The OWN IT Summit will be on March 18th with main stage speakers in Gaston Hall, breakout sessions around campus and a marketplace in HSFC. Do you find yourself asking what exactly is OWN IT? Well, here is its mission statement:

“Preparing the next generation of female leaders: OWN IT is bridging the gap between female leaders of the 21st century and the millennials who admire them, by shaking up the women’s leadership arena and producing accessible events for college-aged women.”

That’s got me ~feelin myself~.

Last year two-time Olympic gold medalist Abby Wambach helped ~kick off~ the Summit. She sat down for an interview with CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell and received the OWN IT award.

A few of her fellow speakers from OWN IT 2016 will be in attendance this year, including Amani Al-Khatatbeh, founder & Editor-in-Chief of Muslim Girl,

and Sarah McBride, National Press Secretary of the Human Rights Campaign.

Now back to 2017. Before reading any further, I highly suggest you click this link and play “The Future is Female” by Madame Gandhi. Madame Gandhi will be performing at the summit this year. On top of that, she, herself, is a Hoya.

She graduated in 2011 after majoring in Math. Before she launched her solo career, she was a drummer for MIA (brb transferring schools to become a math major).

So, if that hasn’t gotten you excited to #OWNIT, we at 4E are here to update you on some of the speakers, vendors and other happenings at the Summit this year.

Madame Gandhi will not be the sole Hoya to speak at OWN IT. She will be joined by one of the founders of Misfit Juicery, Anne Yang, who graduated just last year. Misfit Juicery uses fruit that was deemed unsuitable to sell due to its appearance to make juice (pro tip: don’t judge a fruit by its cover).

Anastasia Somozoa is another Hoya returning to the Hilltop for the Summit. You might recognize her as one of the speakers at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. She is also an international disability rights activist.

Current Hoya Summer Durant (C ’17), who spoke at TEDxGeorgetown this fall, will reprise parts of her talk at the Summit.

These Hoyas will be joined by the following leading ladies:

Symone Sanders, a CNN Political Correspondent and Former Press Secretary for the Bernie Sanders campaign.

Tina Tchen, former Chief of Staff to Michelle Obama.

Congresswoman Stephanie Murray, a Democrat from Florida who has earned the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service.

These are just a few of the accomplished and game-changing women that will be speaking at OWN IT. If you’d like to see the other speakers, check out the Facebook page.

Not only do they get to listen to women leaders speak on Gaston, but attendees partake in two breakout sessions, smaller, topic-focused panels where they have the chance to interact with speakers and become their best friend.

The Summit will also have a marketplace with over twenty vendors including Sweetgreen, POLITICO and Maracas Ice Pops. Sweetgreen is a sponsor of the event and will be providing lunch for the day. POLITICO will conduct video interviews with attendees for their upcoming website and will present print issues and provide promotional items. Three student groups will also be a part of the marketplace: Bossier, McDonough Women, and Bassigue. Bossier is creating a magazine issue specifically for the Summit which they will feature at the marketplace. McDonough Women will provide promotional items and Bassigue will present their merchandise.

If that doesn’t seem like enough, attendees get swag bags, which last year included an OWN IT pen and definitely helped me #own my finals.

So get ready to #OWNIT! And if you were unable to acquire a ticket, but still want to watch the day unfold, follow the Summit online through #ownit2017.

Photos/gifs: Giphy.com, OWNITSummit.com, TEDXGeorgetown.org, Facebook.com/theownitsummit.com, buquad.com