Days before her wedding was set to happen last June, Constance Capiotis was immersed in work and planning.
Besides dealing with wedding details, she was juggling a part-time job as a marketing manager and running two consulting firms that offered business strategy and coaching services.
Then came the call that her fiance, who also was a partner in one of her companies, had been arrested and charged with bank robbery.
How she coped and moved forward with her life and career will be summarized in a five-minute talk Ms. Capiotis will deliver at the Crossroads Conference — a gathering scheduled for March 10 that aims to help women find professional and personal connections as they face significant life decisions.
The Women and Girls Foundation, based on the South Side, launched the conference last year as part of its mission to promote leadership and opportunities for women to advance, said Heather Arnet, the foundation’s chief executive officer.
While women sometimes need assistance in the form of money or shelter if they are in crisis, many also need support navigating career, family and health choices, she said.
“There are professional crossroads such as relocating for a job, or a spouse’s job, or starting a business. And there are personal crossroads such as becoming widowed, leaving a marriage, starting a family or dealing with breast cancer. And those, too, can impact your job.”
Ms. Capiotis, 35, who resides in the city’s Elliott neighborhood, is one of 18 women who will tell their stories in concise speeches during the morning session of the day-long event.
Others include Kathi Elliott, executive director of Gwen’s Girls, a nonprofit that serves at-risk girls and that was founded by her mother, the late Pittsburgh police commander Gwen Elliott; and Kiya Tomlin, a fashion designer and business owner who is the wife of Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
Others include a refugee from Bhutan; a rape victim who became an advocate for other sexual assault victims; and a retired school principal who opened a tea shop.
The keynote lunch speaker is LaToya Ruby Frazier, a photographer and Braddock native who last year won a prestigious “genius” grant from the MacArthur Foundation.
She is an assistant professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who uses photography to document the stories of her family and others in Braddock who face economic struggles.
During the afternoon sessions of the conference, attendees can participate in workshops such as peer coaching; how to have courageous conversations about change; and ways to reflect, including meditation, yoga, art and journaling.
“We want women to realize they’re not alone in navigating very personal decisions,” Ms. Arnet said. “All these things are universal.”
When the foundation was planning last year’s inaugural event, “We didn’t know if anyone would show up,” she said. “Then 500 people did.”
Some came to hear the conference’s 2015 keynote, Lauren Morelli, a McCandless native who is a writer and producer for the Netflix series, “Orange is the New Black.”
Event organizers also got a lot of positive feedback from women who liked the conference but wanted to spend more time together in smaller sessions that would allow them to converse and share stories, said Ms. Arnet.
“What I like about the conference is that it’s not about speakers talking about ‘how I figured this out.’ It’s about women sharing stories that are human, funny, poignant … about how they navigated a crossroads in life … and saying you’ll get to the other side of this, too.”
The Crossroads Conference runs 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on March 10 at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Hotel at Station Square.
For more information or to register, go to www.crossroadsforwomen.com
Joyce Gannon: jgannon@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1580.
First Published: March 2, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
