Women’s Symposium of Southern California is all about approaching your plans and life with confidence.

 

    Just by being here at Women’s Symposium of Southern California (WSSC) website you’ve shown that women are important and you want to know more about the empowerment & financial planning process or validate where you are in that process. . WSSC advocates for financial empowerment and STEAM awareness for women in Southern California. It's time to celebrate the advancements of women in Southern California and around the world.

    WSSC is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 charity with a mission to help women achieve financial literacy, enhance their self-confidence and improve quality of life through every day knowledge, WSSC provides a forum for educators, financial professionals, and STEAM professionals to deliver knowledge and personal experiences to the community though a symposium format with attendees at an annual event held on the Friday adjacent to  International Women’s Day (IWD) which is March 8th annually.

    International Women's Day is a reminder of how important it is for women to support one another in all realms of life and to work together to improve gender parity. WSSC is for all women – pioneers nurturers philanthropists - to know its OK embrace femininity while pursuing  goals. It’s our vision to continue a forum to discuss, learn, and innovate together around current trends to empower women to reach their goals and fulfill their dreams.

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STEAM career education and empowerment for local women.

 

    Marah Fineberg-Kuck, a Certified Financial Planner, has  17 years experience working directly with business and money managers on Wall Street. Through her experiences, Marah realized the need for an organized local annual Women’s Symposium event to help with empowerment & education. Marah’s philosophy is to make a difference together, participate in the conversation to lead, serve, and recognize those that want to further the agenda of gender equality, 

    In 2014, Marah attended Barron's invite-only Women Summit in Florida which brought together the best minds in the wealth-management industry. The Summit designed to facilitate a free-flowing exchange of information, ideas and insights from the industry's most accomplished women advisers, in the interest of raising the standards of excellence in the wealth management profession.

 

A call to action for the Barron’s Women's Summit attendees "stand–up and lead"

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    Through Marah’s career involvements, in 2016 she had been invited to join and attend SoCal Chapter of the US National Committee for UN Women, a passionate activist women's rights group dedicated to share empowering financial information to the group on International Women's Day. This is when Marah’s idea for WSSC sprouted! As soon as she RSVP’d YES to that UN Women’s event, Marah looked inward and asked herself: What am I doing for my clients and what am I doing for my community to help further the gender parity agenda? Marah’s 1st Women’s Symposium focused on celebrating the achievements and trends with women in today’s modern ever changing world as it relates to general life and family

planning, financial planning and investing. 48 women were in attendance ranging from ages 18 to 86 years old coming from LA and Orange Counties.

 

   Marah helped to create a forum for open dialogue for these women to review some trends and opportunities with women today, review some actionable planning best practices,  hear from a panel of experts in their fields- and compare their perceptions as women in their careers. There was professional panel Q&;A, room discussions, and some networking time. Many attendees encouraged Marah to take the next step to make the Women’s Symposium official, and to incorporate into a nonprofit. These supporters eventually became the Women’s Symposium of Southern California’s first Advisory Board members. WSSC was incorporated August 2016 and held its 1 st annual Women’s Symposium event in Long Beach under their own nonprofit tax ID in 2017.

   Marah is dedicated to building an inclusive community of like-minded people who endeavor to live the change they would like to see in the world. All too often, women today are targets to be sold to, or marketed to or talked down to. Marah’s vision is to create an objective atmosphere for women to convene and learn from each other through meaningful positive dialogue. All WSSC program participants are volunteers and work on a pro-bono basis donating their time and expertise to our WSSC annual events. Program participants have been highly screened through WSSC Program Committee due diligence to ensure WSSC attendees have a fabulous experience.

    Strengthening the lives of all Southern California women MATTERS. Established in 2019, The Purple Diamond Award is given by the WSSC Advisory Board to a qualified individual in recognition of their service to their community and to the WSSC mission. The WSSC Advisory Board created the Purple Diamond Award to further the agenda to increase recognition of women in our community. WSSC believes we need to have more recognition women in leadership roles. WSSC knows there are so many individuals who work tirelessly to significantly achieve positive impacts to Women’s lives, and they sometimes go unnoticed. Let WSSC help reveal these mentors and leaders in our Businesses & Communities which will provide the next generation more needed female role models to look up to.

 

WSSC General Principals

• Financial literacy, empowerment, and applicable know-how for all women of all levels must be elevated as a priority, through advocacy, and STEAM education to drive innovation for our future.

• Financial Planning and STEAM skills are important elements of a well-rounded education and essential to effective family units & citizenship

• Initiatives to attract and retain talented and effective leaders, educators, and partners from all backgrounds in Southern California into the Financial Planning & STEAM industries

• Strong emphasis on hands-on & symposium based learning activities, working directly with Financial Planning, Personal Empowerment, STEAM industries , and other professionals

• Gender equality fundamental focuses are employment, compensation, work-life balance, career development, family leadership, business, health & safety, civic engagement, transparency, accountability and marketing practices

• Southern California must expand the capacity and diversity of the Financial Planning and STEAM workforce pipeline to prepare more young professional women for the best jobs of the future

• Integration of Public-Private partnerships and incentives that promote business and industry engagement in Financial Literacy & STEAM advocacy for women

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2019-2020 Contacts:
Executive Director: Marah Fineberg-Kuck CFP®, pro-bono basis
WSSC Program Chair & Advisory Board: Susan Viator, pro-bono basis
WSSC Partnership/ Marketing Chair & Advisory Board: Kirsten Larsen, pro-bono basis
WSSC Event Committee & Advisory Board: Theresa Murphy, pro-bono basis
WSSC Digital Strategist & Member: Margaret Hernandez Brown, pro-bono basis
WSSC Attorney: Shannon Switzer, pro-bono basis
WSSC CPA: Melinda Taylor, pro-bono basis
The Women’s Symposium of Southern California (WSSC)
Public Relations Contact: Marah Fineberg-Kuck, CFP® Executive Director & Founder
Email: womenssymposium@outlook.com Website: http://wssocal.org
1198 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite #D104 Seal Beach, CA 90740
All donations are tax-deductible, We are a 501(c)3 Non-profit Public Charity Tax ID 81-3501443