Laura delivers the keynote at the Women Rising Summit

On Friday, October 2, author Laura Burkett gave the keynote at the second annual Women Rising Summit, held at Waypoint 4180 in Canfield, Ohio. Nearly 300 women filled the room, up from the 250-person cap of the first summit. This year’s theme was Reframe the Narrative, an invitation to reconsider the assumptions women carry about their careers, their businesses, and the stories they tell themselves about what is possible.

Laura began with an idea that sounds simple and is not. The events of a person’s life are facts, and facts cannot be changed. But those facts become the framework for the story we tell about our lives, and sometimes, she told the audience, that story becomes more powerful than the truth.

She learned the difference while revisiting a manuscript she had written about some of the hardest periods of her life. As she reread it, she realized she had softened painful experiences to protect herself and the people around her, and that in doing so she had drifted from what actually happened.

Rewriting the manuscript became part of her own reframing, and it is where This Is Not My Life found its voice. Her standard for the rewrite was blunt: no more excuses, no more pretty, just truth. She described reframing a narrative as the work of taking away the filters, the distortions, the excuses, and the survival stories we start telling ourselves, and then asking what is actually true.

It is also the idea at the center of the book, which follows Laura through the aftermath of a sudden loss and the questions that came with it, and asks what it takes to stop living the story other people, or our own fear, wrote for us.

The summit was created by Amy Shope of Lehner Shope Wealth Group and Lisa Resnick, founder of Dandelion-Inc. They wanted an event that goes beyond inspiration, with practical learning and real connections, so the afternoon also included a four-woman panel on career changes and leadership, four breakout sessions, and a marketplace with about a dozen women-owned vendors. Topics ranged from entrepreneurship and confidence to navigating personal and professional transitions.

Local outlets covered the day. Business Journal Daily wrote about the keynote and the panel in “Women Rising Summit Reframes the Narrative,” and WKBN 27 First News reported on the hundreds of women who gathered to hear one another’s stories. After her talk, Laura spent time at the book table signing copies and meeting readers, and some of those moments are below.

Where to go next

If you were in the room and want to keep reading, the book is available in paperback and hardcover, and book clubs can find ten spoiler-free discussion questions and a free printable guide on the book club page. You can also listen to Laura’s conversation with Lisa Resnick, the summit co-founder, on The Seed podcast.