Unleashed will be Sept. 28–30 at Wild Dunes Resort, Charleston S.C., the only multi-day leadership experience built exclusively for women in funeral service and deathcare.
Funeral Women Lead, the only 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation dedicated exclusively to advancing, developing and supporting women and those who identify as women in funeral service and deathcare, today announced that registration is now open for its second annual Leadership and Wellness Summit: Unleashed, and the second cohort of the Women’s Leadership Academy, an 18-month online leadership development program. Unleashed and the academy kickoff will take place Sept. 27 – 30, 2026, and at Wild Dunes Resort, Charleston S.C.
Spots are limited. Registration is live now at funeralwomenlead.org/events.
The Unleashed Summit is a focused, immersive experience designed for women in funeral service who have reached a place in their careers where they are ready for more: more clarity, confidence, community, and more of the leadership capacity they already carry. Most conferences give women a seat at the table for a day. Unleashed gives them the time to remember who they are as leaders, restore themselves and map their leadership journey.
“This profession asks so much of women, and it has given them very little dedicated space to grow as leaders, the way they want to,” said Lisa Baue, founder of Funeral Women Lead. “Unleashed exists to change that. We are not filling a deficit in these women or bombarding them with information. We are creating the conditions for what is already inside them to come forward.”
The 2026 Summit features a keynote with Jen Coken, an internationally recognized leadership expert and author of Make Imposter Syndrome Your Superpower, who will lead an immersive workshop on identifying limiting beliefs and building a more expansive leadership life. There will also be a guided leadership beach walk along the shoreline, allowing participants to apply newly discovered skills.
Angela Ippolito-Cottam of AIC Wellness will lead two body-centered sessions during the Summit, including somatic breathwork and nervous system regulation, designed specifically for those who carry the weight of working in funeral service and deathcare. The full agenda also includes a panel discussion on leadership, burnout, and boundaries in funeral service and deathcare.
Participants will gather at Wild Dunes Resort in Isle of Palms (just outside of Charleston), which offers professional-grade conference facilities alongside genuine natural beauty: shoreline, spa, outdoor terraces overlooking the Atlantic. For women who spend their days holding space for others, the environment itself is part of the experience.
Sept. 27 -28 will be the official kickoff for the second cohort of Funeral Women Lead’s Women’s Leadership Academy, an 18-month online leadership development program. The Academy represents the organization’s most substantive commitment to year-round, systemic leadership development: not a single event, but a sustained investment in the women who will shape the future of this profession.
Spaces are limited to both events; last year’s Summit and Leadership Academy sold out.