Sprechen Sie Success? 2026 is more than an event, it’s a celebration of courage, creativity, and connection.
About the Event
Sprechen Sie Success? is NIWA’s signature annual event, a two-day celebration of women’s strength, leadership, and impact.
In 2026, we gather under the theme “Strength in Every Story” to honor the diverse paths women take toward success in business, community, and life.
Whether it is building companies, leading teams, inspiring classrooms, or shaping communities, every woman’s story carries power.
This year’s event redefines success beyond titles or positions by highlighting how everyday leadership, courage, and collective achievement drive meaningful change.
Join us for two transformative days of talks, workshops, and networking designed to inspire, empower, and connect women from all walks of life.
What to expect
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Inspiring keynotes and panels featuring women from business, education, health, arts, sports, and social initiatives.
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Practical sessions to grow your career or business, including CV reviews and a professional photo session.
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Live music, dance, and creative showcases between sessions to uplift and celebrate expression.
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Plenty of space to connect, exchange stories, and meet inspiring women, mentors, and collaborators.
Speakers
Saturday 7.3 - Reaktor
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Xyoli Pérez Campos
GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC LEADER
“Do I want to continue? A journey of resilience and reinvention”
Xyoli is passionate seismologist who enjoys teaching, advising students, actively participating in professional associations, and doing outreach.
She was the Coordinator of the National Seismological Service of Mexico when the 2017 deadly earthquakes hit Mexico; and since 2023, she has been Director at an International Organization based in Vienna.
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Sanam Shantyaei
GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS LEADER & FORMER INTERNATIONAL NEWS ANCHOR
Sanam is a communications and media specialist based in Vienna, currently working with the United Nations on global nuclear test ban initiatives.
Before joining the UN, she spent 17 years as a TV reporter and news anchor with France 24, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse, covering world affairs with a strong focus on the Middle East.
Sanam has lived and worked in Iran, the UK, Italy, Cuba, France, and Austria and speaks six languages.
She is an experienced public speaker, event host and moderator, passionate about helping women find their voice and communicate with confidence.
Connect with Sanam through LinkedIn.
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Dasha Kosse
FOUNDER OF DAKO COACHING
"You ARE enough. Mute your impostor voice”
Dasha has built her career across six countries and now calls Vienna home.
As founder of DaKo Coaching, she provides fractional Learning and Development support for startups and mid-size companies, designing leadership programs, onboarding systems, and culture-building initiatives that drive measurable results.
An ICF PCC-certified coach, she's delivered 500+ leadership sessions across 77 locations and spoken to international audiences from 5 to 650 people.
She specializes in building smarter leadership systems that develop confident, capable teams while delivering significant cost savings for growing companies.
Connect with Dasha through LinkedIn.
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Julie Sufana
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, CONTEXTFLOW
"Nobody ever taught me how to lead as myself"
Julie is a seasoned marketing generalist with a diverse background in business development, entrepreneurship, and project management.
She currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer at contextflow GmbH, an award-winning startup focused on developing AI-powered medical devices to combat the 3 leading causes of premature death globally.
Julie is an Advisor-in-Residence at the Technical University of Vienna’s Innovation Incubation Center (i2c), supporting early-stage startups with their pitching and storytelling skills, which she built from her decade-long experience working in the entertainment industry. She holds a BSc from the University of Southern California (USC) and an MSc from Vienna University of Business & Economics (WU).
Connect with Julie through LinkedIn.
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Jessie Halper
CO-FOUNDER OF WEBORN & ARI
“A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste: Facing Challenges That Shape Strong Careers”
Jessie is the co-founder and Marketing & Sales director of WeBorn.
After a steep career in an international FMCG company, she now works at the intersection of performance, wellbeing, and entrepreneurship, helping people use challenges to create strength & resilience as well as sustainable, personal success.
Performers
Saturday 7.3 - Reaktor
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Cristina Kornfeld
Cristina Kornfeld is an Austrian dance pop singer, songwriter, and performer.
She began her musical training at the age of 10 with classical music, then she switched to popular music at the age of 13. After studying Music Business at the SAE Institute in Vienna, where she has also given lectures later on, she released her first songs in 2023.
Several successful singles, such as "Chameleon" and "Gimme What You Got", are played on big radio stations not only in Austria. As of 2026, Cristina Kornfeld’s work focuses on high-energy, female-empowerment-themed projects, and, alongside that, she works on her debut album.
Her motto: “Get Your Sparkle On.”
Follow Cristina on Instagram.
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Wemimo
Wemimo is a multidisciplinary artist and founder with Yoruba and Viennese heritage, raised internationally, whose work bridges music, performance, and cultural storytelling.
Trained in musical theatre, she brings extensive experience as a dancer, model, and actress, with her live performances centered on Afro-House (Wemi Blue) and intimate acoustic guitar sets (Wemimo Acoustics), while her musical project and releases span genres from film music, to funk to hip-hop (Almost Famous).
She founded her company to provide vocal coaching and make music more accessible to younger generations, with commissioned art forming her second professional pillar.
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Catrina Poor
Catrina Poor is an American actress and opera singer living in Vienna, Austria. She has performed across Europe, Asia and the United States, and now teaches workshops and private students in acting, singing and public speaking. She puts a strong emphasis on personal expression and finding your individual style, along with the foundations of vocal health and calm confidence on stage.
Visit her website.
Workshops
Sunday 8.3 - The Social Hub
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Iris Muche
Workshop: “Stop People Pleasing”
Iris is a psychosocial counselor, trainer, and author.
Under the alias “Die Max Mustermann”, she offers individual counseling, group coaching, workshops, training sessions, and events for individuals and companies in Vienna and online.
Under the motto “because your normal matters too”, her focus is on supporting people who want to free themselves from stressful performance pressure and external expectations and strenght their self-confidence.
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Silvia Iacobescu
Workshop: “What does power smell like? An interactive, olfactory experience designed to empower women through scent, bridging historical and contemporary perspectives with self-exploration.”
Silvia is a former corporate professional, dealing with economics and chemistry on international projects, with broad experience in management.
Fascinated by the energy of molecules. Strong believer in the energy of people, Silvia is now following her passion, being a niche independent vermoutiere, with a nose for perfumery.
She encapsulates emotions in bottles, curating contemporary dialogues within every sip.
Developer and producer of 2 vermouths, 1 amaro, and working on her first perfume, to be launched this year. Owner of an AFBA 2nd place in 2022 and writer of bar reviews for POPCHOP.
Connect with Silvia on Instagram and taste her vermouths at Piccino.
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Stanislawa Lewicka
Workshop: “Find Your Path to Success - A practical guide to navigating the deep forest of business decisions”
Stasia is a seasoned product and project manager, with over 20 years of experience in sailing stormy management waters.
Working internationally since 2009, now guiding female entrepreneurs with empathy and humour toward friendly goals, fitting strategies, and businesses built to thrive sustainably. Offering clarity, confidence, and the right management tools to navigate everyday challenges.
Connect with Stasia through LinkedIn and check her website here.
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Christine Ofner
Workshop: “Ambition Without Burnout: How to work, lead & succeed with your energy (not against it)”
Christine is a stress management and burnout prevention trainer who helps ambitious women live more without sacrificing their well-being or their goals. Through her Peaceful High Achiever Method, she teaches how to build success based on energy, capacity, and season - not pressure and hustle. Her clients don’t settle or slow down: They create rhythms that support meaningful work AND make space for the moments that make life rich.
Connect with Christine through LinkedIn and take a look at her website.
CV Experts
Sunday 8.3 - The Social Hub
CV Photographers
Sunday 8.3 - The Social Hub
Agenda
Day 1 (March 7th)
Venue: Reaktor (Geblergasse 40, 1170 Vienna)
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Registration & welcome
10:30 AM - 10:40 AM
Opening Remarks
10:40 AM - 11:25 AM
Speaker Session 1: From questioning power to becoming its voice
Sanam Shantyaei
For almost two decades, Sanam stood in front of the television cameras, asking questions and telling other people’s stories. Today, she works for an international organisation, shaping how its work on nuclear non-proliferation is communicated in a high-risk world. In this keynote, Sanam reflects on that career move and what it demanded of her, both professionally and personally. When you move from questioning power to speaking on its behalf, your relationship with your own voice changes. Drawing on both worlds, she shares a few hard-earned insights on managing nerves, claiming space without shrinking, and finding your footing when the room feels bigger than you are. This is a talk about transition. About owning your voice. And making it count.
10:40 AM - 11:25 AM
Speaker Session 1: You ARE Enough. Mute Your Impostor Voice
Dasha Kosse
What if the biggest obstacle in your career isn't lack of skill, experience, or opportunity - but the voice in your head telling you you're "not enough"? In this keynote, Dasha shares her journey across six countries and the moments where self-doubt kept her over-preparing, staying silent, and waiting for permission she didn't need. You'll discover how "I'm not enough" shows up as perfectionism, comparison, and staying invisible - and why it hits even harder when you're building a career in unfamiliar territory. Walk away ready to speak up in meetings, set boundaries, and pursue opportunities you've been hesitating on. No more waiting.
11:25 AM - 11:45 AM
Coffe Break
11:45 AM - 12:10 PM
Performance: Wemimo
12:10 PM - 01:00 PM
Speaker Session 2: A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste: Facing Challenges
Jessie Halper, MSc/MiM
A crisis is uncomfortable. Being underestimated is frustrating. Facing challenges simply because of your gender is exhausting. But what if the real risk isn’t the crisis, the underestimation, or the challenges themselves — but wasting them? In this talk, I share how a personal crisis led to founding WeBorn, how being underestimated became an unexpected advantage, and how learning to work with difficulty (instead of against it) can turbo boost confidence, career growth and business success. In this talk, I share how I learnt to not waste crises.
12:10 PM - 01:00 PM
Speaker Session 2: Nobody ever told me I could lead as myself.
Julie Sufana
Fear. Insecurity. Vulnerability. For most of history, we've been told leaders cannot show any of these traits. So imagine the surprise when one of our speakers takes the opposite approach...and it works out?!" In this keynote, Julie shares her journey of becoming the first woman hired at an AI-powered startup, how vulnerability makes her more effective at work and what values we need to build to usher in a new era of leadership driven not by fear, but rather in collaboration with it. Get inspired to show up in your career as a leader, flaws and all.
01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Lunch Break & Networking
02:00 PM - 02:25 PM
Performance: Cristina Kornfeld
02:25 PM - 03:00 PM
Keynote speech: Do I want to continue? A journey of resilience and reinvention
Xyoli PEREZ CAMPOS
In this talk, I share my journey through loss, recovery, resilience, and reinvention. We often assume that hardships happen one at a time, allowing time to recover. But during COVID-19, I faced multiple devastating events in quick succession. My resilience turned on a key question: “Do I want to continue?” Recovery then proceeded in stages—survival, mental recovery, and rediscovering purpose. Rebuilding involved small steps and challenging my brain through new learning. This led to my reinvention: moving from a scientist to a strategy and leadership director. Though my new role offers both challenges and opportunities, it also prompts questions of purpose and fit. The journey isn’t about arrival, but curiosity—wondering what’s next and embracing the possibility of another leap.
03:00 PM - 03:15 PM
Coffee Break
03:15 PM - 04:15 PM
Panel Discussion: Integrated but not Belonging: Let's talk about the Gap
Integrated but not Belonging: Let's talk about the Gap. An honest conversation for Immigrant Women in Austria
04:15 PM - 04:30 PM
Closing Remarks
04:40 PM - 05:30 PM
Performance: Catrina Poor
05:30 PM - 06:00 PM
Wrap Up Networking
Day 2 (March 8th)
Venue: The Social Hub (Nordbahnstraße 47, 1020 Vienna)
09:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Registration and welcome
10:10 AM - 10:15 AM
Welcome remarks
10:00 AM - 11:15 AM
WORKSHOP: What does power smell like?
Silvia Iacobescu
An interactive, olfactory experience designed to empower women through scent, bridging historical and contemporary perspectives with self-exploration.
12:00 PM - 12:45 PM
WORKSHOP: How to stop people pleasing at work
Iris Muche
From Over‑Committing to Healthy Boundaries: Participants will explore what drives people‑pleasing at work, what it costs them, and how to replace it with clear, respectful assertiveness. Through a concise input, guided reflection, and realistic role‑plays, they practise saying no, setting boundaries, and designing one concrete “behaviour experiment” to implement in their everyday work life.
01:00 PM - 01:45 PM
WORKSHOP: Find your path to success
Stasia Lewicka
A practical guide to navigating the deep forest of business decisions. In this fun and interactive workshop, we’ll follow Little Red Riding Hood through the deep dark woods and learn how to stay safe and confident on our own paths to success.
02:30 PM - 03:15 PM
WORKSHOP: Ambition without burnout
Christine Ofner
How to work, lead & succeed with your energy (not against it): This workshop is for ambitious women who are tired of pushing through 3pm crashes, mental fog, off days, or emotional overload—blaming themselves for being “inconsistent” when really, they’re just out of sync with their energy.
03:15 PM - 03:30 PM
Closing remarks and farewell
ALL DAY: CV Pic and CV Review
Join the Movement.
