In Her Words: The weHeroines Conference

Susanna Liller, Founder of weHeroines

The Heroine's Journey As A Story Framework

 Every great story follows a path—and so does every woman’s life. In this presentation, Susanna Liller, author of You Are a Heroine, reveals how the timeless structure of the Heroine’s Journey can become a powerful framework for understanding and shaping your own story. She’ll show how the twists, turns, and challenges we face aren’t random, but part of a larger narrative that calls us to grow, change, and step into our fullest selves. Whether you’re standing at the edge of a new chapter or reflecting on where you’ve been, this talk will help you see your life as a story worth telling—one where you are the main character.

Bio: Susanna Liller is the founder and visionary of weHeroines and the author of You Are a Heroine: A Retelling of the Hero’s Journey. A coach, teacher, and storyteller, she has guided countless women in discovering the power of their own life stories through the framework of the Heroine’s Journey. With warmth and wisdom, Susanna creates spaces where women can step out of their comfort zones, embrace their courage, and see themselves as the heroines of their own lives.

Lael Couper Jepson 

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

A Call to Revolution: The Power of Story to Create Change

Why is it that so many of us feel like our stories aren’t worthy enough to tell? Why do we wait so long to put our voices out there—and don’t see the power we have within us to change the conversation for us all? 

Lael’s talk will reveal why our stories—particularly women’s stories—matter at this moment on our planet, and will offer a fresh new take on the stale old beliefs that hold us back.

Bio: Lael Couper Jepson is a catalyst for change — a fierce, intuitive, and unapologetic leader who helps women break free from outdated systems and claim leadership on their own terms.  A sought-after speaker and guide, she is known for her ability to speak truth with courage, stir change with compassion, and call women into the fullness of their own power. Lael is the author of Unscripted: A Woman’s Living Prayer and Ignite: Lighting the Leader Fire, two books that challenge traditional ideas of power and ignite a more authentic, embodied way of leading and living. As the founder of SheChanges, she has spent decades sparking transformation in individuals, organizations, and communities, inspiring people to be more luminous and true to who they are so they can live and lead more boldly.

https://shechanges.com/

Margo Walsh

A Founder’s Journey — From Struggle to Strength
Every heroine’s journey begins with a challenge that feels insurmountable. For Margo, it was single motherhood, recovery, and uncertainty about the future. Yet from those beginnings, she built MaineWorks and co-founded organizations that continue to change lives. Her talk is an invitation to embrace your own struggles as the seeds of transformation — and to discover the strength that emerges when you walk your true path.

Bio: Margo Walsh is a thought leader and social entrepreneur who founded MaineWorks, the first felon employment company in the country and the first Maine B Corp. In response to the complexities of reentry and the need to address substance use, Margo later co-founded United Recovery Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and Cecil’s Place Sober Living. A native of Cumberland, Maine, Margo earned a BA in Psychology from Wheaton College. She began her career as a recruiter in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs in New York. In 2010, Margo returned to Maine to raise her children and continue her personal recovery journey.

www.maineworks.com 

Dr. Phyllis Blackstone

Your Story and the Story You Seek

Each heroine has a storied life before the call, and after the call. What will be the stories they seek for themselves? And if their call directs them to serve others, what stories will they seek from the ones they serve?  Using illustrative stories, Phyllis will remind you that from birth you have been living a storied life that is special, unique, and purposeful just for you and no other human on earth. One's story has many chapters filled with episodes and experiences.  How will you live your storied life from this day on?

Bio: Dr. Phyllis Blackstone is retired from a 43-year career in education with an emphasis in literacy and language.  From first graders to graduate students, storytelling is her preferred teaching tool.  Now she shares stories with a variety of audiences from classrooms, churches and senior centers. 

Folktales in her repertoire are stories of wisdom and truth. Her personal stories are sometimes humorous but always poignant. She also tells sacred stories at faith-based gatherings and churches that are from the heart and good for the soul.

https://blackstonestoryteller.com/

Margaret Jones

Ragnell: Sovereignty as Transformation 

Stories, whether personal or mythic, have the power to inform, connect us to others, and transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. By using the tale of Ragnell in the Arthurian Legends as our guide, we will explore the question, "What do women want?" The answer to that lies in our understanding of sovereignty and its relationship to our own personal heroine's journey. 

Bio: Margaret Jones, M.Ed, has a background in social work and education with a certificate in therapeutic storytelling. She is an award- winning storyteller, workshop leader, tarot reader and travel guide. She leads workshops on the Heroine’s Journey as well as Fairy Tales and Myths. She is a published author and a performer. In her spare time, she travels to the world in search of sacred sites.  

 https://www.margaretwjones.net/