More 2026 SWLI speakers will be announced soon
Sandra Perez
Sandra Perez brings close to 30 years of experience in education and business. As the co-owner of a fitness gym for women, Sandra serves her clients as a health/life coach and workshop facilitator. Sandra has had key leadership positions in education which have allowed her to collaborate with diverse stakeholders across various capacities. This experience frames her philosophy of how it takes everyone to create a successful culture. She is the author of a Spanish Language book focused on overcoming challenges by developing mental strength, optimism and mental peace.
Sandra is a high energy presenter and lover of life. You won’t be able to sit through this presentation.
KEYNOTE: The Soundtrack of Leadership
An interactive, motivational presentation designed to help you recognize and manage the emotional and physical demands of leadership. Through music, reflection, movement, and practical strategies, participants explore emotions such as happiness, exhaustion, anxiety, anger, loneliness, pressure, and uncertainty. The presentation encourages the audience to validate and recognize their emotions, to prioritize self-care, maintain a positive mindset, build resilience, and reconnect with purpose.
You’ll learn:
1. Your mindset matters. The way we think influences how we feel and ultimately how we act which impacts our relationships and interactions with others but most importantly with ourselves.
2. Self-care requires intentional action. The demands of leadership can bring exhaustion, pressure, anxiety, and emotional fatigue. Taking time to rest, breathe, hydrate, move, sleep, and reset allows you to better care for yourself and others creating positive outcomes and effective results in your area of work.
3. Remember your PURPOSE When leaders feel overwhelmed or discouraged, reconnecting with the reason you chose this profession can restore motivation and resilience. The presentation encourages leaders to remember “the call” that brought them to the organization and to take action toward their goals.
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
INSTAGRAM: @pinkironwest
INSTAGRAM: @pinkironeast
INSTAGRAM: @flexionatumente
FACEBOOK: @pinkironfitnessep
Brenda Sendejo, PhD
Dr. Brenda Sendejo is a cultural anthropologist, consultant, scholar-practitioner of spiritual activism, storyteller and Guide to Change Makers. Dr. Sendejo holds a PhD, MA, and BA in cultural anthropology from University of Texas at Austin.
Brenda teaches how owning our stories can lead to healing and empowerment. She is passionate about co-creating spaces of belonging, connection, and community by guiding others in sharing their stories and weaving them together to create collectives and communal bonds where our light can be illuminated and shared. Brenda utilizes her experience, intuition, various ways of knowing, and wisdom passed down to her by women elders to support others in expressing their unique gifts and truths into the world. Brenda teaches that we can listen within, connect to the wisdom of our souls, then make soul by expressing our souls out into the world on our paths home to ourselves. Guided by intuition and other forms of inner knowing, from this place of self-care and love, we have a heightened capacity to care for others and our communities.
Dr. Sendejo creates opportunities for women, women of color and other marginalized groups to (re)claim and amplify their stories. She centers self and soul care as a means to self-empowerment, healing, liberation, and driving social change. Her process effectively utilizes storytelling to build community and facilitate belonging on the individual and collective scales.
Dr. Sendejo has a 15-year career as a tenured faculty member, educator-scholar, department chair, mentor, and advisorDr. Sendejo is the author of the book, Making Change, Making Soul forthcoming from University of Arizona Press in fall 2026.
KEYNOTE: The Stories We Tell, The Culture We Create as Leaders
What if building cultures as leaders begins with making space for the story? Cultural anthropologist, Dra. Brenda Sendejo invites women to reclaim the power of their stories—and to become intentional witnesses to the stories others choose to tell. Participants will explore how story shapes culture, belonging, leadership, and community. When we tell and own our stories, we claim our power; when we invite others to tell their stories and witness without imposing our own narratives, we create cultures rooted in care, compassion, integrity, and inclusion. Together, we will consider how soul-centered storytelling can transform relationships, workplaces, and communities.
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
INSTAGRAM: @chicanita71
FACEBOOK: @brenda.sendejo.5
LINKEDIN: @brenda-sendejo-phd
BONNIE WAN
BONNIE WAN is creator and author of The Life Brief, a simple and profound action-driving practice that helps people navigate life’s biggest and trickiest decisions with clarity, creativity, and courage. The Life Brief applies the art and science of brand strategy to how we live our lives, helping people get clear, take meaningful action, and live with greater intention and imagination.
As a 30-year career Brand Strategist and former Partner, Head of Brand Strategy at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Bonnie has led strategy for some of the world’s most iconic brands. She also harnesses strategy to create powerful, provocative, awardwinning campaigns fighting racial injustice, child sex trafficking, cyberbullying, college campus rape, and gender inequality. Bonnie has been named an Advertising Icon, Chief Strategy Officer of the Year, 100 Women to KNOW in America, and an Eames Institute’s Curious 100.
The Life Brief has evolved from an agency talk to keynotes, workshops, and now a best-selling book. The Life Brief: A Playbook for No Regrets Living is the essential tool for aligning your daily actions with your ambition and values.
Today, Bonnie is a global speaker, teacher, and Life & Leadership Strategist who has worked with Accenture, Adidas, Airbnb, Apple, Cannes Lions, Change.org, Chief, Google, NBA, Oura, SXSW, and World 50 Group, as well as for Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop and Jane Goodall’s Activating Hope Summit.
KEYNOTE: Author Your Life: the stories we tell become the lives we live.
Every leader has a story she’s never said out loud. One that says she’s too much, not enough, not ready, or past her time. Bonnie Wan, author and founder of The Life Brief, names what keeps brilliant, capable women stuck. It’s not a lack of ambition. It’s the stories that suppress clarity and courage in the moments that matter most. Bonnie’s opening keynote and hands-on workshop gives us the tool for reframing and rewriting these stories. By the second hour, you shed the stories that hold you back and take authorship of the story only you can write.
Takeaways:
- Name the story that’s been running your leadership or life
- Understand why clarity and courage shut down under pressure
- Reframe one belief into a first draft of a new story
- Commit to it and feel the slip of your old story’s grip
- Leave with the powerful practice of authorship to reimagine and rewrite any part of your life
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
INSTAGRAM: @bonniewanofficial
FACEBOOK: @livingthelifebrief
LINKEDIN: @BonnieWan
Aliana Apodaca
Aliana Apodaca is known for providing fast paced, inspiring and humorous programs with useful content that makes her a sought after speaker worldwide. With 30 years of experience she has jazzed up thousands of people throughout the United States, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Spain. She is known as an authority on change management, energizing employees, increasing teamwork, and developing effective leaders. Some of her clients include Deloitte Consulting, Marriott Hotels, Dept of Labor, Dept of Housing, Raytheon to name a few. Among her many presentations Aliana was asked by the American Embassy in Bolivia to travel the country providing empowerment training and motivation to the women of that country.
Born in El Paso, Texas Aliana grew up as the oldest of seven children in the Barrio de Ysleta. From these humble beginnings, Aliana overcame an abusive childhood and evolved from being a single mother on welfare to becoming a much sought after inspirational speaker, business consultant, trainer, coach, and writer.
Aliana is a gifted speaker who connects with her audiences through humor and real life stories filled with inspiration and practical tips. Audiences connect with her warm style and can relate to her experiences, struggles and lessons. Her powerful teachings have moved audiences to profoundly change their lives and to take the action steps necessary for success. Aliana combines a down-to-earth attitude with a “splash of salsa” to help you develop the attributes to your personal power!
As a business owner and advocate for women, Aliana has been recognized by the Small Business Administration as the District – Women in Business Advocate of the Year and was named Business Woman of the Year; and one of 13 Latinas across the State of Texas as a Woman of Distinction by TAMACC (Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce). In 2018 Aliana received the 1st Annual Woman In Business Lifetime Achievement Award by the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce. She was honored to be chosen as part of a group of small business owners invited to meet with the President at the White House. Aliana has hosted several local TV programs and for over 20 years was a featured Business columnist with the El Paso Times. Her column provided advice and guidance to readers on workplace issues. She has been featured in Hispanic Magazine, LatinaStyle Magazine and was named as one of “1000 Women for the Nineties” by Mirabella Magazine. She is a Fellow of the National Hispana Leadership Institute, one of twenty-five women chosen from throughout the United States for outstanding leadership and community service. Active community involvement has been a priority for Aliana. Her civic and professional involvement is at the local, state and national levels. She has served on the Board of Directors of: Latinas 100, Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce; University Medical Center; National Hispana Leadership Institute-Alumni; Texas Workforce Development Network; National Association of Private Industry Councils; Boys & Girls Clubs of El Paso, Loretto Academy Board of Trustees; El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Upper Rio Grande Private Industry Council; El Paso Child Guidance, CEDARS—Center for Entrepreneurial Development, Advancement, Research and Support at the University of Texas at El Paso; and is a founding member of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce. She is currently serving on the Board of Community En Accion and the Gifford Foundation.
Aliana is also the founder of the Southwest Women’s Leadership Institute and Latinas 100; two organizations dedicated to furthering the leadership capabilities of women and providing them tools for networking and professional development. Her personal style and approach have been warmly received at many conferences where she has appeared with Jane Fonda, Maya Angelou, Sally Field, Gloria Steinem, President Clinton, and Christina Saralegui to name a few.
Aliana lives in El Paso, Texas with her beloved husband.
15TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Southwest Women’s Leadership Institute
2026© THE SOUTHWEST WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE