children, husband, and two dogs in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Jayshree Seth, Corporate Scientist & Chief Science Advocate, 3M
Jayshree Seth joined 3M in 1993 after an MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University, New York, and has a B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from REC Trichy India, now NIIT Trichy. She is currently a Corporate Scientist at 3M and holds 72 patents for a variety of innovations with several additional pending. Jayshree was appointed 3M’s first ever Chief Science Advocate in 2018 and is using her scientific knowledge, technical expertise and professional experience to advance science and communicate its importance and benefits in everyday life. In 2020 she was awarded Society of Women Engineers’ (SWE) highest Achievement Award. Jayshree is the author of the book, The Heart of Science – Engineering Footprints, Fingerprints, & Imprints, published by SWE, and all the sales proceeds go to a scholarship for underrepresented minority women in STEM. She is also featured in a docuseries titled “Not the Science Type” that premiered during the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.
Shivani Stumpf, VP – Analytics, PowerSchool
Shivani Stumpf is the Vice President of Analytics at PowerSchool, joining the company following the acquisition of Hoonuit, an enterprise Edtech data analytics provider focused on the K-12 industry. At Hoonuit, Stumpf was the Chief Technology Officer responsible for leading the Product Management, Engineering, Operations, Professional Services and Support functions across the analytics product portfolio. Shivani spearheaded technology and business diligence for three successful acquisitions and two divestures over the last 2 years at Hoonuit and then the sale of Hoonuit to PowerSchool.
SUPPORT THE MISSION OF WLiT:
Donate to the WLiT Scholarship Fund
WLiT seeks to promote, educate, and empower women in technology across Minnesota. We believe in “reaching back” to support our future technology leaders and practitioners. With the help of the Minnesota Technology Foundation, WLiT awards scholarships to underrepresented individuals who aspire to a career in STEM. Funds raised in 2021 will create scholarship awards to off-set the cost of tuition for deserving individuals at The Software Guild, a local technology bootcamp.
In lieu of a registration fee for this event, WLiT gratefully accepts your donations. While we ask that you consider a donation of $20, donations in any amount are much appreciated. Donate thru the Minnesota Technology Foundation’s GiveMN site here. The donation process is separate from event registration. If your company has a matching program, please send the match to the Minnesota Technology Foundation so it can be added to the scholarship fund.
THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS
Presenting Sponsors
Annual Sponsors
WLiT Q2 2021
Women Leading in Technology (WLiT):A Conversation with Julie Sweet, CEO, Accenture
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Time: 4:45 to 5:45 p.m. CDT
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free (Please register below)
**Please consider a donation to the WLiT scholarship fund**
Speaker: Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture
Event Summary
Join us for a conversation with Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture and No. 1 on FORTUNE’s 2020 list of “Most Powerful Women in Business” as she talks about leadership, her career journey, technology trends and why inclusion, diversity and equality for all is essential for innovation. WLiT Board Chair & VP Digital with UnitedHealth Group, Jean Machart, will guide the conversation. We hope you’ll join us!

Julie Sweet is Chief Executive Officer of Accenture. Prior to becoming CEO in September 2019, Julie served as chief executive officer of Accenture’s business in North America. Before that, she was Accenture’s general counsel, secretary and chief compliance officer.
Julie serves on the World Economic Forum Board of Trustees and the board of the Business Roundtable for which she chairs the Technology Committee. Additionally, Julie is board chair of Catalyst and serves on the boards for the Center for Strategic & International Studies and the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities – Bridges from School to Work. Julie joined Accenture in 2010. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Claremont McKenna College and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School.
SUPPORT THE MISSION OF WLiT: Donate to the WLiT Scholarship Fund
WLiT seeks to promote, educate, and empower women in technology across Minnesota. We believe in “reaching back” to support our future technology leaders and practitioners. With the help of the Minnesota Technology Foundation, WLiT awards scholarships to underrepresented individuals who aspire to a career in STEM. Funds raised in 2021 will create scholarship awards to off-set the cost of tuition for deserving individuals at The Software Guild, a local technology bootcamp.
In lieu of a registration fee for this event, WLiT gratefully accepts your donations. While we ask that you consider a donation of $20, donations in any amount are much appreciated. Donate thru the Minnesota Technology Foundation’s GiveMN site here. The donation process is separate from event registration. If your company has a matching program, please send the match to the Minnesota Technology Foundation so it can be added to the scholarship fund.
Event Registration
THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS
Presenting Sponsors
Annual Sponsors
Event Sponsor
WLiT Q1 2021

Women Leading in Technology (WLiT): Find Your Fierce and AIM for Success
Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Time: 4:45 to 5:50 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free (Please register below. )
**Please consider a donation to the WLiT scholarship fund**
Speaker: Teresa Sande, CEO, Mirror Mirror Strategies
Event Summary
Please join us Tuesday, February 16th, for our first Women Leading in Technology event of the New Year. We are thrilled and honored to kick off our 2021 season with a special welcome from Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and founder of LeanIn.Org! Ms. Sandberg is passionate about helping women achieve their ambitions and creating a more equal world. She has frequently spoken about imposter syndrome and its impact on women and their careers. As such, we are pleased to announce our formal program that will follow Ms. Sandberg’s welcome, featuring Teresa Sande, CEO of Mirror Mirror Strategies, who will join us for a facilitated conversation about imposter syndrome in the session titled,
Find Your Fierce and AIM for Success
Have you ever felt like it was just a matter of time before someone figured out you weren’t as amazing as they thought? From the outside no one would know it, but inside you’re secretly wondering if you belong or if there’s a shoe about to drop and you will fail. If this sounds at all familiar, you’ve experienced imposter syndrome.
While the term “imposter syndrome” might evoke images of someone with low self-confidence or someone who’s a fake, the reality is imposter syndrome strikes some of the most confident and competent people, often at a point of high achievement. In fact, over 70% of people have acknowledged experiencing imposter syndrome, though the price being paid is much steeper for women and people of color. Sneaky and subtle, you might not even know it’s happening until you’re so far down the rabbit hole, it’s hard to claw your way back up – but don’t let it rob you of your success. Overcoming imposter syndrome is about more than just self-confidence; it requires understanding and changing the fundamental flaws built into the systems of which we are all a part. In this illuminating session, you’ll learn:
- What imposter syndrome is, where it comes from, and how it shows up;
- Tools and techniques to recognize and combat imposter syndrome to ensure your success as you continue to grow your career;
- The role unconscious bias plays throughout organizations that feeds imposter syndrome, particularly for women and people of color;
- Ways to influence the systems of which we are all a part, to shift the culture and minimize the impacts of imposter syndrome on leaders in the pipeline.
If you’d like to familiarize yourself with the topic in advance of our 2/16 event, go to www.teresasande.com/find-your-fierce to purchase a copy of Find Your Fierce. Currently available at a discounted pre-sale price, WLiT attendees will receive an additional discount using the following discount code: WLIT.
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Teresa Sande is passionate about equity in the workplace, healthy corporate cultures, and ensuring people are valued and rewarded for their contributions. Teresa holds her master’s degree in Organizational Effectiveness & Communication and has 20+ years’ corporate experience as an executive with Intel, Capital One, Cargill, and UnitedHealth Group. She has dedicated her career to creating effective Talent Strategies that enable business results including leadership development, executive coaching, succession planning, and inclusion and diversity.
In addition to being an accomplished HR executive, she is a consultant, coach, author, speaker, and imposter syndrome expert. Having battled imposter syndrome herself, Teresa knows firsthand how these feelings—particularly for women and people of color—are rooted in and fed by flaws that exist in organizational systems. If they go unchecked, there is a hefty price to pay for all involved.
Decades of corporate experience, countless hours of coaching top talent, and nearly 100 interviews with high achieving executives have culminated in the creation of her debut book, Find Your Fierce: Interrupt Imposter Syndrome and Own Your Success. Leveraging her proprietary frAIMworkTM readers gain fresh perspectives and easy to apply techniques to conquer imposter syndrome.
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SUPPORT THE MISSION OF WLiT: Donate to the WLiT Scholarship Fund
WLiT seeks to promote, educate, and empower women in technology across Minnesota. We believe in “reaching back” to support our future technology leaders and practitioners. With the help of the Minnesota Technology Foundation, WLiT awards scholarships to underrepresented individuals who aspire to a career in STEM. Funds raised in 2021 will create scholarship awards to off-set the cost of tuition for deserving individuals at The Software Guild, a local technology bootcamp.
In lieu of a registration fee for this event, WLiT gratefully accepts your donations. While we ask that you consider a donation of $20, donations in any amount are much appreciated. Donate thru the Minnesota Technology Foundation’s GiveMN site here. The donation process is separate from event registration.
If your company has a matching program, please send the match to the Minnesota Technology Foundation so it can be added to the scholarship fund.
Event Registration
WLiT: Utilizing Storytelling

Patrick Finnegan
Certified Dale Carnegie Trainer and Senior Market Director for Dale Carnegie’s Healthcare & IT Sectors
WLiT: Utilizing Storytelling to Engage, Motivate & Influence
Join us Tuesday, October 20th, for our final WLiT event of 2020, Utilizing Storytelling to Engage, Motivate and Influence, adapted to our current, virtual world!
Dale Carnegie wrote the book on public speaking, with techniques that turned nervous beginners into confident professionals who communicate with assuredness. Whether you’re persuading colleagues, influencing a client, energizing a team, or recommending an idea to senior leaders, an effective presentation can be the difference between your success and failure. This session will focus on the basic components of creating the story, so our message has the intended impact on the audience. By putting ourselves in the listener’s situation and providing relevant evidence, we can appeal to the interests of the audience and ultimately deliver a compelling and persuasive presentation. In this session, you’ll learn the following:
- Understand elements of storytelling in a virtual environment to inspire, motivate and influence an audience
- Consider motivations of an audience and examine a variety of methods and tools to strengthen your message
- Increase trust and credibility while presenting in a virtual environment
WLiT and Dale Carnegie will team up to give away one scholarship for a four-session virtual training, Dale Carnegie High Impact Presentations Program, which will be delivered in November 2020 and February 2021. You must be present during the program to win.
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Patrick Finnegan is a Certified Dale Carnegie Trainer and Senior Market Director for Dale Carnegie’s healthcare and IT sectors. In his role, Patrick provides training, consulting, executive coaching, in presentations, sales, leadership, business partnering and customer service. Some of the clients Patrick and his team support include Boston Scientific, Stratasys, General Mills, United Lex, Thomson Reuters and Optum.
One of Patrick’s recent career highlights was interviewing 3X Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White this past February. Patrick has 20 years of experience in the healthcare and IT industries; prior to joining Dale Carnegie, he worked for Wyeth Laboratories and GE Healthcare.
In his free time, Patrick enjoys spending time with his wife, Cathy, and his daughter and son. They live in Bloomington, MN.
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About Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie Minnesota
Video: Take Command
Founded in 1912, Dale Carnegie was inspired by one person’s belief in the power of self-improvement. Since then, it’s evolved into a movement that’s crossed borders and generations, showing people how to tap into the best parts of themselves to create positive change. Dale Carnegie’s original body of knowledge has been constantly updated, expanded and refined through nearly a century’s worth of real-life business experiences. Their programs, available in over 30 languages, show people all over the world how to communicate in a way that draws others in, so they can form closer, more rewarding relationships.
Whether you’re starting out or stepping up, learning to lead or heading up a team, Dale Carnegie sharpens your inner voice so you can use it with confidence to get the most out of your life and your work. Dale Carnegie helps people gain greater influence and make meaningful contributions in the places that matter most.
Event Details
- Date: October 20, 2020
- Time: 4:45 pm – 5:45 pm
- Cost: Free (Please register below)
- Event Category: WLiT
Get Tickets Below!
Enter the number of tickets needed in the box below then click the “Get Tickets” button.
WLiT: Let’s Redefine a Victory

Sonya Roberts
President, Cargill Salt
WLiT: Let’s Redefine a Victory
Missing the link? Join us here! https://aka.ms/WLiT
Please join us at 4:45pm Tuesday, 9/29, for an important and timely conversation with Sonya Roberts, President of Cargill Salt
Facilitated by WLiT’s own Robin Brown, Sonya will guide us through her personal and 30+ year career journey. She will talk about leadership awareness and what that means to employees during unprecedented times like these. She will talk about the change she’s seeing in corporate dynamics focused on diversity & inclusion and social justice. Lastly, she will talk about the lessons we are learning during this pandemic as we redefine what a victory can look like. This moderated exchange will also include time for Q&A from our WLiT community.
Event Details
Missing the link? Join us here! https://aka.ms/WLiT
- Date: September 29
- Time: 4:45 pm – 5:45 pm
- Cost: Free (Please register below)
- Event Category: WLiT
Get Tickets Below!
Enter the number of tickets needed in the box below then click the “Get Tickets” button.