Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke intervened as the seminar’s keynote speaker, alongside UNESCO Secretary General Irina Bokova and American University of Paris’ President Celeste Schneck. Lindsey put a spotlight on the importance of women’s leadership in the 21st century as a global actor of change, and the essential role played by higher education to promote the leadership and careers of women.   

On 22 October 2015, W4 Founder & Managing Director was a guest speaker at the 2015 State of Europe high-level roundtable, “Addressing Europe’s crises: Policy Crossroads”, hosted by Friends of Europe in Brussels. Lindsey (a European Young Leader) spoke at the closing plenary session about progress and positive trends within the EU, the potential of women as drivers of socio-economic progress, and the need to get more women into the technology sector. The panel also included: former Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Monti; King Philippe of Belgium and Viscount Etienne Davignon, Former Vice-President of the European Commission and President of Friends of Europe.

Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke attended the 2015 Global Summit of Women, whose theme was the role of women in the evolution of economies, the creation of enterprises and sustainable development. Lindsey was part of the official French delegation, alongside the Secretary of State for Women’s Rights, Pascale Boistard, and made contributions on the place of women in the sector for new technologies.

W4’s Founder, Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke, has been named one of the Inspiring 50, the 50 most inspiring European women in technology. On March 6th, she joined her Inspiring 50 counterparts for a roundtable, hosted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street, on how to improve Europe’s digital economy as well as the opportunities and challenges faced by women in technology.

W4’s Founder, Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke, represented W4 at the ICT-Go-Girls! Final Conference, financed by the European Commission, in Antwerp, Belgium on October 15th. The ICT-Go-Girls! Project is dedicated to empowering secondary school girls, through ICTs, with the knowledge and skills necessary to explore entrepreneurship. Lindsey spoke on how W4 is broadening girls’ and women’s access to digital technologies as a powerful tool in helping them to pursue their entrepreneurial endeavors.

On October 9th, W4’s Founder, Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke, was invited to speak at a cocktail evening sponsored by the White & Case Women’s Initiative, which promotes women’s leadership through its sponsorship, networking and training programs. Alongside Monique Villa, CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation and Founder of TrustLaw and Trust Women, Lindsey presented W4’s work to open up access to necessary resources for women around the world in order to help them fulfill their potential and pursue their journeys toward success.

On September 30th, W4’s Founder, Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke was invited to speak as a panelist at the 4th annual Giving Women Conference in Geneva, centered on the theme of “Giving Women a Voice: The Role of Media in Empowering Women.” The conference was opened by Monique Villa, CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation and Founder of TrustLaw and Trust Women, followed by a moderated panel discussion among leaders in women’s empowerment and the media. Lindsey represented W4 and described how our crowdfunding platform is driving social and economic change for girls and women, their families and communities. 

On June 2nd, W4’s Founder, Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke, was invited to speak at the 3rd annual youth symposium organised by WoMen’Up and the Boson Project and held at the Paris headquarters of French employers’ association, MEDEF. This year’s symposium was centered on the theme of “The Great Transformation” and brought together six guest speakers from different sectors as well as 300 audience members to explore innovations at the intersection of technology, youth, and evolving socioeconomic paradigms. Joined by Justin Reeves of the 10×10 movement and GirlRising, Lindsey spoke on the subject of “Economic Revival.” She presented current business and economic trends in France and abroad and the potential of shared value creation, linking corporate interests with social and economic progress, in driving sustainable development.

W4’s first fundraising event in the US, organized in collaboration with the American Alpine Club and Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, was Women (em)Powered, an inspiring evening of story-telling held on May 20th in Seattle. Two renowned women adventurers, Shannon Galpin, Founder of W4’s field partner in Afghanistan, Mountain2Mountain, and Wasfia Nazreen, W4 Ambassador and Founder of Bangladesh on 7 Summits, shared their incredible endeavors to break barriers and reach new summits in girls’ and women’s empowerment. On-stage interviews with Shannon and Wasfia were moderated by Fitz Cahall (of Seattle-based podcast, “The Dirtbag Diaries”) to allow the women to discuss their journeys in challenging the status quo and raising awareness of the situation of women in Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The evening came to a close with an interactive Q&A session with audience members.

For the third consecutive year, W4 partnered with the “Les Femmes s’en Mêlent” music festival, which highlights the talents of independent women musicians. From March 19th to April 4th, the festival featured concerts from the world’s women artists-to-watch in Paris and across France. This year, W4 teamed up with Les Femmes s’en Mêlent to raise funds for its field partner, mothers2mothers (m2m), during the festival’s last show in Paris on March 28th. m2m is working to eliminate pediatric AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa by educating and empowering pregnant women and mothers living with HIV through an innovative, peer-to-peer mentoring program.