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Networking Club: Reimagining Business, Leadership & Community
Join YS Member Lauren Porté Schwarzfeld as she sits down with longtime publishing professional, Kristen McGuiness, to discuss what it means to create a new kind of business and leadership model, one that is female lead, relationship and human centric. We’ll dive into community, connection and how bold ideas can propel you forward when you’re not beholden to systems that weren’t made for you, don’t fit and don’t adapt. Leading in life, in community and in business – we’re creating spaces that work for all of us!
This talk is for anyone looking to build something (anything) and might need a bit of inspiration, come with questions, to learn or to make a friend!
Please purchase your ticket(s) below.
About Kristen McGuiness
Kristen is an LA Times best-selling author, NY Times bestselling editor, and long-standing publishing professional. After spending the first decade of her career working in editorial for Simon & Schuster and Harper Collins, as well as in film development at Warner Brothers, Kristen wrote the bestselling memoir, 51/50: The Magical Adventures of a Single Life, which was featured on the “Today Show” and in USA Today and the highly acclaimed family drama Live Through This, released in 2023. She has co-authored dozens of books and her work has appeared in Oprah Daily, People, Rolling Stone, Shondaland, NYT “Tiny Love Stories,” amongst others. In addition, she has worked at numerous booksellers, including Shakespeare & Co. in New York. She lives in Ojai, CA with her husband, two children, and a dog named Lucy.
About Lauren Porté Schwarzfeld
Lauren is the Chief Marketing Officer for Rise Literary, a hybrid publisher and book coaching company. She has spent the past 25 years working in sales, fundraising, and marketing through various industries, realizing that the most powerful part of a storied work history is the wide variety of human connection. In 2025 Lauren was the co-producer of TEDxOjai featuring 12 speakers through the daylong event in Ojai, CA. She is the co-founder of RiseLive, a new global speaking series amplifying new voices on new stages, launching with two events in 2026. She is endlessly curious, a lover of books, travel, and new adventures. Lauren lives in Mt. Kisco, NY.