Takeaways From The Emerge Summit 2022
September 22, 2022
On behalf of Valley Vision, a few of our team members got the chance to attend the Metro EDGE Emerge Summit earlier this month. After two years of hosting the event virtually, The Metro EDGE Chamber was eager to offer a hybrid format with both in-person and virtual breakout sessions, providing flexibility for all attendees. This year’s Emerge Summit was full of inspirational speakers, breakouts sessions with critical lessons and topics, and much desired networking.
This year’s theme was #ChallengeAccepted, encouraging the young professional network of folks to move forward with resilience both professionally and personally. While there were numerous breakout sessions that piqued many of our interests, collectively we explored topics such as BIPOC in arts & culture, incorporating play in the workplace, envisioning the future, and necessary skills as a young professional.
“This was my first Emerge Summit and overall, I had a great time learning from, being inspired by and interacting with other young professionals and the summit main speakers! This year’s summit offered a hybrid option to attendees and I am so glad that our team was able to attend in person. It was refreshing networking with other individuals and I was able to take away with me a new perspective on how to navigate my personal and career goals and aspirations. I particularly enjoyed the breakout session, “Chasing Your Dreams”, which was interactive and energizing. Thank you to the Sacramento Metro Chamber Foundation and all the sponsors who made this event possible!”
– Kathy Saechou, Project Associate
“The Emerge Summit was a valuable professional development experience full of inspiring speeches, performances and creative minds. I found that the Chasing Your Dreams breakout session was the most impactful to me. They had us break out into small groups and articulate our dreams and future aspirations to each other and create actionable steps in order to achieve our goals. It was challenging to speak about our dreams out loud to people we just met, but everyone felt more free and inspired to take action after sharing with each other. We all realized that we have the capacity to reach our goals if we continue to work on ourselves and push ourselves outside of our comfort zone.”
– Laurel Smith, Project Associate
“I had a great time at this year’s Emerge Summit. Firstly, I want to give huge props to the emcee, A La Mode. She was hilarious and did a great job keeping up the energy in the morning. I’m also very thankful for all the speakers who took time to share their insights with us. My favorite speakers were all breakout session leaders. A highlight of the day for me was getting my questions answered during the “From Young Professional to the C-Suite” session. I learned new perspectives on leadership that will be useful to me regardless of my roles in the future. Alex Becerra and Dan McGar from the “You vs. You ” breakout session, along with Adriana Rodriguez from the “Understanding and Combating Imposter Syndrome” session all modeled how you can be successful while also being honest about your struggles. I appreciated their vulnerability. In addition to the speakers, I enjoyed spending time with my colleagues; sharing ideas and challenges; and having fun together. I hope to attend next year for the 10th anniversary and encourage others to go if given the opportunity. Last but not least, a thank you to all who were involved in putting the event on!”
– Alana Ramsay, Project Associate