The Hyatt Regency New Orleans is hosting more than 200 attendees this week for Curate Conference, a three-day event built around what organizers call the whole businesswoman — blending career development with wellness, leadership and networking. The gathering runs through Saturday, Sept. 19, and wraps with pitch competitions offering a combined $20,000 in prizes.
Curate Conference is a Baton Rouge-founded event focused on women in business, and this year marks its expansion into New Orleans, according to Biz New Orleans. The event is organized by Curate for Women Who Work and, per the group's own conference page, is described as a three-day personal and professional development experience designed for women who are ready to excel, per curateforwomen.org.
Founder Victoria Armstrong has said Curate was created to give women the tools and confidence to grow in every part of their lives, according to the Biz New Orleans report. That mission shows up in the conference's structure, which pairs professional-development sessions with personal-development tracks so attendees can build both a business and a life around it.
Sessions Cover Everything From AI to Hormone Therapy
On the professional side, attendees can choose sessions on AI learning, tax preparation, fundraising, grant writing, contract negotiations and experiential marketing, according to the conference's own program details. The personal-development track runs in parallel, offering sessions on reproductive health and family planning, maternal health and hormone therapy, leadership development through a program called Dare to Lead, and faith-based business development.
The conference is expected to feature more than 40 business leaders, speakers, honorees and emerging entrepreneurs, per the Biz New Orleans account. Fireside chats are set to include Tony Zanders, CEO of Nexus Louisiana, and Shay Claiborne, founder of Milestone Mate, who placed third in Curate's 2024 pitch competition with her company Mommyfluent Toys, according to the same report.
Pitch Competitions Put $20,000 on the Line
The event's final day centers on two pitch competitions. The Women's Pitch Competition will award a $15,000 grand prize to a female tech entrepreneur, while a companion competition for high school students will award $5,000 to help launch a business idea, per curateforwomen.org. Those numbers echo the site's framing that the Women's Pitch and Student Pitch finalists take the stage for $15,000 and $5,000.
The pitch segment opens with a live recording of the Rich Lessons Podcast featuring Sevetri Wilson Taylor and Sheena Allen, according to Curate's conference page. Curate Besties, described as a network of more than 40 women who contribute directly toward Curate's pitch competitions, reportedly committed at least $1,000 each toward this year's prize pool, per Biz New Orleans.
Awards Program and Past Pitch Winners
The Curate Honoree Awards Program will recognize 16 honorees across 13 award categories and will feature a keynote from Dr. Camille Salter, according to curateforwomen.org, which also describes an accompanying awards luncheon as part of the conference schedule. Specific names of this year's honorees were not detailed in available materials.
Curate's pitch competition history dates to 2024, when the organization held its first live pitch event and raised $25,000 to support participating founders, according to the Biz New Orleans report. Among that year's competitors was AnnaBeth Guillory, founder of the BeautyFindr app, who won a $10,000 grand prize. The beauty-service app, which Guillory launched in March 2024 with Baton Rouge software company Vigilus, beat out four other finalists — Bea's Bayou Skincare, Mommyfluent Toys, Live Royally Network and Legacy Driving Academy — according to 225 Baton Rouge. That 2024 event was Curate's third annual conference and marked the organization's first live pitch competition, per Biz New Orleans.
