Blue Ocean Academy conducted an exclusive virtual conference for women around the world on international women’s day. The Blue Ocean Women Leadership (BOWLD) EmpowHer Virtual Conference was the second edition of the successful face-to-face conference held at Hotel Crowne Plaza in March 2020. This year, the theme was ‘Women in leadership: embracing the new normal’. Around 200 women from different parts of the world attended the conference held on March 8, 2021, from 11 AM to 2 PM. World-renowned speakers including Noha Hefny, Dr. Thoraiya Kanafani, Annabel Harper, Julie Lewis and Bandana Jain shared insights into different topics related to women leadership. The non-profit event also provided a multilingual workshop in English and Arabic. The English workshop on the topic ‘DiSC Personality Assessment’ was delivered by the Certified Personality Assessor Marina Wanny. The Arabic workshop on the topic ‘Presentation Skills’ was facilitated by Lecturer and Journalist Dr Ahlam El Tohamy. As reflected in the International Women’s Day 2021 campaign theme ‘Choose To Challenge', the conference inspired working women to call out gender bias and inequality at the workplace. The enlightening speeches from eminent women encouraged them to celebrate women's achievements and work together to create an inclusive world. The conference had two keynote speeches and two panel discussions. Noha Hefny, Founder and CEO at People of Impact who spoke on the topic ‘Women leaders turning challenges into opportunities’ emphasized that women not only lead better in times of crisis but build for more resilient, strong communities and economies. The Clinic Psychologist Dr Thoraiya Kanafani shared her insights into the topic ‘Mental health post lockdown’. She stated that women must give importance to self-care and be assertive at the workplace to overcome the stress caused by the pandemic. The panel discussions were on the topic ‘Work from home challenges- Striking the right balance’ and ‘Contribution of women in crisis management’. “Contributing to the development of women is the best thing that any organization can do. I strongly believe that the change should begin with us. Blue Ocean Academy has always been fostering gender equality at the workplace and the BOWLD conference was introduced to enable the women leaders in our organization to create a great platform for working women across the world. The continued success of the event reiterates that BOWLD is the one-of-a-kind initiative introduced by a training academy," commented Dr Sathya Menon, the CEO of Blue Ocean Academy. Launched in March 2020, the BOWLD conference is an attempt to unite women leaders from different parts of the world on a single platform to share their experiences and inspire each other with their success stories. Around 150 women attended the conference last year that honoured eminent women in the Middle East including Dr Zulekha Daud, the Founder and Chairperson of Zulekha Healthcare Group.