MAYOR MICHELLE KAUFUSI 

10:00 AM

Welcome & Opening Remarks

Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi will be kicking off Provo Women's Day with a special welcome and will also be the event's concluding speaker. 

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Mayor Kaufusi was raised here in Provo by a single mom who worked graveyard shifts as a nurse to take care of her seven children. Provo’s unique welcoming attitude and service-oriented community was a boon to her mother when she needed to know her kids would be safe in this town when she couldn’t be around. Kaufusi grew up with a sense of duty to serve the community and give back what was so generously given to my family.

Kaufusi knows well the uphill battles many women face in our community. She's seen mothers showing up day-after-day to improve the lives of their children in our school system. She sees our female student population putting an emphasis on education. She's watched many women in our community live courageous lives full of children, grandchildren, and church and community service.

Many times Kaufusi has been that mother driving the carpool routes in sweats and sandals, with a half-eaten sandwich on the dashboard, trying to solve all the world’s problems at once. Her hope is that the women of our city will come to know that they have an advocate in the mayor’s office who understands their lives and shares their hopes and dreams. Kaufusi may be the first female mayor, but she will certainly not be the last.

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 JENNIE TAYLOR 

10:10 AM

Living Life as a Legacy Maker

Life has a way of being full of plot twists! Let’s talk about how to face those twists head-on and turn them into legacy-making opportunities.

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Mrs. Jennie Taylor is the wife and Gold Star Widow of Utah Army National Guard Major Brent Taylor, who was killed in action in Afghanistan in November of 2018 while on a leave of absence from his position as Mayor of North Ogden City, Utah. Major and Mrs. Taylor are the parents of seven children.

She is the founder and director of the Major Brent Taylor Foundation, a founding member of Follow the Flag—North Ogden, and an active volunteer in her children’s public schools. A former secondary educator of history, government and psychology classes, Mrs. Taylor has a passion for helping today’s youth prepare to become tomorrow’s leaders.

She is currently serving as the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army for the State of Utah and continually looks for ways to carry on her husband’s legacy of service to God, family and country.

 SUI LANG L. PANOKE 

10:35 AM

Tapping Into the POWER Within

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Looking forward to sharing my personal journey of Self-Discovery. Self-Examination. And, Self-Empowerment.

Sui Lang L. Panoke is a visionary leader, social entrepreneur, and international trainer and facilitator with a passion for empowering today’s leaders to rethink. create. and innovate.  She has recently been named, Senior Vice President of Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. for Zions Bank. In this role, she is responsible for directing the bank’s strategic vision, developing a comprehensive DEI strategy, and delivering on a plan of action to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion across the bank and the communities that it serves.

Sui Lang is also the founder of Rethink International, a global social enterprise and international training organization designed to challenge people to rethink how and what they think. She has trained thousands of leaders around the world leading in politics, business, government, higher education, nonprofits, international NGO’s, and the media on a wide range of topics including global leadership, diversity, inclusion, unconscious bias, personal empowerment, developing women leaders, strategic communications, power speaking, branding, civil discourse and building cultures of inclusion in the workplace. 

Sui Lang also founded the Rethink Tank for Women, a social think tank that hosts power conversations bringing together women with diverse points of view for the purpose of building bridges across social, cultural, racial, and political differences. She also founded Women Politics Media, a global leadership and media training organization. Its mission is to democratize the media landscape by training women and people of color around the world to use the media as a vehicle to impact public policy.

 JILL L. COIL 

11:00 AM

Finding the Moxie in You

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Jill introduces what she has termed the “moxie cycle,” which shows that if you can’t find opportunity, you can create it. Empowered women, empower women.

Jill L. Coil, esq. is a leading female divorce attorney licensed in both Texas and Utah. She has created and grown one of the largest family law firms in the state of Utah. She has spent the last decade recognizing the support needed for people going through divorce and studying best ways to do that, which is why she also founded the legal tech company, SimpleEndingTM, which provides an alternative route to creating quality divorce documents without needing to retain an attorney.  Jill has also started one of the first female-led personal injury law firm in Utah called Moxie Law Group. 

Jill takes pride in giving back and donates her time through the State Bar and takes on Guardian Ad Litem cases, pro bono. She also has a college scholarship and mentorship programs through her nonprofit, the Coil Foundation. She is a motivational speaker and is on a mission to ensure that people feel empowered in their own lives to understand their self-worth and then be able to empower others. She is the author of the upcoming book No One Dies from Divorce and the executive producer of a docuseries with the same name. Check out what Jill’s up to on her website jillcoil.com and connect with her on Instagram @noonediesfromdivorce.

Jill lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband, Ryan, and their four children, Lexi, Max, Paxton, and Moxie.

 KIM DELGROSSO 

11:25 AM

Embrace the Task to Unmask

Facing the ups and downs and the beauty of struggle.

Kim DelGrosso considers herself a long-time local of the beautiful state of Utah. Born in the Black Hills of South Dakota she has lived in Colorado and Utah. Kim was born a dancer and lover of music. She trained in Ballet, Tap, and Jazz. This love turned into a passion for teaching that was to shape the journey of her life.

Kim is married to John DelGrosso, a hockey player from Michigan. He wanted a family of hockey players. Two sons and six daughters later, he gave up on that dream and became a dance dad. Along with their 8 children and six sons-in-law and one daughter-in-law, they have added 23 + grandchildren.

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One of the greatest trials of Kim’s life was the tragic accident of her then 9-year-old son, Forest. A drunk driver hit Forest while he was riding his bike. He sustained brain damage from this accident and Kim and John have the honor of serving and caring for this angel of a man forever.

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Kim opened her first Dance studio in Frisco Colorado. The choreographer, Mandy Moore (LA Land, and too many productions to list), hails from Kim’s dance studio. Kim moved to Utah 33 years ago and joined the small studio, Center Stage, as a co-owner.

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Kim is currently the Artistic Director of Center Stage Performing Arts Studios, a 10 studio complex in Orem. Center Stage is considered one of the top 5 top studios in the world. She has cultured a lifetime of inspiring hundreds of aspiring dancers, including her daughters, who work as teachers and coaches at Center Stage and other Utah programs.

 TIA STOKES 

11:50 AM

Choosing your Happiness

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Yesterday was history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift.

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Dance long has been Tia Stokes’ love language. Starting at age 10, she grooved her way through a southern Utah adolescence and added funky movements to her cheerleading routines at Hurricane High School. Tia then took her ambitions to Los Angeles, where she backed up Beyonce, and to Hawaii, where she performed Tahitian techniques at the Polynesian Cultural Center, twirled pompoms at professional football and basketball games, and finally returned to the Beehive State to create her own dance troupe.

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The 34-year-old mom moved to the beat during five pregnancies and taught her boys to hip and hop while carrying a full load of students from toddlers to adults at her St. George studio, The Vault.

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But could Tia bring those aspects of her identity to 30 days of crushing cancer treatments, when her body was wracked with nausea, headaches, chills, and all manner of infirmities, and when she was isolated from family and friends in a Salt Lake City hospital during a global pandemic?

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The answer has been a resounding yes. Tia posts daily TikTok videos of her latest steps on Instagram and YouTube — including days when she could barely pop and lock her arms — and peppers them with quotes and sayings meant to lift and edify. After each rocking episode, the daring dancer closes with prayer.

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These virtual videos have made her a social media sensation, attracting more than 120,000 Instagram followers across the globe. They tune in to cheer on the Utah mom, who boosts their spirits with her energy and ebullience during a dark time.

 GENELLE PUGMIRE 

12:15 PM

Trailblazer Award

Genelle's first time living in Provo was from 1960 to 1964. With four older siblings either preparing or attending BYU her parents thought it would just be cheaper to move here. Her dad kept his accounting practice in LA and commuted every two weeks for those four years. 

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She spent her junior high and high school days in Prescott Arizona where her family had moved. Doctors had told my father he would die within the year if he kept up the fast past of LA and some of his illnesses. She graduated from Prescott High School on May 30, 1974, and started school at BYU and working at the Daily Universe two weeks later. Her family eventually followed Genelle up to Provo and her dad lived another 20 years. Other than her mission and vacations, Genelle has never left the Provo/Orem area. 

Genelle worked as an Editorial Assistant/ Staff Writer for the Deseret News Utah County Bureau from 1984-2008. And she has been a Staff Writer for the Daily Herald since 2009. 

Genelle served 8 years on the Freedom Festival Gala committee, and various other committees including the National Day of Pray and the Grand Parade. She served 4 years on the BSA National Parks Council Literacy board, helped sponsor the Provo Christmas Parade (in the day), volunteered with the March of Dimes (children were poster children), volunteered with the National Cancer Society, and served on the Board of the Crandall Historic Printing Museum. Genelle founded and Chaired Colonial Days in Provo, served on the Colonial Heritage Foundation board and as chairman of the event for two years, and was a county and state delegate for the GOP, and served on the infamous Karl Snow v. Bill Orton campaign.