Rachel Zoe, Emma Grede, & More Influential Voices Led This Year’s Visionary Women's Summit

For the last 11 years, the Visionary Women Summit has gathered high-impact women with a clear mission in mind: Empowering, educating, and supporting. Among the list of past featured guests are such leading voices as Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Venus Williams — those who share a passion for philanthropy and driving change for women and girls on a global level. This year, the social impact organization continued that trajectory with a lineup of thought-leaders, authors, entrepreneurs, and more trailblazers to raise awareness and funds for educational, economic, arts, and social service initiatives. The Visionary Women’s Summit 2026 featured Rachel Zoe, Emma Grede, Moll Anderson, and other big-thinkers, who moved the crowd with conversations about self-belief, beauty, and so much more.

This year’s summit took place on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at The Beverly Hills Hotel and focused around the theme of “The Multidimensional Woman”. The room buzzed with a gathering of women, all motivated by the concepts of opportunity, advancement, and tangible change. “Each year, the Visionary Women Summit gives us an opportunity to turn inspiration into action,” Executive Director of Visionary Women Ani B. Packard said via press release. “By bringing our community together to learn from women who are leading, creating and, making an impact in different ways, we are also able to invest directly in the next generation. The Summit reflects what Visionary Women is all about — building meaningful connections, expanding opportunity and creating lasting change for women and girls.”

In addition to awarding honorees including FreeFrom Founder and CEO Sonya Passi and philanthropist Anderson, the five-hour event included panel discussions from AERIN Founder and Creative Director Aerin Lauder and innovative biotech executive Dr. Maky Zanganeh, leading up to a fireside chat that paired global fashion icon Zoe with serial entrepreneur and Start with Yourself author Grede (who was also honored that day). Together, the two tackled the topic of “The Power of Self-Belief” — something to which both credit their success — leaving attending guests with a renewed sense of purpose.

To date, the Visionary Women’s Summer has raised over $4.7 million for causes that support women and girls worldwide. And with the help of this year’s inspiring, impactful event, its mission just keeps moving the goal post.