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Spark is a space for women business owners, entrepreneurs, and founders who want to light a fire in the room. If your story can shift perspectives, move energy, or make someone finally say yes to their own desire — we want to hear from you.
What is Spark?
Spark is a business gathering for women entrepreneurs, founders, and leaders building wealth through leverage, legacy, and leadership. Spark is designed with a focus is on story-forward programming, shared visibility, and collective momentum designed to move people, amplify voices, and fuel the courage to be seen.
Each year, Spark centers on a guiding theme. For 2026, that theme is Possibility — and all sessions should reflect, explore, or embody that idea in a way that resonates with women in business.
This is a gathering that celebrates women’s stories, amplifies their voices, and leaves attendees with a vision that’s louder, braver, and bolder. A space where women show up for each other, claim their desire to be seen, and shine together.
The 2026 event takes place April 9–10 in Chicago. Speakers must be available to attend both days in full.
The sessions we’re curating
We’re looking for talks and experiences that are emotionally resonant, story-forward, and rooted in real-life business leadership. Every session at Spark: Possibility should tie back to the annual theme — Possibility — in a meaningful, relevant way. Below is an overview of the types of sessions we’re programming:
Keynotes
Mainstage solo talks (either 25 or 45 minutes) delivered by one speaker. These are the emotional anchors of the event — powerful, personal, and deeply resonant. A Spark keynote should do one or more of the following:
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Invite the audience into a transformative idea, shift, or realization
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Tell a real, unpolished story of growth, leadership, or courage in business
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Offer perspective or insight that opens new possibility — for identity, business, legacy, or leadership
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Make people feel something — and move them toward a deeper version of themselves
Our keynote speaker spots are reserved for founders who are willing to go deep, speak truthfully, and let people see them. We’re especially interested in keynotes from women whose lived experience challenges the status quo of business, success, or visibility.
Activations
Guided experiences (50 minutes) designed to move energy, unlock vision, or reconnect people with themselves. These sessions may be somatic, creative, energetic, or expressive in nature — they should help attendees tap into their inner voice, wisdom, or power in a way that ties back to the theme of possibility.
Examples may include:
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Breathwork or visualization
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Story exploration
- Journaling + intention mapping
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Desire-based identity work
Activations can be quiet or energizing, individual or group-based — what matters is that they feel intentionally held, emotionally resonant, and energetically safe. If you’re proposing an activation, you should be confident in guiding a group through the experience start to finish, and it must be able to be done standing or sitting in one place (rather than needing open space to move or lie down).
Panels
Facilitated group conversations (80 minutes total: 55 minutes of facilitated conversation + 25 minutes of audience Q+A) featuring 3–5 speakers. Panels are curated to represent multiple perspectives, lived experiences, or business models around a shared topic. The goal is not debate or “expertise,” but shared truth — panels should feel like sitting in on a conversation between women who respect each other and aren’t afraid to go there.
If you’re applying to be part of a panel, we’ll place you with other speakers (or match you into an existing one). Panelists should be:
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Comfortable speaking from personal experience without “teaching”
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Willing to share openly about what’s worked, what’s failed, and what’s next
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Able to speak to the theme of possibility in your own way — whether that’s business model shifts, visibility, leadership, money, or identity
For panel information, see below.
Panels planned for 2026
Becoming the Wealthy Woman
What becomes possible when we start seeing wealth not just as money, but as time, autonomy, health, and ease? This panel explores what shifts when women start seeing themselves as truly wealthy: the internal recalibration, the shedding of old beliefs, and the bold decisions that come with claiming more. This conversation is about expanding your capacity to hold, enjoy, and lead from overflow.
Legacy Through Leadership
We are all building legacy, consciously or not, right now, often quietly, as we shape the lives, systems, and stories around us. But what happens when we lead with more intention, especially in a world that rewards speed, ego, and visibility over substance? This panel explores how founders are actively crafting legacy through the way they lead: in their teams, their brands, their communities, their voices, and the ripple effects they choose to leave behind.
Wholeness as a Growth Strategy
What if the version of you who’s no longer edited or compartmentalized — but rather fully integrated — is the one best equipped to lead? This panel explores the possibilities you unlock when you build from wholeness: weaving grief, joy, identity, contradiction, and truth into how we show up in business, and more than that, celebrates what’s on the other side of the truth that comes from integrating all the parts of who we are — especially the ones we were taught to hide.
Who We’re Looking For
We’re looking for speakers who are diverse, dynamic, thoughtful, have deep expertise, and are ready to contribute something meaningful to this event — beyond just with their voice, but with their presence. Spark speakers are women who lead in their industry, think deeply about their work, and know how to connect with a room through story, energy, and real-world perspective to facilitate transformation.
Spark a platform for leaders who are shaping culture, challenging norms, and expanding what’s possible for themselves and for the community around them. The sessions you deliver should stretch the room, spark new ideas, and leave attendees walking away with something they feel.
You’ll be part of a programming mix that’s both emotionally resonant and deeply relevant to business — and you’ll share the stage with other bold, visionary founders who are doing the same.
The non-negotiables…
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Have spoken on other stages or facilitated group experiences before
- Are available and committed to fully participate in the event on both April 9 and 10
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Are aligned with Spark’s values and embody the overall mission of the Visionaries brand
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Are able and willing to share their involvement with their own audience, whether on social, in email, or elsewhere
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Understand that while we do not offer speaker stipends (except for keynotes), your ticket to the full event is covered as your compensation
Our ideal speakers…
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Have 5+ years of experience in their field or area of expertise
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Are confident and comfortable speaking to an audience of 50+ people
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Know how to deliver content that’s emotionally resonant, well-structured, and thoughtfully presented
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Are excited to attend Spark and would find value in being part of the event even if they weren’t selected to speak
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Are generous with their energy and presence — not just onstage, but in the room with other attendees
- Have fantastic presentational skills with high energy and dynamic, captivating delivery
If chosen to speak, you will receive…
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A complimentary “champagne” ticket to attend Spark: Possibility in Chicago
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Light breakfast and full lunch provided on both event days
- Complimentary access to the Prosecco & Possibility PJ Party on night one
- Complimentary ticket to the Spark Soirée Dinner Cruise
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Speaker feature across Spark’s event marketing, including social media, web, and printed materials, including our email list of 5,000+ entrepreneurs and our website which generates 15,000+ views monthly
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Professional photographs of your session and participation, delivered post-event
- Professional video of your session to add to your speaker reel
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The opportunity to build visibility and credibility as a speaker on a curated, story-forward stage
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A chance to connect and collaborate with other high-level founders
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A speaking credit you can use to strengthen your portfolio for future engagements
- For panelists and activation leaders, the ability to pitch to our audience at the end of the session
Apply to speak at
Applications are open now and will close on Wednesday, December 17.
All applicants will be notified of their status by Friday, January 16.
Please only apply if you are confident in your availability to attend both days of Spark: Possibility (April 9–10, 2026 in Chicago), and if you’re excited to participate fully 🙂
We expect a high volume of applications and will only be selecting a small number of speakers for each format. Every application will be thoughtfully reviewed.