2025 Sessions

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

8:00 AM - 8:45 AM: Mentorship Session with Sue Jones, Kate Kirschner and Michelle Marquis

8:00 AM - 9:30 AM: VRWS Opening Breakfast

9:00 AM - 9:45 AM: Breaking The Hard Rules: Redefining Strength in Women's Leadership with Shelley Brown

9:45 AM - 10:00 AM: Welcome and Housekeeping with April Burns

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Tuesday, August 19, 2025

4:00 PM - 6:00 PM VRWS Registration Open
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM Welcome Reception in Francis Marion Hotel Lobby

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Carolina Poinsette Colonial Pinkney Gold
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM VRWS Registration (Second Floor)
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM VRWS Opening Breakfast and Breaking The Hard Rules: Redefining Strength in Women's Leadership with Shelley Brown
10:15 AM - 11:00 AM From Broom Closet to Boardroom: The Power of Scaling Without a Playbook- A Fireside Chat with Kimberly White Direct vs OTA: What Today’s Smart Vacation Rental Website Needs to Compete (and Convert) with Annie Holcombe and Alex Husner Beyond Service: What It Really Takes to Lead with Hospitality Today with April Burns The Power Pivot: Redefining Leadership After a Career Change with Kelly McNeil Google Launched An Entirely New Search Engine With AI at its Core That Will Change So Much in Our Lives with Dr. Marie Haynes
11:15 AM - 12:00 PM Everything is a Phase (Patriarchy, Please Take Note) with Julie Brinkman Fixing the Funnel: Why Short-Term Rental Marketing is Stuck—And What Comes Next with Amber Knight Hobbspitality CARE Values with Rachele Hobbs and Bethany Hobbs Smith Beyond the Bottom Line: Empowering Property Managers Through Protection and Purpose with Cindi Lee and Shannon MacPeek What I Eat in a Day Part 2: Utilizing Nutrition and Exercise in a Chaotic Life with Tiffany Edwards
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM VRWS Lunch, What Feminism Looks Like at 17-Years-Old with Kate Sprenkle and When the Wind Changes: Turning Loss into Leadership with Angie Leone
1:45 PM - 2:30 PM Thriving with Multi-Generational Teams - Panel Moderated by Deborah Allen and Sue Jones with Kim Balsama, Mazzy Eckel, Heleena Sideris, and Monica Thibodeau Women Do It Better: Intuition, Emotion & Direct Booking Domination with Vanessa Humes, Kara Kacmarcik, and Jill McGee Co-Opetition Coalition: Turning Competitors into Collaborators in Hospitality with Kerrie Racicot Operational Excellence: The Standards Behind the Stays: How Operational Excellence Becomes Brand Power with Ashley Ching Summer 2025 Vacation Rental Industry Performance with Melanie Brown
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM VRWS Afternoon Tea Break
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM Leading Whole: Breaking Rules, Building Legacy with Shelley Brown KPIs with Purpose: Connecting Guest Feedback to Operational Excellence, and the Bottom Line with Natalia Holshouser and Kelsey Liversidge Panel: The Proverbial Glass Ceiling: Claiming Your Space moderated by Sue Jones Scale Smarter, not Harder with Cassie Fields Bad Stays and Bourbon Chasers: Your Worst Guest Stories with with Amanda Martins
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM Shelf Help: Building Company Culture One Book at a Time with Rachel Alday in Laurens
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM How to Matter in a Market That Pretends You Don’t with Jenn Barbee

Thursday, August 21, 2025

8:00 AM - 9:30 AM: Lowcountry Breakfast

8:30 AM - 9:00 AM: In Deep Shift: How to Turn Life’s Hardest Moments into Your Greatest Breakthroughs with Valerie Gangas

9:00 AM - 9:30 AM: Steadfast Through Storms: Leading with Resilience in the Vacation Rental Industry with Vered Raviv Schwarz

Thursday, August 21, 2025

Carolina Poinsette Colonial Pinkney Gold
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM Low Country Breakfast, In Deep Shift: How to Turn Life’s Hardest Moments into Your Greatest Breakthroughs with Valerie Gangas; Steadfast Through Storms: Leading with Resilience in the Vacation Rental Industry with Vered Raviv Schwarz
9:45 AM - 10:30 AM Shifting Sands: How Beach Erosion Will Reshape Coastal Communities with Amy Hinote and Tony Bartelme The Hospitality Advantage: The Biggest Marketing Mistake Great Hosts Are Making & How To Fix It with Jodi Bourne Cool Under Pressure: Midlife, Menopause, and Managing It All with Claiborne Yarbrough Empathy Is a Power Skill: Leading with Heart in a Results-Driven Industry with Becca Madigan Hospitality by Design.The Best Tool in Your Toolbox. with Jessica Duce
10:30 AM - 11:00 AM In-Case-You-Stayed-Out-Too-Late-and-Missed-Breakfast Break
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Finding Joy and Purpose in a World That is Radically Changing Because of AI with Dr. Marie Haynes Serving Authentically: Vision, Resilience, and the Power of Memorable Stays with Karen Piscitelli Stop Measuring Performance—Start Driving It: The Right Metrics Don’t Just Reflect Growth; They Fuel It with Monique DeLorenzo, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, and Sasha Lawler Win Your Time Back: Practical Ways of Implementing AI into Your Daily Workflows Mentorship, Momentum, and the Modern Woman in Hospitality Tech with Corie Fabian
11:45 AM - 1:40 PM VRWS Pioneer Award Lunch and Martha Beck Keynote: Beyond Anxiety
1:45 PM - 2:30 PM Martha Beck Fireside Chat with Amy Hinote The Art of the Ask: Winning Owners Without the Hard Sell with Jodi Cleer, Jeanne Dailey and Heather Van Wie The Soul of Hospitality: Stories That Shaped Us with Tiffany Edwards , Kirsten King , Koryn Okey and Kerrie Racicot ROI Accelerator: Understanding Which Metrics Matter For Evaluating & Improving Marketing Performance with Mia Cole Hot Features, Cold Feet: Tech Romance and the Road to Regret with Dawn Yeskulsky
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM Ice Cream Break and Book Signing with Martha Beck
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM Brand Like a Lady. Close Like a Killer. with Jenn Barbee Bad News Isn’t the End - It’s the Turning Point with Kathleen Fitzpatrick Built on Hospitality: How Women Leaders Turned Heart into Brand Power with Jeanne Dailey and Rachele Hobbs Now Hiring! From Entry to Executive - Building Careers through Revenue Management with Clair Abplanalp and Becca Madigan Know Yourself, Grow Yourself with Deborah Allen and Sue Jones
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Closing Keynote with Monica Lewinsky