Speakers, inspiring change…
Women Powerhouse Hour
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DAY 1
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Women Powerhouse Hour 〰️ DAY 1 〰️
Margaret Akullo, MENTOR
Women Powerhouse Hour - Day 1
Motto: Leads with empathy. Inspires change.
Margaret Akullo is a Ugandan diasporan woman whose global career reflects the spirit of resilience and renewal at the heart of EmpowerHer 2026. With more than 30 years of experience in international development, criminal justice reform, and leadership mentoring, she has supported institutions and individuals to design solutions that create meaningful, lasting change.
A criminologist by training, Margaret served in leadership roles with the London(UK) Metropolitan Police Service, a leading African NGO in the UK and within the United Nations (Thailand, Austria, Ethiopia), where she led transformative programmes across more than 20 countries. Her work strengthened responses to human trafficking, child exploitation, migrant smuggling, and broader criminal justice challenges - always grounded in empathy, gender equality, and the conviction that diverse voices are essential to progress.
Beyond her global leadership work, Margaret is also the author of the Leadership Reflections Series on LinkedIn, Medium, and Instagram. Through these writings, she shares thoughtful, cross-cultural insights shaped by lived experience, African heritage, and a belief that leadership is both personal and collective. Her reflections encourage emerging leaders to embrace authenticity, cultural humility, connection, and courage as they navigate their own leadership journeys — echoing the relational, community-rooted leadership she models.
Today, Margaret is an independent mentor, supporting emerging leaders as they navigate complex challenges and build the confidence to lead with integrity. She is the creator of the Mindset-to-Output Mentorship Programme, a structured pathway that helps young leaders turn ideas into high-quality, purpose-driven deliverables. Her philosophy is simple: leadership is a mindset and a practice — and when we strengthen the mind, we transform the world around us.
At EmpowerHer 2026, Margaret joins the Women Powerhouse Hours session as one of three dynamic speakers. With a warm, relatable presence and a career shaped by courage and service, she embodies the journey from resilience to renaissance. Her message inspires women and allies to rise, reclaim their power, and lead change rooted in empathy, clarity, and conviction.
Lynette Penkner, FOUNDER
Women Powerhouse Hour - Day 1
Founder | Regenerative Food & Farming Advocate | Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Entrepreneur | Climate & Impact Venture Builder
Lynette is a multi-passionate entrepreneur building across climate tech, regenerative systems, and resilient travel to create solutions that actually move the needle.
Across her ventures, one theme is consistent: she helps people and places thrive by aligning nature, local communities, and business innovation. What sets her apart? She builds businesses the same way she builds teams with purpose, heart, and decisive action. She’s created high-performing teams from scratch and grown businesses in hard-to-crack and virgin markets. As a multi-passionate entrepreneur, She is driven by one mission: to create opportunities, fuel growth, and champion initiatives that leave a lasting impact.
Her experience spans entrepreneurship, finance, business development, recruitment, climate action, and advocacy equipping me with both strategic vision and a bias for action. From breaking into new markets to navigating complex business landscapes, she’s learned that resilience, adaptability, and strategy are advantages. She thrives on turning ambitious ideas into tangible realities, always leading with creativity and pragmatism.
Wemimo, ARTIST
Women Powerhouse Hour - Day 1
Performing | Recording | Visual Artist, Singer / Songwritter
The Viennese based Singer / Songwriter of Yoruba heritage is an artist of multiple talents.
Wemimo studied Musical Theatre in Vienna (Austria) and began her years of extensive experience working internationally (as a vocalist, rapper, dancer, actress, moderator, painter and model).
Wemi’s first releases debuted as lyricist and lead vocalist in the hip-hop/ rock band Almost Famous, with songs like “ Purple Soul” (2021), “Focus”(2021), “ Bounce Back” (2022). Wemimo has since featured on Soundtrack for the Film “Breaking The Ice” – ein Film von Clara Stern (2022).
The latest release in January 2023 Wemi can be heard as lead vocalist and lyricist on the song “Equilibrium” (2023) featuring with Quantumn Haze. Throughout all the projects Wemimo has shown a dedicated passion to the art of singing / songwriting as a storyteller.
Wellbeing Workshop Sessions
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DAY 2
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Wellbeing Workshop Sessions 〰️ DAY 2 〰️
Marie Spaemann, Singer/Songwriter | Holistic breathing Coach
“Breathing for Resilience“ - Day 2
The musical journey of cellist and singer/songwriter Marie Spaemann is shaped by an active and varied concert schedule as well as a fascination and curiosity for the diversity of the creative process and contemplative approaches to music making.
She performs regularly both in chamber music ensembles as well as a soloist in the accompaniment of numerous orchestras (including the North German Philharmonic, the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Croatian Chamber Orchestra, and most recently the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn 2023). In addition to her classical career, Marie Spaemann is a singer-songwriter and uses her cello in tango nuevo and soul/jazz in a variety of ways. Both her solo project and her duo with accordionist Christian Bakanic take her to various stages at international festivals; including the “Tiroler Festspiele Erl”, the “Mecklenburg-Vorpommern” and “Schleßwig-Holstein Festival”, “Heidelberger Frühling”, the “Cellobiennale Amsterdam”, “Puplinge Calssique”, the South Korean festival “Classic Garden” and “ Konzerthaus International” in New York. Between 2018 and 2021, Marie toured the arenas of Europe as a soloist in the film music production “The World of Hans Zimmer”. In addition to her performances, Marie Spaemann accompanies female musicians and performers in her work as a holistic breathing coach and “creative companion”.
Ravali, Yoga Teacher
“Breathing for Resilience“ - Day 2
Hi, I’m Ravali. I grew up in a small village in South India, where yoga was not something we “practised” , it was simply part of daily life, woven into breath, prayer, food, and rhythm.
Over time, through my own journey of unlearning and remembering, I began to understand the depth and complexity of this tradition. Time spent learning with monks and teachers in the Himalayas continues to shape how I share yoga today not as a collection of techniques, but as a practice of presence, care, and coming home to oneself.
I am a yoga practitioner and teacher with a background in Peace and Conflict Studies, and I hold a Master’s degree focused on decolonial approaches to yoga. My master’s thesis, Decolonizing Yoga: Honouring the Roots of Yoga through Autoethnographic Inquiry into Appropriation and Resistance, explores yoga as a living tradition shaped by history, power, and responsibility, and reflects on my own experience navigating Western yoga spaces as a South Indian woman.
My teaching is slow, grounding, and rooted in authenticity. I care deeply about creating spaces where people feel safe to soften, rest, question, listen and be held, spaces that honour both the personal and the collective dimensions of practice.