Rooted and Rising: Financial Sovereignty Conference
About this Event
Rooted and Rising: A Financial Sovereignty Conference
On Saturday, September 19, 2026, Black women from across Snohomish County and beyond will come together at the Edmonds Waterfront Center for a full day of learning, connection, and practical planning. Rooted and Rising is the culmination of a six-month Financial Sovereignty Circle, and it is open to women ready to take the next step, wherever they are starting from.
The day is organized around the three Phases of Financial Independence. You choose where you are. No shame, and no sense that any door has already closed.
Phase 1, Building the Foundation, covers budgeting, saving, credit, and banking. This is where everyone begins.
Phase 2, Growing and Protecting, moves into investing, homeownership, and building a business. A personal track and a business track run side by side, so you can follow the path that fits your life.
Phase 3, Preserving and Transferring, covers wills, trusts, estate planning, retirement, and passing wealth to the next generation.
Throughout the day you will hear from bankers, homeownership specialists, small business partners, wealth advisors, and estate attorneys who work directly in our community. You will leave with your current phase named, your top barrier identified, and one ninety-day goal you can act on right away.
The day includes coffee and registration, an opening session on our relationship with money and goal setting, working lab sessions across all three phases, lunch with guided table conversation, a facilitator-led planning session, and a closing reception with heavy hors d'oeuvres and time to connect.
General admission is $50. Scholarships are available. To request one, email [email protected] directly.
Come as you are. Leave with a plan and a community rooted alongside you.
Hosted by Ascenda Consulting, LLC on behalf of the Black Women's Collective Snohomish County. Grant provided by the Taylor Family Foundation Fund through the support of the Community Foundation of Snohomish County
Agenda
🕑: 09:15 AM - 10:00 AM
Doors Open, Coffee, and Registration
Info: Arrive, settle in, and network
🕑: 10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Welcome and Grounding
Host: Demi Chatters
Info: Welcome participants, ground the room, and introduce the The phases of financial independence.
🕑: 10:20 AM - 11:00 AM
Opening Panel: The Relationship with Money
Host: Debra Smiley
Info: A conversation on money mindset, goal setting, and the foundation beneath every financial decision.
🕑: 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Where Am I on My Journey
Info: A guided, whole-group session to name where you are and what you want to leave with today.
🕑: 11:30 AM - 11:40 AM
Transition to Learning Lab
Info: Three phases run at the same time, in three rooms, across three sessions. Stay in one phase to go deep or move between phases to build your own path. Whether you are focused on your personal finances or building a business, there is a path for you. You choose each session, and every phase ends with a hands-on clinic where you leave with a plan.
Phase 1: Building the Foundation
Budgeting, credit, debt, and the shared readiness worksheet. Business track: Business Impact Northwest, loan readiness.
Jared Schapiro and Ethan Paisley, Workforce Snohomish, with Liv Lanza, LISC Puget Sound
Phase 2: Growing and Protecting
Homeownership programs and Covenant Homeownership, then financing and buying a home.
Angela Smith and Nashika Stanbro, WSHFC, on programs. Brooks Glenn and Jessica Talton on financing and buying.
Phase 3: Preserving and Transferring
Growing and protecting your wealth, the bridge into preservation.
Debra Smiley, CTFA,
🕑: 11:40 AM - 12:40 PM
Learning Labs, First Session
Info: Choose your starting phase. Building the Foundation covers budgeting, credit, debt, and money management. Growing and Protecting covers homeownership programs and down payment help, plus business readiness for women preparing to launch or fund a business. Preserving and Transferring covers wealth protection and estate basics.
🕑: 12:40 PM - 01:30 PM
Lunch and Table Conversarion
Info: Share a meal and connect with the women around you.
🕑: 01:35 PM - 02:35 PM
Learning Labs, Second Session
Info: Stay where you are or switch phases. Building the Foundation continues with banking, saving, and first accounts. Growing and Protecting splits into two paths: financing and buying a home, or building, preserving and transferring moving into growing and protecting your wealth.
Phase 1: Building the Foundation
Banking, saving, and first accounts.
Michael Chong, 1st Security Bank of Washington
Phase 2: Growing and Protecting
The mindset of building wealth. Aligning money with your values, setting wealth-building goals, and the habits that make growing assets possible.
Marie Armitage
Phase 3: Preserving and Transferring
Wills, trusts, estate planning, wealth transfer, and business succession.
Keith Armstrong, Esq.
🕑: 02:40 PM - 03:40 PM
Learning Labs, Final Session
Info: A hands-on clinic in every phase, where you turn what you learned into your own plan. Bring your questions, work through them with support in the room, and leave with concrete next steps and resources you can act on.
Phase 1: Building the Foundation
Coaching clinic for budgets and credit. Sit down with your numbers, sketch a spending plan that fits your life, and map a step for building or repairing credit. You leave knowing where you stand and what to do first.
Phase 2: Growing and Protecting
Growth clinic to map your next step toward homeownership or investing. Turn the programs and options you heard about into a personal path, whether that is preparing to buy a home or beginning to build assets. You leave with a next step and the resources to take it.
Phase 3: Preserving and Transferring
Preservation clinic on protecting what you have built. Take stock of your estate planning basics and learn about the senior property-tax exemption with LISC Puget Sound. You leave with a checklis
🕑: 03:40 PM - 04:00 PM
Closing Reflection and Commitments
Info: Come back together to name your next step and what you are carrying forward. Write down one concrete next step and one key insight they are taking with them, followed by brief voluntary sharing.
🕑: 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Networking Reception
Info: Hors d’oeuvres and space for informal relationship-building. The reception serves as the formal close of the day.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00 to USD 50.00
