Courage to Pivot Takes Center Stage at Power Play
From bold career pivots to fresh financial mindsets, 'Marie Claire’s summit in Philadelphia showed that disruption isn’t an ending—it’s a beginning.
If day one of Marie Claire’s Power Play summit in Philadelphia was about community, day two was about reinvention: the courage to change course, to start again, and to see disruption not as an ending, but as a beginning.
The Marie Claire Power Play x The Marshalls Good Stuff Social Club event opened with Marie Claire editor in chief Nikki Ogunnaike and Sonya Cosentini, VP, Marketing Director at Marshalls welcoming the crowd of nearly 100 early-career women.
“We have been and always will be champions of women’s empowerment and women supporting women, and Power Play is the way we bring all of those things to real life,” Ogunnaike said. Cosentini added: “At Marshalls, our mission has always been to provide women with the good stuff in life—and really empower women like all of you with the tools, resources and community needed to make your vision boards come to life.”
Back as emcee, comedian Alyce Chan had the room in stitches from the start, recalling her first night in Philadelphia: a late-night cheesesteak followed by the rare luxury of peeing alone in her hotel room. “When you have kids, you’re never really alone,” she said. “When mine were little, they thought going to the bathroom was a special event. Plus two.” Her joke about the elusive joy of solitude was the perfect beginning to a day devoted to reinvention, and the importance of pausing to reassess amid everyday chaos.
The first panel, Define Your Own Direction With Confidence, was moderated by Marie Claire executive editor Andrea Stanley, who led a candid discussion with Christa Barfield, founder and CEO of FarmerJawn Agriculture; Hillary Kerr, co-founder of Who What Wear and SVP of Women & Luxury at Future; and Amanda Shulman, co-founder and executive chef of Her Place Supper Club. Together, they unpacked how confidence fuels change and why risk-taking is essential to growth.
Barfield recalled her leap from healthcare into agriculture, saying her guiding principle has always been simple: “You show up. You put yourself in the rooms that you want to be in and know that you can add value without asking permission.” Kerr described quitting her dream job at Elle to co-found Who What Wear, stressing that confidence can’t come from outside validation: “Decenter external affirmation.... if you are good with what you are doing, if you are passionate about what you are building, if you care about your work, that ultimately is the only thing that builds confidence.” Shulman talked about staking her claim in male-dominated kitchens, where risk-taking was part of survival. “I love taking risks. I think I'm addicted to taking risks… A disaster happens every day. Part of it is just taking it, swallowing it, breathing it out and just saying: ‘Okay, well, today's done. Let's focus on tomorrow.’”
From there, the summit shifted into an interactive Money Talks breakout session led by Erin Lowry, finance expert and author of the Broke Millennial series, who cut through financial myths with a dose of humor and practicality. “Who benefits from us staying silent about money? It's certainly not us, especially a room full of women.” Her straight-talk advice (“If you are going to loan somebody money, it better be a gift”) drew laughter and applause.
If one session captured the spirit of the day, it was The Power of the Pivot, moderated by Marie Claire entertainment director Neha Prakash. Cybille St.Aude-Tate, chef and co-founder of Honeysuckle, recalled leaving a path in academia to follow her passion for food: “Fear is faith in a negative outcome,” she reminded the audience. Crochet influencer and designer Emani Milan described how a broken foot sidelined her career but sparked her idea for the world’s first crochet vending machine, turning a setback into a successful business. And entrepreneur Jung Park traced her own twists and turns: building Cocktail Culture Co., launching a music venture, surviving a near-fatal building fire, and now setting her sights on veterinary medicine. “My attitude is that pivoting is not a Plan B thing. It’s a Plan A thing,” she said.
Just as on day one, The Marshalls Good Stuff Social Club perks kept the energy flowing throughout the day, from color consults to fall fashion try-ons and even a round of gift-card bingo.
The final panel at Power Play Philadelphia brought the conversation back to connection. In a live “Nice Talk” recording, Ogunnaike sat down with Anna Papalia, author of Interviewology and career influencer, to unpack the myths of networking. Forget the transactional approach, Papalia advised: “Networking is a learned skill… It’s a practice that you keep doing, and you keep getting better. Like anything in life.” Her reframing was simple but powerful: “If you are helping yourself, people will help you.”
She also told a story about her own leap of faith earlier on in her career: “When I quit my corporate job, I said to [my boss], ‘I have a dream. If I don't do it now, I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life.’ He looked at me and he said, ‘You sure got moxie.’ That’s literally all I had!”
As the second day wound down, Ogunnaike and Cosentini thanked the crowd and the many speakers who had filled the loft with stories of risk and renewal. After two days of stories, laughter, and some tears, the women of Power Play proved that the courage to pivot doesn’t just change careers—it changes lives.
