Becoming a Keynote Speaker at the 2025 Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED) Colorado Summit

Daniela Ibarra shares her experience speaking as the morning keynote for this year’s celebration of female entrepreneurship at the Jake Jabs Event Center.

By Daniela Ibarra, student marketing assistant at the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship

My name is Daniela Ibarra, and I’m a 22-year-old, first-generation college student. Most days, I’m still figuring it out — juggling my time between studying, working, and launching my own business, SALVA Innovations. But on Friday, Nov. 14, I added an unexpected new title to my resume: keynote speaker.

For years, I’ve worked behind the scenes at the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED) Colorado Summit. This annual event is organized by the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO), a global initiative dedicated to driving women’s economic independence, and its Colorado ambassador, Sylvia Scott. Since 2022, it’s been hosted at CU Denver’s Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship, where I work as a marketing assistant. I started out by creating content for social media, taking photos and videos, and helping set up and take down the event. I’ve watched the WED Colorado Summit grow and evolve, and I’ve been honored to be part of that journey. But I never imagined I could be the one with the microphone, speaking to a room full of student entrepreneurs and established founders of all ages.

Stepping on stage that morning is an experience I don’t think I’ll ever forget. Generally speaking, I tend to overprepare. For weeks leading up to that Friday morning, I drafted, rehearsed, and reworked my keynote over and over again. But the moment I looked out across the Jake Jabs Event Center, everything shifted. I realized I couldn’t just rely on what I had practiced. The moment needed something more present and real than the script I had memorized. I knew I had to show up as myself and not the “perfect” version of me I had planned out.

Honestly, this feeling was new to me. I had to take up more space than I am used to filling. Usually, I’m just grateful for any space at all. But in that moment, I had to step up into something that felt bigger than me, that I had to grow into.

After my keynote, I was able to enjoy the rest of this year’s summit, which was incredible! It’s a unique event that brings together high school students, college students, and successful founders for a day of discussion, learning, and celebration of female entrepreneurship. Next, we watched a fireside chat with Kirsten Suddath, general partner at Next Frontier Capital, who shared her story of being a college athlete, startup founder, and now VC investor. Then, we had our pick of morning and afternoon breakout sessions covering topics such as:

• Personal Branding
• Developing the Leader Within
• Permission to Talk: How to Change Your Life in 5 Steps
• The Art of Reinventing Yourself
• Human Strategy, Machine Support: AI’s Trust Challenge
• Mindset and Endurance: Holding onto Your Why

Around noon, Nikita Jhaveri, founder of Blush Now, delivered the lunchtime keynote about pursuing your passions regardless of outside perspectives. Then, Sylvia Scott, founder of Girls’ C.E.O. Connection, presented the Trailblazer Award to Brandi McMichael, founder of Fashion Denver, who also emceed the event with great warmth and energy.

Throughout that day, I experienced the summit in a way I had never before. I sat in breakout sessions, talked with founders, and connected with so many young women with entrepreneurial aspirations like my own. Many of them commented on my keynote, sharing how something I said resonated or reminded them of their own journey. Hearing that showed me that speaking from where I am, and not from where I think I “should” be, is more than enough to make an impact.

The whole day reminded me that even when you’re young and still figuring things out, you still have something meaningful to offer. You grow by showing up, not by waiting to feel ready. On that stage, and in all the conversations that followed, I learned that sometimes taking one authentic step forward is enough to change everything. I left the 2025 WED Colorado Summit feeling grateful, inspired, and a little braver than when I walked in. And maybe that’s all any of us need to keep going.

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