Networking is transactional. Community is transformational. In this episode, we unpack the difference — and share exactly what we experienced at the Georgetown University Women’s Forum 2025 that reminded us why the right room can change everything. We’re sharing our honest takeaways from the Georgetown University Women’s Forum 2025, the mindset shift that separates networking from true community. Whether you’re a seasoned conference-goer or prepping for your first women’s leadership event, this episode will change how you show up.
Music courtesy of Dealer’s Choice Sound Recordings, Inc.
Music artist: djezi
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Community Over Networking: What The Georgetown University Women’s Forum 2026 Taught Us About Real Connection
Connection And The Importance Of Genuine Connection
Welcome back to Boss Leap, where we get honest about what it takes to build, lead, and grow. I’m Dr. Sylvia Morris.
I’m Dr. Angela Walker.
This episode is one we have been excited to do since the moment we got back.
We just attended the Georgetown University Women’s Forum 2026 and we have thoughts. We’re talking about what we learned, how we prepared, and what went sideways. Maybe most importantly, why the connections you make in rooms like that can change the entire trajectory of your business if you let them. Let’s get into it, Sylvia.
I am so excited to be here with you. The GU Women’s Forum was fantastic. We’re going to say hello to our fellow Hoya Saxa out there. Angela, let’s first start talking about connection and the importance of connection. We know that in a world where networking feels transactional, what does genuine connection look like? How did you find it? To give a little backstory around this. The last day we were at a conversation with wonderful business leaders.
One woman in particular talked about how networking ought to not be transactional and challenge us to think of every networking opportunity as a relationship. You’re building a relationship. This first question is important, so I’m going to go back. In a world where networking often feels like a transaction, what does genuine connection look like and feel like? How do you know when you found it?
When you have that feeling of either a-ha or a warm space in your heart or a feeling of awe. You have to enter the rooms with curiosity and not the notion of, how is this going to benefit me? I felt in the 2026 forum, that’s what it was all about. It was more of that curiosity and what other people are doing. The changes other people have made in their lives and how they’re finding joy.
The beginning of the conference was amazing. We had a young person, who despite her youth, was talking to the most senior people in the audience and telling, “You can do this. You can make changes. You can be authentic.” Answering me about the connections. It’s just being that authentic and how you present yourself. Again, I like presenting in a room like that with just curiosity and what I can learn from somebody else, what makes them tick and perhaps what got them to where they are.
You’re so right about that. I love the words curiosity and joy. I have found that networking has become much easier when I don’t have an agenda. I will admit that in my prior years, I probably was looking for a new job. I was like, “Who in here can I meet so that I can make the connection to get the new gig?” Let’s just relax a little bit. Let us be present. When I am in the room, there are organic conversations that happen that otherwise would not have. You meet people that are amazing. I went to get coffee and this woman had this great sweater on. I said, “I like your sweater,” and we started talking. You’re exactly right, curiosity helps to lead things.
Networking is so much easier when you don't go in with an agenda. Share on XCan you share a moment when maybe a relationship in general surprised you by going beyond the business card exchange?
It’s always interesting to me when I connect with people who on the surface seemingly are not like me. I am reminded that the core of human beings is about love and family. Whatever family means to you. It’s about joy, as you mentioned or how you have a good time. One of my favorite questions to ask people just to say, “What’s your favorite place to travel to or where are you traveling to next?” You see the smiles come to their faces because then they can tell you about them. I have been most surprised when I encounter people who I’m like, “What you just said resonated with me on a deep level.” What about you?
I think the same. Being in those spaces and as you said, we try to go without an agenda. Part of my agenda is to learn about what other people are doing. As we have learned in our lifespan, we can have many different iterations of ourselves and chapters, even careers. Sometimes, you don’t know what that looks like and who’s modeling it for you. This is a perfect environment for watching how other people have grown in their lives, their careers and their families.
Also, how they have found joy and how they’ve learned from mistakes. Again, going back to if you’re curious enough and open enough to listen to the stories. You can always use your gain from something. That’s exactly why we keep going back to the Georgetown Women’s Forum. It’s just a room full of women who were not there to collect contacts. We collected a lot of contacts but, by and large, we’re there to connect. We talked about the real difference between a network and a community and which one moves the needle for women in business.
Community Versus Network And Career Pivots
Community, every day and twice on Sunday. I want to shout out the organizers of the Georgetown University Women’s Forum. I thought the format was fantastic. I am reminded of it at the end of Friday where they had 4 or 5 women talk about their pivots. Here on Boss Leap, we talk about pivoting all of the time. I know there was a winemaker from Walla Walla, Washington, the Eaton Wineries. There was a woman that made, I’m going to call them hats or head coverings. There was a woman who pivoted from Wall Street to working at Rikers Island as a Psychologist.
That was phenomenal.
All these amazing stories. To your point, Angela, sometimes if we don’t see it, we don’t know how to dream bigger. Hearing all the stories and seeing all these fantastic women in the room, even the conversations at our tables and getting lunch. Those things helped to inspire me more.
I agree 100%.
Let’s go back. We haven’t shared how it is that we came to the Georgetown University Women’s Forum because this is ‘26 and we won in ‘24. How did we end up there? Do you remember?
I didn’t expect this question. I don’t. Georgetown’s programming usually is right on and it was a conference for women. We didn’t know what to expect. The conference was born before the pandemic by the law school that are the women in law. Gratefully, it expanded to all the colleges. I don’t remember how we found out. It’s one of those organic things you stumble across. Once you’re in, you’re in. You’re like, “I’m not missing this again.”
I know that our classmate and co-author, either Diane Boykin or Jessica Osborne, also a friend of the show, were like, “We’re going to this conference.” I was like, “I want to come.” There we are and we cannot not go to this every year. Please share how we came to be on the stage because in 2024, we were an audience.
It’s because the programming is so dynamic and there were so many conversations that happened that first forum that we went to. I thought, “We could potentially contribute.” We spoke with one of the organizers and talked about our experiences as women in medicine and how we could contribute. There’s so many topics but the top of mind for what they needed was perimenopause and menopause and we went on talking about the power years. It’s reframing this whole notion of this is a period of decline in our lives and giving explanations, reassurances and maybe even some tactical plans and how to proceed. We followed the author Joyspan.
Kerry Burnight.
She talks about our notion of lifespan and how prevalent that is now in our conversation.
Defining Lifespan, Healthspan, And Joy Span
This is a great way to segue. Can we talk a little bit on lifestyle medicine? There’s a lot of conversation around lifespan and how would you distinguish that in your own definition from Joyspan?
If you listen to Dr. Burnight’s definition, she talks about lifespan and how prevalent that is in our lexicon in our conversation. Even in the media and all the people that are maybe profiting off living a long lifespan. In medicine, we have also defined a health span. Health span is how long you live a healthy life within that lifespan. She goes further to promote the idea of joy span. Not only living a healthy life but one full of joy and how she looked at the people that are living long lives full of joy and full of meaning with health in mind. Also, some of the things that come along with getting older but still finding joy despite some maybe medical issues.
I love the notion of the Joyspan. It is evident in lifestyle medicine in the sense that there are many things you can do in lifestyle medicine. Including nutrition, movement, mindfulness, and connections as we’re doing that certainly have shown to improve your overall lifespan. Also show that those lives can be healthy and, in many ways, joyful. Lifestyle medicine gives you a little bit of all of that if you’re able to make sometimes small changes and how you’re moving through life. I don’t know if that is your question.
Life can be healthy and, in many ways, joyful. Share on XIt does. Gor health style, where can people find you to flesh this out a little bit more?
Health style is my program and my take on all of this. It’s funny because I was so intent on the Joyspan conversation because I feel like I’ve been walking that path in the same way. I want to bring joy to people’s lives by showing how you can create your own. What you do, Sylvia, doesn’t necessarily work for me. What works for me, doesn’t work for all of my patients. We can all find our path and trying to find joy and living healthy. For me, it’s DrAngelaWalker.com. That’s my website. You can find me on Instagram at @IAmDrWalker and connect with me through that.
Check her out, everybody. She’s fantastic. I’m not just saying that because I’m biased.
I appreciate you.
Always. To talk about the format of the Georgetown University Women’s Forum and I know that Hopkins has a woman’s form. I would imagine that most universities have a women’s forum. We arrived on a Thursday night. There was an opening reception. The opening fireside chat was Ashley Hollis. You may know her from Big Brother. She’s also a Georgetown Law graduate. We’re going to say hello to Ashley. We hope to have her on at some point.
All day on Friday, there were different conversations. We had a keynote speaker for lunch and the head of politics. She confirmed for me that the world is on fire, but there’s an opportunity for us to keep being engaged, reading and leaning in. Although that phrase might be overused, do what you can, where you can and for who you can. Our conversation called the power years on pre-menopause and menopause. I had the great honor of moderating both Dr. Walker and Dr. Shieva Ghofrany. Please look for her on Instagram. It was a powerful conversation.
She is that person as, what you see, is what you get. From the first conversation we had up to during the preparations for this. I tell you I have never seen somebody that lives life so full and does it well.
Her mom was there, which was great. I love her mom.
She called her the OG Dr. Ghofrany because her mom is a pediatrician. I thought that was so sweet.
It was great. Our room was full. We had great questions. I want to thank everyone who showed up for us. A special thanks to Dr. Diane Boykin who is always our partner in crime. She was there in the front row. Who’s your mentee?
My mentee Paul Gomez, who is a budding physician himself. I know he takes his world or this world by a storm. He’s such a caring, honest, gentle soul. He came in as our photographer mostly because he was so interested in what we had to say. He’s a follower of the show and might I say a very good photographer. In our book, The Game Plan, we always talk about plans A, B, C, and D, and things that you can do at the same time as practicing medicine. I’m just going to say, if you need some photos.
I agree. Paul is a bright light and I cannot wait to see how his whole career in life evolved.
The afternoon was still just full. We had a conversation about your finances and health. I thought that was interesting. I’ll leave it to you, Sylvia, to pop in names because I’m so bad. CPA or financial planner and ER medicine physician both working for Morgan Stanley. The path that both of these things take like the preparation, the planning and the action that you take with your finances and your health walking those same paths. I thought that was a cool combination. As you said, after that, we had the women that talked about their past and their pivots. It’s just phenomenal.
I’m going to share my favorite question from the finance conversation between the ER doc and the EA. You know what my favorite question is?
The Finance Conversation And Resources For Unpartnered Women
I know. It was so great. This woman, a fellow Hoya, stood up and she was like, “Can we have more clarity or recommendations for women who are unpartnered and/or don’t have children?” A lot of the conversation was focused on when you get married and when you have children. Your money will go to your children. You got this big inheritance from your grandparents. The woman I was sitting next to at my table was like, “Can I sign up for the inheritance grandparents?” I say this a little bit with humor, but it’s important for us to recognize that as women, we all have different paths.
Not everyone wants to be partnered or has a partner. Not everyone can have children or wants to have children or their reasons for not having children because maybe they aren’t partnered or whatever it is. There is space in the conversation for including every woman. I know I’m not partnered at the moment. I don’t have children. That ship has sailed. I’m a fantastic auntie. The conversations around the legacy and planning for the future, I sometimes feel left out of those conversations. I wanted to shout out to Hoya who stood up and was like, “What about us?” We’re not including everyone.
I do remember that question and I do remember thinking of you. I have to add, forums like this and having friends of different experiences round you well. I’m aware of this because you’re my friend. If you only include those people that look like you, do everything that you do, we’re only moms and we only talk about our life. You’re not able to see the whole world as it flows.
That’s the value of having friends that are doing everything that have done everything. I’m grateful for you because it always brings that to the forefront. What I thought you were going to say and now that I’m thinking about it, was in the last session on Saturday. We had all the women in business, all the MBAs that are doing all these fantastic things.
The one that said that she had a mentor early on in life that told her to “Get your effin’ money right” when she was in her twenties. What we’ve done in our careers because everything is delayed in medicine. We’re so far behind our counterparts. If somebody had told us to do some things early on in our twenties, how that calculates into the future. That’s what I thought you were going to bring up.
I love that because it’s a concept of, if you have resources like money or whatever, then you can make different choices. If you are handcuffed to whatever it is that you’re doing, because those are the only resources that you have. It limits your choice. It limits your view of the world. I’m not even talking about if you are partnered or not partnered. I’m talking about having your own money. Your own set of resources so that you could be like, “I’m out or I’m going to make a different choice as far as employment or I’m going to start my own and those things.” We know that none of this happens by accident. The intentionality I would say was the theme of the MBAs conversation.
If you're handcuffed to the only resources you have, it limits your choices and your view of the world. Share on XIntentional Preparation And Mindset For Opportunities
That’s right. Very powerful. You just mentioned intentionality and intentional preparation to walk us through how you prepared for the forum and your mindset going into it. I know part of the mindset, but what did you do to make sure you showed up ready to give and also ready to receive?
I like to do a lot of just sitting and thinking about what I’m going to say and what I want to leave people with. I spent a lot of time on the opening.
I didn’t even know that was coming. That’s good. It’s set the tone for giving your personal experiences and a little glimpse into your life. I thought that was wonderful.
Thank you. That’s part of it for me and thinking about being in the room. People talk a lot about visualizing yourself doing it, so I do that. I like to prepare. About a month out, I think all the questions were done. You and Dr. Shieva told me what you were interested in talking about. I was able to get the questions prepared. I’m a big fan of putting everything in a large font. These 4X6 cards. I have them and I number them. I went through that and then also, I worked with a PR media specialist. He helped remind me of how moderate you are all the time. Beyond time, get out of the way of the panelist. My job is to move things along.
Are we going to shout out who that was?
We’re going to say Morphology Media Relations by Doug Pennington. Thank you for that reminder.
That was a phenomenal prep because it was on fire. It was helpful in guiding the conversations. I appreciate that.
How did you plan?
You prompted the question setting and went through it. As a physician and a women’s health physician as OB-GYN, talking about perimenopause and menopause is what I do every day all day. Especially now because what I’m doing is more just gynecology and not as much and not doing OB. It is a part of my conversation. I love educating patients about what maybe they don’t know or what they have heard and resetting what’s correct. Also, empowering women to make their own decisions. That part I knew, but it’s being in front of an audience, which we both speak.
It’s making sure that I was giving some maybe some action steps because you always want to step away, ideally from a talk and say, “I’m going to do this, or I could do this and have an action plan.” Try to establish that. In other ways that I did things. I think a little bit differently. I packed far in advance. I told you I went shopping in my closet because I love a good suit.
I was like, “I don’t want to wear the same suit.” I went shopping in my closet and found one that I had tailored. The pants were just way too long. I did that and put all my stuff together two weeks beforehand. That took so much stress from the packing and all of that stuff. This sounds so superficial but it is part of the stress of an event.
I pack like the night before, but I do curate my outfits in advance. The packing part is the last moment.
I already knew what was going to fit, so I didn’t have to worry about all of that. It’s doing the mindful stuff like meditation and preparation and trying not to stress. I have to say I had help from a good friend. A blonde friend with a bob that happens to be sitting right in front of me. Not with note cards but with my phone. I have notes and all of those things that I was trying to prepare for.
You astutely saw me continuing to scroll and prep moments before our talk. As I’m looking and find myself just getting wound up for no reason. I see a text. The text comes across the screen, “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.” I saw that. I put my phone down and did my breath work and I was good. Some of my preparation is just having people around me. My kids check in like, “You’re going to do great mom.” They knew that this was a big deal for me. Going back to your stomping grounds and talking to people that you want to pour into. My husband as well. Taking everything in was a good part of my preparation. At the end of the day, it’s telling myself that I’m ready.
We’re going to leave the conversation right there. We’re going to thank you for tuning in to this episode. If there’s anything we’ve talked about that resonated with you. Whether it’s the way you think about connection, how you prepare for big opportunities, or just knowing that things are going a little bit askew that you can still show up. We want to hear from you.
Please leave us a review. Share this episode with a woman in your life who needs to hear it. Follow us so you don’t miss what’s coming next. We’ll see you in the next episode. May you be well.
May you be well.
Important Links
- Dr. Angela Walker
- Dr. Angela Walker on Instagram
- Dr. Angela Walker on LinkedIn
- Dr. Sylvia Morris
- Dr. Sylvia Morris on LinkedIn
- Joyspan: A Short Guide to Enjoying Your Long Life
- Ashley Hollis on LinkedIn
- THE GAME PLAN: A Woman’s Guide to Becoming a Doctor and Living a Life in Medicine
- Dr. Shieva Ghofrany on Instagram