An international organization called DisruptHR has launched a Milwaukee chapter, DISRUPT Milwaukee, and will host its inaugural event here on Nov. 9.
DISRUPT focuses on human resources practices. The event-based nonprofit aims to educate and inspire attendees to change how they view the world of work, said Coreyne Woodman-Holoubek, president of DISRUPT Milwaukee.
Woodman-Holoubek and Laura Gmeinder, vice president, organized both the Madison chapter, which launched in 2015, and the new Milwaukee chapter. They find speakers and host the events in those cities.
The themes of the events change, but revolve around new perspectives on leadership, workplace culture, employee morale and the intersection of generations in the workplace. Particularly for women and mothers, the group seeks to empower them to feel successful and contribute to society, potentially through remote work arrangements, Woodman-Holoubek said.
“Really what people want out of work is changing so fast,” she said. “There’s strength in numbers and we really want to show people this is an international movement.”
Both Woodman-Holoubek and Gmeinder, Madison residents, run DISRUPT as volunteers. In their day jobs, Woodman-Holoubek runs an agency that places temporary leaders for project work of between two and five years, and Gmeinder runs a business coaching and consulting company.
Among the presenters at the inaugural DISRUPT Milwaukee event on Nov. 9 is Rachael O’Meara, senior account manager for the Platform Demand Channel at Google and author of the new book “Pause: Harnessing the Life-Changing Power of Giving Yourself a Break.”
The presenters will speak to an audience of about 200 and a global livestream in quick, five-minute monologues.
“The evening script is timed down to the minute,” Gmeinder said. “The evening is very tightly controlled to keep people’s interest and attention.”
“They get five minutes and if they don’t catch your attention in 30 seconds, you can go to the bar and get a drink,” Woodman-Holoubek said.
The other speakers at the Milwaukee event are:
- Laneice McGee, founder of F.E.M.A., “Reflection Restored: Leading For Change”
- Zach Blumenfeld, co-founder and chief operating officer, Thirdspace, “Make What You Do Matter”
- Jenny Triplett, co-owner, Dawah International, “Diversity is the New Black..or is it?”
- Mike Wallace, honor student, “The Entrepreneurial Opportunity”
- Bruce Holoubek, co-owner and president, Contracted Leadership, “Talent Pools: Just Yesterday Tomorrow Happened”
- Amber Swenor, founder of SPM and Amberdella Consulting, “Building a Rockstar Team by Celebrating the Rockstars within it”
- Amy Gannon, co-founder of Doyenne, “Conversations about Race at Work; One White Woman’s Perspective”
- Sreenath Pillai, founder of Flow Enterprises, “Developing Developers; Building Non-Traditional Talent Pipelines in Tech”
- Nicole Dessain, founder of talent.imperative, “What Game of Thrones can Teach us about Design Thinking in HR.”
The event will be held at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery, 901 W. Juneau Ave. in Milwaukee, from 5 to 8 p.m. It is part of Milwaukee Startup Week, which runs Nov. 6 to 10. More information is available here.
DISRUPT Milwaukee plans to host its second event in 2018 and two events per year beginning in 2019. It will also establish a scholarship fund for young professionals interested in starting speaking careers, as well as human resources professionals.
