Mfon Ekpo, Sheryl Sandberg, Others Convene for the 6th Women in Power Conference

The 6^th Annual Women in Power Conference, a student Run Conference at Harvard Kennedy School hosted Mfon Ekpo as a distinguished speaker amongst others at this year’s event, themed ‘Breaking Barriers’.

Ekpo, named one of the most influential women in Nigeria by Leading Ladies Africa in 2017 and again in 2023, is an astute professional with multiple degrees in Maritime Law, Business law, Journalism, Neuro linguistic programming and Negotiation. The CEO of The Discovery Centre, founding partner of the John Maxwell team and Executive Director Maxwell Leadership, Ekpo is an international speaker and coach to top business CEO’s, industry and thought leaders.

The Women in Power conference highlights diverse perspectives and experiences of women in leadership roles and for the past five years had reached over 1,600 people in over fifty countries around the world.  Previous editions of the conference have hosted notable figures such as Diane Von Furstenberg World renowned designer, Tawakkol Karman 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Audrey P Marks, Jamaica’s 13^th Ambassador to the United States amongst others.

The event aimed at challenging the status quo, creating the space to dive deep into timely and pervasive issues, and bringing together students, practitioners, industry leaders, changemakers, and community members to spark thoughtful conversations was recognised in 2018 by the City of Cambridge as one of its “empowering and inspiring events “. 

Speaking alongside other thought leaders like Sheryl Sandberg, Founder LeanIn.org and Option B who served as COO Meta Platforms, Rukhsar Habibizai Afghan Cyclist, captain of her nations first cycling team and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Tara Murray Deputy Director Office of Public Engagement for the White House, Ekpo highlighted during her speech that every barrier that had been broken or significant change that had been recorded from fellow speakers and any woman worthy of note, had come came from women who were courageous enough to stand in the uncomfortable position that change often comes with.

In her inspiring perspective,  Ekpo said to the women in attendance “ If you do your job well, at some point they might ask you who you think you are because it is often awkward before it becomes celebrated, often resisted before it becomes accepted, often frowned upon before it becomes heralded, so in the space between resistance and acceptance, you need courage to persist in the uncomfortable, the awkward and the downright tense intermission between status quo and defining change.”

The WIPC is committed to creating and holding space for inspiring and healing conversations among people of all genders and serves as a unique and powerful opportunity to build momentum through an intersectional and collaborative approach.