Believing in Tomorrow: How WIN Summit Helped Me Grow and Give Back
Written By WIN Ambassador, Julia Qing Reaves
The WIN Summit, the Women in the Art of Negotiation Summit a female-focused organization
that leverages the art of negotiation to empower women. It’s also a yearly event, a series of
panels and activities that bring the best and brightest to New York City’s Central Park South
Health Club’s ballroom and adjoining rooms.
I found out about WIN Summit 2018 in high school through my Girl Scout troop, the Girl Scouts
of Greater New York. Between speakers we sold cookies and networked with the professional
women present. It was a flurry of activity and positive connections being made. While I was
there, I would walk up to the speakers and ask to interview them for my LinkedIn series, How To
Get There, which helps high school youth learn about potential career paths and gives them hope
for their futures. Through interviewing these women in the following weeks, I grew a wonderful
network of mentors which I have relied upon since graduating in 2019.
I was inspired by WIN Summit’s lineup of powerful, strong and fierce women that did not let the
world’s barriers define them or their futures. Women of such caliber are not easy to book, but the
WIN Summit’s prestige and reputation extends far and is quite the feather in one’s cap. The good
work they do in support of women everywhere is a beacon of strength.
This year, I was attracted again to WIN Summit 2025 for all of the above reasons. I reached out
to the WIN Summit staff to see how I could participate. Based on my history with WIN Summit
2018, and my work since then with mentors and in public service, I was offered a position as
ambassador.
This position allows me to spread the word about the good that is done by the WIN Summit,
while also aligning with my feminist values. It gives me a community and a sense of
connectedness. There is a quote by Audrey Hepburn that reminds me of the WIN Summit’s
essence, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” Every single woman that attends and is a
part of the WIN Summit community believes in the power and energy of that near and far
‘tomorrow’.