WomEn's Leadership Forum - Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce , MN

Thank You To All Who Attended the 2023 Women's Leadership Forum!

2024 Forum Date and Details Coming Soon.

Congratulations to the 2023 Scholarship Winners!

During the 12th Annual Women’s Leadership Forum, five high school seniors received $1,500 scholarship awards from the Chamber’s Charitable Foundation. A video was produced by Town Square Television and you can view what great achievements these young women have accomplished. View the video.

Congratulations to Jamila Dauda (Two Rivers High School), Mahum Haque (Eastview High School), Amina Mohamed (Apple Valley High School), Daniella Oduro (Eastview High School), and Martha Wondimu (Burnsville High School).

2023 Women's Leadership Forum Details

Emcee & Moderator

Roshini Rajkumar

After spending a decade on air in TV news, Roshini returned home to Minneapolis in 2006 to launch Roshini Multi Media—a boutique executive coaching, crisis consulting, and professional speaking firm. She eventually added her own radio show to the mix Sundays on WCCO Radio and increasingly dealt with crisis management issues for her corporate clients while also discussing heated current events topics on the airwaves. She has conducted thousands of interviews during 25 years as a broadcaster. She sunset Real Talk with Roshini in September 2021. Roshini and her Crisis Squad shot the pilot for The Crisis Files in Spring 2022. While Roshini started pitching it to television and streaming executives, she decided bringing the hot topics to the public couldn’t wait and launched her show as a podcast in August 2022. Find it on your favorite podcast platform and on TheCrisisFiles.com
Roshini is a paid contributor on the syndicated CrimeDoor TV; a legal analyst for Court TV; a political analyst for WJR Detroit and KNUS Denver; a leadership analyst for Minnesota Live on KSTP-TV; and author of Communicate That!

Keynote Interview

Andrea Yoch

Andrea Yoch, President of Andrea Yoch & Co., is an experienced Marketing professional specializing in small business, media, sports and entertainment. With a diverse range of skills including events, media relations, social media and digital marketing, Andrea knows what it takes to make any project successful. As Vice-President of Business Development at Minnesota United, Andrea was part of the team that was awarded the MLS expansion franchise after building up the NASL team. She has also led a wide range of events for different organizations including the International Champions Cup and WICC, two Minnesota Super Bowls, Twin Cities Summer Jam, Gray Duck Spirits, and Cultivated CBD. Andrea serves on the board for ACES, an organization committed to closing the achievement gap in Minnesota. Proud mother of Ryan and Ben, Andrea has logged many hours on soccer fields. She and her husband Steve currently live in St. Paul.

Power Forum Panel

Alison Rempel Brown

Alison Rempel Brown joined the Science Museum of Minnesota as its 16th president and CEO in May 2016, bringing with her a firm commitment to the museum’s mission of science and education that centers equity and a focused dedication to build strategic partnerships to expand its impact. Brown served as Chief of Staff at the California Academy of Sciences, where she oversaw infrastructure and operations, ensuring the Academy’s resources were managed wisely, and the organization remained healthy and forward-looking. Brown is an active member of the Board of Trustees for Pomona College and the American Alliance of Museums Board of Directors.

Mary Grove

Mary Grove is Managing Partner of Bread and Butter Ventures. She brings nearly two decades of leadership experience in technology, early-stage investing, and startup ecosystem growth. Her career includes Google IPO, founding director of Google for Startups, investment partner at Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Co-founder and Executive Director of Silicon North Stars. Mary serves on the boards of Vital Voices, the Minneapolis Foundation, and the Techstars Foundation. Mary's bread and butter is helping organizations build teams and infrastructure to operate at scale, building partnerships, and home cooked Thai recipes.

Kelly McCarthy

Kelly McCarthy is currently serving as the Chief of the Mendota Heights Police Department. Prior to her employment in Mendota heights, Kelly worked for the Lino Lakes Police Department, starting as a CSO in 1998 and a licensed officer in 1999. While at Lino Lakes, Kelly worked as a patrol officer, investigator, FTO, use of force instructor, patrol sergeant, investigative supervisor, captain, and deputy director of the police division. Kelly has been supervising police officers since 2005. Kelly has a Master’s Degree in

Tina Rexing

Tina Rexing is a Filipino-American entrepreneur and baker. Her primary venture from 2015 through 2018 was a combination bakery and café called "T-Rex Cookie", whose claim to fame was the large size of its cookies. T-Rex Cookie operates out of an industrial park space in Eagan and offers a cookie catering service for offices or special events. The bakery's 5-pound, 6,800 calorie cookies were showcased on The Today Show, and offered as refreshments in luxury suites for Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Vikings games. In 2019, Rexing traveled to Los Angeles to pitch her business on Shark Tank. Rexing graduated from St. Olaf College with a degree in economics, then went on to spend twenty years at various large Minnesota-based businesses including Thomson Reuters, Northwest Airlines, and Target.

As part of the DCR Chamber Charitable Foundation’s initiatives, scholarships were presented to excelling young women.

The Marketplace had many vendors and businesses displaying tasty treats, apparel, accessories, services, beauty products, travel options, and more!

And don’t forget the Wine & Spirits Pull, where attendees were able to take home a bottle to enjoy later. This was a popular portion of the event where what cork number you picked corresponded to the wine and spirits on display.