On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2020, Hayat Mirshad was chosen to moderate the 2nd  Global Conversation: “Making the Case on Female Leadership” at LAU, Beirut campus, which connected fearless, innovative and diverse women across 9 countries California | Bogota| London | Athens | Amman | Istanbul | Beirut |Joburg |Karachi.

This event was organized by Athena40 in partnership with Global Thinkers Forum. It welcomed 60 speakers to debate live on women’s issues, just ahead of International Women’s’ Day, March 8th. The conversation that was under the theme ‘Making the Case on Female Leadership’ was centrally moderated from London under BBC World’s Tim Willcox who connected live to 8 other cities/panels to get a sense of what progress has been made regarding women’s empowerment, where the major challenges and opportunities for women lie, who are the real change makers globally, and what can be done to promote diversity and inclusivity – together and in parallel.

In Beirut, the event was moderated by Mirshad and hosted a panel of prominent Lebanese women leaders: Dr. Elise Salem- VP, LAU, Ms. Joelle Abou Farhat- Co-Founder/ President 50/50 Lebanon, Ms. Rola Hoteit- first female Pilot, Ms. Rana Salhab- Partner- Talent & Communications-Deloitte & Touche (M.E.), and Ms. Roula Douglas, journalist and gender equality advocate.