Chicago Women's Leadership Accelerator

About the CWLA

The Chicago Women's Leadership Accelerator (CWLA) is a targeted leadership development program designed to close the gender leadership gap by empowering and equipping career driven women with essential skills for leading in today’s complex business landscape. The CWLA provides a focused, high quality, and intimate (limited to 50 participants) professional development experience that builds emotional intelligence and inclusive leadership skills- valuable leadership competencies that directly enhance team performance, organizational culture, and improve employee retention.

This leadership accelerator is crafted to propel your career to the next leadership echelon. The CWLA offers interactive and actionable professional development, a powerful panel discussion with recognized business leaders, professional headshots, wholesome meals, and a networking happy hour. This conference brings together women of various ages, races, sexual orientations, abilities, and industries, fostering an environment where participants can learn from one another and grow together.

The CWLA is ideal for anyone who is a people leader or who aspires to be one. Over 400 career driven women have developed their leadership competencies through the CWLA . To learn more about the the history and mission of the CWLA, please read this short feature.

For a behind the scenes look at the CWLA, tune into CWLA"s inaugural podcast episode where CWLA co-founders Cindu Thomas-George and Alicia Del Real discuss:

✨ The origin story of the CWLA

✨ The CWLA WHY

✨ What makes the CWLA experience unique

✨ What’s ahead for this growing community

The CWLA WHY

Despite extensive efforts to dissolve gender disparities in leadership roles, women still encounter formidable obstacles in attaining such positions. Despite comprising over half of the U.S. population and almost 50% of its workforce, women remain significantly underrepresented in leadership roles, particularly women of color. Recent research has shown that there is a declining commitment to women's career advancement. In fact the most recent Women in the Workplace study found that only 50% of companies reported that women's career advancement is a high priority (down from roughly 70% in recent years).

Unfortunately, the gender leadership gap continues to widen, despite widespread initiatives for parity. The CWLA was created in response to the need to reduce disparities women face in the workplace, increase the representation of women in leadership, and equip women with the knowledge and tools to become effective, emotionally intelligent, and inclusive leaders.

Special thanks to Lincoln International for hosting the October 2026 CWLA!

Click HERE to visit CWLA"s website to learn more and follow our LinkedIn page for updates!

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