Sacramento is set to host what organizers describe as the region's biggest women's entrepreneurship conference this September, when Powered by Women LIVE 2026 spreads across three days and multiple city venues, from a university ballroom to a downtown park. The gathering runs September 25 through 27, mixing business panels, mastermind sessions, and an outdoor wellness morning aimed at local founders looking to grow beyond side-hustle status.
According to CBS News, Powered by Women is an eight-year-old community built for women entrepreneurs, and Sacramento women can now purchase tickets for the three-day event. The conference itself, per details posted by Powered by Women, will spread its programming across the Sacramento State University Union Ballroom, McKinley Park, and Sanctuary, giving each day of activities its own distinct setting and purpose.
A Three-Day Lineup From Masterminds to Matcha
Day one kicks off September 25 with an exclusive VIP Night at Sanctuary featuring the Northern California debut of “The Founder's Table,” a traveling mastermind session in which every attending founder gets direct feedback on a major business challenge, the event listing notes. VIP ticket holders also get access to an editorial portrait studio that evening.
Day two, on September 26, functions as the core of the gathering back at Sacramento State, with 15 speakers, two keynotes, podcast-style panels on visibility and sales, a Vendor Village marketplace reserved for women-owned businesses, complimentary professional headshots, and a Golden Hour happy hour rounding out the day's programming.
The conference winds down September 27 with an outdoor Wellness Morning at McKinley Park, featuring a group walk with Good Vibes & Strides, PopPilates sessions, wellness activations, and a coffee and matcha connection hour designed as an informal close to the weekend.
What It Costs to Attend
Ticket pricing for the September gathering ranges from $257.75 for General Admission, which covers days two and three, up to $457.75 for full-weekend VIP access that includes the Sanctuary mastermind night, according to PBS KVIE Abridged.
From Informal Meetups to a Multi-City Network
Powered by Women was originally founded in 2018 under the name Women of Sacramento by CEO Bri Norberg, created as an informal networking alternative to traditional, pitch-heavy corporate mixers, according to the organization's own account of its history. Since then it has grown from local meetups into a network spanning Northern California, Southern California, and Arizona.
The Sacramento-founded organization also works alongside other regional business groups, including co-hosting events such as the Ghoul Friends in Business Mixer with the Sacramento chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, according to NAWBO Sacramento.
The Bigger Economic Picture
The conference's focus on sales panels and hands-on mastermind feedback lines up with broader numbers on women-owned businesses in the state. California leads the nation in female entrepreneurship with 1.5 million women-owned businesses, representing nearly 40% of all state enterprises, which generated $580 billion in revenue between 2019 and 2023, according to a report from HRWatchdog.
Yet national data points to a persistent gap between business formation and business growth. U.S. women-owned employer businesses grew by 8% between 2022 and 2025, four times the growth rate of men-owned businesses, but their revenue grew at just 7.7% compared to 18.1% for men, and 91% of women-owned businesses nationwide operate with no employees, per figures Norberg shared in a video posted to Facebook.
Local institutional support exists to help close that gap. The Sacramento-based California Capital Women's Business Center received state funding from the California Office of the Small Business Advocate to administer programs like License to Care, which connects local childcare startups to Dream Fund grants of up to $10,000, according to the California Office of the Small Business Advocate. Programming like Powered by Women LIVE fits into that same ecosystem, aiming to turn a weekend of networking and mastermind feedback into measurable business growth for the women founders who show up.
