2026
cny Women’s Summit
Committee
thank you to our incredible cny women’s summit team for their unwavering commitment and for making this year one to remember.
Alex Canavan
Founder & ceo, cny women’s network-
Alex Canavan is the Founder of the Central New York Women’s Network, a community-driven media and leadership platform based in Syracuse, New York.
A former makeup artist turned entrepreneur, Alex recognized early on the lack of visibility, connection, and opportunity for women in the Syracuse region. In 2023, she founded what is now the CNY Women’s Network — a media company dedicated to connecting, promoting, and empowering women through community, storytelling, and strategic programming.
Whether launching new initiatives, advising brands, or amplifying voices through her podcast show, Cultivate, she is committed to building platforms that create real impact, sustainable growth, and lasting community.
Brittany supports small businesses and organizations by reviewing the accessibility of websites and materials, advising on inclusive hiring practices, and leading workshops that empower teams to embed accessibility into everyday operations. -
Kera Wasserbach
Event Coordinator
Owner, Traveling Event Planner-
As Event Director, Kera Wasserbach leads the strategy, planning, and execution for the CNY Women’s Network events. Since 2024, Kera has led the CNY Women’s Summit, our annual event that brings together over 500 professional women from across Upstate New York for a day of inspiration, connection, and empowerment.
Kera is the owner of Traveling Event Planner LLC, where she helps clients host transformational, high-impact events. Her company specializes in a range of high-impact events whose approach to event coordination goes beyond managing logistics.
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Learn more at travelingeventplanner.com
Brittany Alvarez
Women's Market Committee, Lead
Accessibility & Inclusion Specialist-
Brittany Alvarez is an Accessibility & Inclusion Specialist based in Central New York. Originally from Baltimore, MD, Brittany has built her career around championing inclusion and bridging gaps between people and organizations.
Brittany supports small businesses and organizations by reviewing the accessibility of websites and materials, advising on inclusive hiring practices, and leading workshops that empower teams to embed accessibility into everyday operations. -
Elena Bombardier
Marketing Committee, Graphics
Life & Health Coach, Content Creator-
Elena is a UGC creator, brand spokesperson, and certified life, health, and business coach. With nearly 8 years of experience creating on-camera content and marketing for businesses and entrepreneurs, she helps people and brands reach their goals through content and coaching.
Blending creativity with mindset and communication, Elena delivers engaging content and talks that inspire action, confidence, and growth.
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LeaAnn Fuller
Speaker Committee, Research
Owner, Fuller Path 2 Profits-
LeaAnn Fuller is a Profit Strategist and CFO Advisor that transforms financial chaos into strategy, systems, and smart decisions for high-earning women—so they can scale profits, not just revenue.
With 25+ years in business management and accounting, she’s known for translating complex financial data into clear, actionable insight—so women can lead with confidence instead of guesswork.Award-winning women’s advocate, author, and speaker, LeaAnn helps entrepreneurs stop over-investing, simplify their systems, and keep more of the money they work so hard to earn—turning financial chaos into clarity, confidence, and Profit Driven decisions they can actually trust.
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Tessa Harper
Speaker Committee, Onboarding
Human Resources Manager, Associates for Women’s Medicine-
Tessa Harper is a Human Resources Manager at Associates for Women’s Medicine, a multi-site OB-GYN practice in Central New York, where she leads employee relations, compliance, culture, and engagement initiatives. With a passion for developing strong, inclusive workplaces, Tessa is am deeply involved in leadership development, policy design, and employee experience across clinical and administrative teams.
In addition to her HR role, Tessa serves as the Marketing Chair on the Board of Directors for CNY SHRM and owns Tessa Biagi Photography, specializing in event and lifestyle photography. As a working mother, she is driven by a desire to lead by example for her daughters and to help create opportunities and environments where women can thrive, grow, and confidently step into leadership.
In her free time, she enjoys watching football, reading, spending time with her fiancé and two daughters, hosting board game nights with friends and family, and traveling the world—having visited over 35 countries to date. -
Caprice Hibbler
Speaker Committee, Outreach
Program Manager, The Arts Project Syracuse-
Caprice Hibbler is a Syracuse-based community leader, nonprofit program manager, and creative entrepreneur dedicated to youth development, arts access, and women’s empowerment. She currently serves as the Program Manager for The Arts Project Syracuse (TAPS), a nonprofit organization co-founded by Emmy Award–winning artist Hughie Stonefish, his brother Avery Stonefish, and Keeley Scarletta, where she leads program coordination, partnerships, and community engagement serving under-resourced children and families across Central New York.
Through her work at TAPS, Caprice has helped expand accessible arts education in collaboration with organizations such as the Boys & Girls Club and YWCA of Syracuse. She also leads “The Arts Project Syracuse Presents Caprice’s Annual Holiday Giveaway,” a community initiative now in its third year, providing gifts, creative experiences, and essential resources to children and families during the holiday season.
In addition to her nonprofit leadership, Caprice is the Founder of Get Up Girl, a women-centered empowerment brand focused on confidence-building, lifestyle development, and access to opportunity. She previously served as Vice President of Zeta Amicae and has also served as a mentor and Public Relations Specialist for the GEMS Mentoring Program, supporting young women ages 14–18 through leadership development, life skills training, and strategic communication.
Caprice’s impact has been widely recognized. She was named one of Central New York’s 40 Under 40 honorees and, in 2025, was selected as one of 12 individuals recognized as CNY Trail Blazers and Trendsetters for her leadership and influence in the community. Her work has also been featured in Syracuse Women’s Magazine for her contributions to arts advocacy, community engagement, and women-focused initiatives.
A non-traditional student, Caprice’s educational journey reflects the resilience she brings to her work. After leaving high school early, she later returned to pursue her education, earning her associate degree before continuing on to Syracuse University, where she obtained her bachelor’s degree. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Public Relations at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Her academic path underscores her commitment to perseverance, growth, and creating pathways for others to reimagine what is possible. -
Olivia Mancabelli
Volunteer Coordinator
Director of Clinical Nutrition, Loretto Health & Rehabilitation
Emma Martens
Marketing Committee, Web & Graphic Design • HOSPITALITY & BRANDING Committee
Fractional Creative Director and Integrated Brand Designer-
From managing sell-out crowds for Trey Anastasio, Lake Street Dive and The Mavericks, to planning marketing campaigns for mission-forward businesses, and designing visual brands for community-driven events like CNY Pagan Pride Day, Emma knows how to create brand experiences that audiences and customers remember.
Emma is excited to return to the CNYWS volunteer team once again after participating in 2024 and 2025’s Summits. Past contributions include the designing the 2025 VIP swag bags and digital program, as well as offering a warm welcome at the registration table.
In addition to CNYWS, Emma also serves on the board for Church of the Greenwood, Town of Mentz Planning Board, and is the Marketing and Campaign Lead for ConsciousHR, based in Syracuse. -
Morgan Montgomery
Marketing Committee, Co-Chair
Executive Personal Assistant-
Morgan Montgomery is an Executive Personal Assistant who spent six years in real estate operations before making the switch. Translation: she loves a good system and thrives when there are a dozen things happening at once.
A Texas A&M University grad, Morgan started her career in travel and tourism, including a memorable chapter as a special event hostess at Walt Disney World. (Yes, it was as fun as it sounds, and yes, she will talk about it.)
She recently made the move from Texas to Central New York with her husband, toddler, two cats and one very goofy dog. She's currently surviving her first real winter, which has been...humbling. These days, most of her hobbies have been absorbed by motherhood, but when nap time actually happens, you'll find her deep in a thriller or romance novel, coffee in hand.
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Shawnee Robert
Registration Committee, Lead
Site Quality Head, Baxter Healthcare-
Shawnee Robert is a quality‑continuous improvement focused medical device leader with more than a decade of experience strengthening quality systems, driving compliance, and elevating operational performance across different regulated manufacturing environments.
Currently serving as the Site Quality Head at Baxter International in Skaneateles (Old Welch Allyn!) facility. Shawnee's leadership style is driven by building the team off their strengths with development at the forefront, collaborating & communicating and being a hands on strategic problem solver.
She has been in the Syracuse area for 5 years now and loves the growth that Syracuse is experiencing, the local food recommendations, and the networking relationships and friendships built.
After helping out with the Summit Marketing last year, Shawnee is serving as the CNY Women's Summit Registration Lead for 2026. Shawnee says the reason for taking this on was that the Summit last year provided a great opportunity to collaborate with an amazing team and having taken away actionable insights to continue her own growth & development. -
Annie Rotko
Swag & Merchandise Committee, Lead
Lead Producer, Coco Rocha Model Camp, Licensed Aesthetician/MUA @SkinAndVeil and Model/Actor-
With over two decades of experience across fashion, the arts, beauty and entertainment spaces, Annie’s career has been anything but linear- but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Annie’s career has taken her throughout New York, California, Texas, and overseas, where she first launched her business, formerly known as Annie Ross Aesthetics. Living abroad deepened her love for culture, connection, and collaboration, all of which continue to shape how Annie works today.
In 2026, Annie will celebrate ten years in the beauty industry, a path that evolved intentionally over time. After running a full-service business for several years, she narrowed her focus in 2022, letting go of what no longer served her and leaning fully into the work that felt most aligned. That clarity eventually led to the opening of ATELIER | Creative Studio - A collaborative hub for artists, photographers, and creators. It was a passion project that lived exactly as long as it was meant to, closing its doors in early 2025 as Annie stepped into her next chapter.
Beyond my independent work, she remains deeply immersed in the fashion and entertainment world. From modeling on camera to on-set production, it has led her to a career alongside supermodel Coco Rocha where she has had the honor to work as Producer and Executive Assistant. -
Aryal Smith
Marketing & communications, CNY Women’s Network-
If you’ve ever double-tapped one of our Instagram posts, partnered with us on a campaign, or attended a CNYWN event, there’s a good chance Aryal was behind the scenes making it happen.
Inspired by Alex’s mission to connect and empower women, Aryal joined the CNY Women’s Network team part-time when she moved back to Central New York in 2023. Since then, she’s worked closely with Alex to dream up and create our content, partnerships, events, and brand initiatives.
Previously, Aryal served as the Digital Marketing Manager at How To Cake It and the Marketing Director at Shokz. Today, Aryal helps direct-to-consumer brands grow their online presence and community.
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CNY Women’s Summit
Being in the right room can lead to opportunities you never imagined.
March 27
8am-6:30pm
The Oncenter, Syracuse, NY