Founder of Foster Inc., Accomplished Entrepreneur, Two-Time Author, Inspirational Speaker, Personal Mentor, Multifaceted Consultant, and Podcaster

2002 | Co-Founded Verge Marketing Inc., From building the infrastructure from the ground up, to managing all aspects of the business, Hayley grew Verge to over $5M in revenues, earning accolades from Entrepreneur magazine as a “fastest growing company” and landing on the Inc. 5000 list for three years.

2015 | Founded Foster Inc., Through peer-to-peer advisory and accountability groups, one-on-one consulting, boot camp workshops, masterminds and value-added networking events, Hayley works with women entrepreneurs to help them either get started or take their businesses to the next level. as a way to give back to, inspire, support, and educate other women.

A little about Hayley!
When she is not fostering women entrepreneurs and small businesses, you can find her mentoring and mothering her two daughters and step-son, skiing out west or at her local CrossFit gym. Hayley gives her time to her local Synagogue serving as VP of Engagement. She is also a co-ambassador with her husband Brian, participating in numerous events to support The Navy SEAL Foundation.

The Tools to Take Your Passion to The Next Level
You've started a business because you had a passion, right?
However, running the business is not something you're finding passion in.
With so many things to do on the business side PLUS doing the thing you love, you feel overwhelmed by it all. Sometimes all it takes is the right tools to get your organized, focused, and running your business like a well-oiled machine. In this 60-minute session, Hayley Foster will share her tools that can help you take your passion to the next level while learning to manage the day-to-day without the overwhelm.

All Speakers and Sessions

Ally McMurtry

Ally McMurtry, better known as Your Badass Bookkeeper, is a certified virtual bookkeeper and owner of McMurtry Virtual Services. Ally has a love for small businesses and helping client goals & dreams come to fruition. She has over a decade of customer service, administrative assistance, and bookkeeping experience. When Ally isn’t assisting clients you can find her in the kitchen cooking (for small armies), curled up reading, or homeschooling her two boys.

Bookkeeping 101
In this session, we are going to have some fun and talk about bookkeeping! We will go over what is important for your bookkeeping process, reading your monthly reports, and creating the habit of doing your bookkeeping - all while having a good time doing it! We will also have some Q&A at the end of the session.

Bookkeeping Deep Dive Q&A
This session is for any higher-level questions you may have about your bookkeeping. The entire session will be Q&A format and we will be using the Quickbooks sample company to walk through the answers. Note: if you use a different program for your bookkeeping, just let Ally know and she can adjust for you. All are welcome - there are no stupid questions (you can't learn if you don't ask, right?).

Ruthann Bowen

Ruthann Bowen, founder and owner of WIX DesignHer, is a creative and business-minded web designer located in the greater Pittsburgh, PA area. She is also the author of "The Female Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating a Website in a Weekend." She works with small businesses and female entrepreneurs building beautiful, modern websites which accurately represent clients' brands. As a WIX expert, she teaches business-related classes showing people how to design using the easy drag-n-drop website building platform. Exercising the experience gained from her background in PR, she also holds workshops focused on the power of utilizing branding, social media and search engine optimization for small businesses.

Ruthann has spoken at Belmont University, Grove City College and Butler County Community College on the topics of of blogging and content creation. She has also contributed to Business News Daily and Best Company on the importance of professional web design.

She is also the author of "The Female Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating a Website in a Weekend."

Traffic, Sales and Your Website: 5 Hacks To Grow Your Business Online
Discover the five key elements you need to make sure you have a winning website! Go from hot mess to total success by learning the top five areas of your digital presence that need to be spot on in order to grow your business. In this presentation you'll learn how to get visible, attract your ideal customers, set up automations, keep branding consistent, and pro design tips. Get ready to take notes and find out how to create the website you need to grow the business you want.

Gabby Pinkerton

Gabby Pinkerton is an adventurous Wedding Planner, Pinterest Strategist, Youtuber and Wedding industry speaker. Her YouTube channel aims to help wedding pros grow their business by using Pinterest and targeting their ideal clients.

During the Pandemic, she launched a Pinterest Strategy company, Gabby Pinkerton Co. that focuses on helping wedding pros attract their ideal clients on Pinterest. She and her team offer done-for-you Pinterest Management as well as a robust, no-fluff Pinterest course for those who want to tackle it themselves.

Gabby is a recurring speaker at the Wedding Summit Series, Book More Weddings Summit and participates in several wedding bundles offering Pinterest mini courses. She has taken the stage at the National Association of Catering and Events, The Rising Tide Society and virtual gatherings over the last few years.

Growing your Brand Awareness with Pinterest
Most of you are familiar with the Pinterest platform but do you know how to use it strategically? I'll be sharing my Pinterest journey and how it's our #1 traffic referrer to our website bringing in wedding leads year round. We'll dive into how Pinterest works, how your ideal clients are using it and how you can strategically use it to grow your brand awareness and attract new clients. Whether you're a beginner or Pinterest pro, I'm sure you'll leave this session learning something new.

Melissa Cassol

Melissa Cassol is the owner of Zinnia & Birch based out of Weare, New Hampshire. Like many other brides, Melissa came across wood flowers when planning her wedding and fell in love with them and the opportunity to create more beauty in the world through wood flower artistry. Prior to becoming a Wood Flower Florist she spent over 15 years training, coaching, and mentoring both clients and professionals in the fitness and wellness industry. This work included education on stress management and psychology, bridging the gap between the two and helping clients break through mental blocks to shift their mindset. She believes that our happiness and overall success, whether in life or business, is dictated by the commitment to our own personal growth and healing all parts of ourselves so that we can truly live life fully.

Biohacking Mindset & Selfcare
At the end of the day, no matter how many goals you set, how many affirmations you make, or time spent meditating - it is our deeper self-belief that will dictate our success and level of satisfaction in our lives. In this session, we will dive into the psychology behind mindset practices, including the blocks that keep us from leveling up in life and in our businesses as well as quick tools to help you shift your mental state when you feel stuck. We will do some deeper work through guided meditation and learn a few tools to help heal and rewire our brains for success after the post-conference motivation fades. Come ready to learn, explore, and create a new vision for your business and your life.

Andi Gretzinger

As a classically trained artist and licensed Art Teacher turned Professional Wood Flower Florist, Andi Gretzinger is known for creating colorful and harmonious wood flower designs that consistently sell out in minutes.

Andi is the Owner and Executive Floral Artist of North Wood Blooms LLC, established in 2018. She credits the implementation of color and design theory alongside simple business training and a goal-getter mindset as major contributors that transformed NWB from a dining room side-gig to the full-time Wood Flower Design Studio she runs today.

Most of Andi’s pastimes include enjoying the northwoods of Wisconsin with friends and family - especially her two young daughters and husband. When she’s not promoting her launches, she is online advocating for the expansion of the wood flower industry and encouraging others to achieve their biggest business dreams.

Hands-On Color Theory to Elevate your Arrangements
Have you ever needed just one more flower in a specific color? You know, the one in a shade that you no longer have in stock, took hours to mix in the first place, or is miles away at the hardware store? In this session you will learn the basics of color theory in order to save the time and money that can be wasted when left to a guessing game. You will be introduced to the vocabulary, relationships and implementation of color theory as it directly relates to wood flower floristry. You will leave with your own hand-painted guide as well as an arsenal of prompts and activities to keep honing your skills at home. Join in to experience how color theory can elevate each individual bloom, overall arrangement and in turn, the price associated with your skill.

Jennifer Angle

Jen began Wood & Word Blooms in 2019 after DIYing her own wedding florals and falling in love with the creative outlet wood floral design provided. She had a passion for not only floristry, but in helping others unleash their creativity through floral craft classes. As a public school teacher for 20+ years, teaching is truly a calling and Jen is driven to help everyone from the casual crafter to the blossoming business owner grow much like herself. After beginning with no plan to move beyond a side hustle, Wood & Word Blooms is now a flourishing wedding and DIY event business based out of Connecticut thanks to the supportive wood floral community.

Get Your Craft On & Talk Crafty To Me
Have fun learning how to create an on trend mini boho hoop wreath in this Make & Take Workshop. During this session, experienced make & take presenter and professional educator, Jen, will debrief on the art of teaching a successful class that empowers your participants and leaves them wanting more.

Kelly Totman

Owner and Creative Director, Kelly Totman, started Knotty Totty’s Designs in 2018 and is located in Middleboro, MA. Kelly has always had a creative eye and prior to starting Knotty Totty’s, had established a successful photography business as well. Kelly instills the professional photography training she has learned over the years when photographing her own wood flower arrangements. Kelly’s attention to detail comes through in both her photography and wood flower arrangements and she will demonstrate how to bring your product photography to the next level.

Product Photography- The importance of good photos and how to achieve them!
Your product photos are a direct reflection of you and your business! Every picture you post on social media or your website is a representation of you, your brand, and directly impacts the perception customers will develop about your business. Learn to make your photos catch customers’ eyes with the right lighting, composition, and post-editing. From proper exposure, shadows, and white balance, pictures can really set the tone for sales. They say a picture is worth a thousand words; what are your pictures saying about you? It’s time to level up and capture photos that speak to what your business stands for and the quality you want to communicate to customers.

Josie Eacho

Josie is the founder of Hands-on Marketing where she works with solopreneurs and small businesses owners to maximize their presence on social media. She loves fine-tuning what you are already doing on social media to maximize your results! After traveling and picking up odd marketing jobs overseas, she came home and quickly got into Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads. When she realized she really loved helping smaller businesses (with smaller ad spend) she focused her efforts on organic marketing such as social media! The rest is history.

Personally, she loves to spend her days off in the mountains and her lunch breaks by the beach. She has two fur-babies who also love to join her on these adventures, or at her feet while she is taking client calls. Last but not least she is getting married in July and is eager to meet wood flower florists in person!

Make the most of your Instagram!
Whether you are new to the idea of a business on Instagram or have been plugging away at the posts, and stories for some time, this session will leave you with new ideas and a better understanding of how Instagram works. Interested in a live IG Audit? Submit your information HERE!

Matt Stephens

Matt Stephens loves Chatham Massachusetts, Golf, National Parks, and small businesses. He grew up in Central Massachusetts and went to Bentley University to Major in Entrepreneurship. Matt spent the past 6 years of his life working for all types of small businesses. International and domestic, goods and services, he's done a little bit of everything. In 2020, Matt stepped away from the corporate world and founded Chatham Oaks after seeing the disconnect between small business owners and the massive marketing companies they consistently rely on to help them with their marketing. He likes focusing on the unique nuances of each business, their customers, and digital marketing knowledge, to develop successful marketing results and keep things simple.

Branding Simplified
This workshop is for brand new start ups and established businesses alike. Branding is immensely important in our current day and age. Being "on brand" with everything you do can help you establish a community of loyal customers. "On brand" in simple terms means to have your personal passion shine through in how you conduct your business. We'll be covering how to create your brand with the typical building blocks like logo, fonts, etc. We will also be talking about how to use your brand to increase your company's visibility online and grow your brand awareness. We'll be diving into everything from how to set up your website, social media tips, and things you can do around the community as well! 

Pricing Panel

A panel of four wood flower florists of varying experience and approaches to pricing arrangements and services.

Would you like to be a part of the Pricing Panel?! Apply HERE!

Knowing Your Worth: How To Price Your Items
Whether you are a brand new business or have several years of experience, knowing your worth is often difficult to determine and calculate. There are many ways to price your items and services! Some may work better for you than others. Listen and ask questions of this varied panel of wood flower florists as they discuss their approach to pricing and how knowing their worth has changed their business.