2024-2025 Season
Please find our list of BHWF Monthly Forum Speakers for the 2024-2025 season.
If you have a recommendation for a speaker at a future forum, please click the button below and share their story with us!
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2024 @ 6:00PM
Melissa Fetter
Founder & Small Business Owner, Beacon Hill Books & Cafe
From Vice President at J.P. Morgan to Small Business Owner, Melissa has opened one of the hottest independent bookstores and cafes on the hill. From closing on the historic building pre COVID 19, navigating the large renovation, and finally opening with the restrictions of the pandemic, Melissa and her staff have outperformed their own goals and sold over 65,000 books. She is an active community volunteer with an interest in equitable access to the arts, education, and public broadcasting. Through her additional work with the Boston Atheneum, the bookstore offers an Authors in Conversation series, book talks and signing, as well as author readings.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2024 @ 6:00PM
Elin Hilderbrand
#1 New York Times Best Selling Author of 30 Novels
Elin Hilderbrand is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of thirty novels, including Swan Song (June 2024.) Her novel The Perfect Couple has been made into a 6-episode Netflix series starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber (September 5, 2024). Elin has rented in Beacon Hill for 6-8 weeks every fall since 2010 and has featured the neighborhood in her novels The Identicals and The Five-Star Weekend. Hilderbrand is currently writing a novel set at a New England boarding school with her daughter, Shelby. The Academy will release in September of 2025.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2024 @ 6:00PM
Dr. Eileen Reilly
Street Team Psychiatrist for BHCHP
After graduating from the University of Massachusetts Medical school and completing her residency in psychiatry, Dr. Reilly has focused her work with homeless persons experiencing psychiatric illness. While beginning her volunteer work for Boston’s Pine Street Inn as well as Women’s Lunch Place in Boston, she has continued on, to work for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. She currently facilitates care to homeless persons at St. Francis House, Women’s lunch Place, and Boston’s Pine Street Inn. Now, Dr. Reilly continues educating others about caring for homeless persons, is on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, and has received the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society award for her outstanding public service.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2024 @ 6:00PM
Holiday Party
‘Tis the season for food, drinks, and festive fun! Join us as we celebrate the holidays and look ahead to an exciting new year!
HORS D’OEUVRE | INCLUDED DRINK TICKET | BRING FRIENDS & FAMILY
$30 PER GUEST BY 11/12 | $35 AFTER 11/12
TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2025 @ 6:00PM
Dr. Fernanda Sakamoto
Physician-Scientist and Board-Certified Dermatologist
Dr. Fernanda H. Sakamoto, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor in Dermatology at the Harvard Medical School, Wellman Center for Photomedicine, and Massachusetts General Hospital. She is a fellow of the AAD and fellow of the ASLMS. Dr. Sakamoto maintains a cosmetic laser/device clinic in Brazil, and as a founding member of the Dream Beam Foundation, she is actively creating a free clinic and training center in Sao Paulo. Dr. Sakamoto has contributed with over 30 scientific and clinical publications in peer-reviewed journals, and over a dozen book chapters in the major Dermatology textbooks. She is an inventor on seven US and international patents on innovations in Dermatology.
Her research interests include laser and device therapies, PDT, acne, skin cancer, wound healing, and new material science. Currently, her work is focused on the development of new light-based treatments for acne and atopic dermatitis. She was the Program Chair of the 2022 ASLMS Annual Meeting and has received the Best Overall Scientific Award, Best Clinical Science Award (twice) Bast Basic Science Award, the Horace Furimoto Award for Innovation, and the Ellet Drake Memorial Award for innovative laser procedures by the same society.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2025 @ 6:00PM
Dr. Noelle Trent
President & CEO, Museum of African American History
As an accomplished public historian, Dr. Trent has served on committees in national museum organizations such as the American Alliance of Museums, American Association of State & Local History, the Association of African American Museums, and the International Sites of Conscience. She has collaborated with notable institutions including the National Park Service and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Previously, Dr. Trent served as Director of Interpretation, Collections & Education at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, spearheading major exhibitions as well as collections and educational initiatives, including the commemorative service for the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination, MLK50. Her contributions have garnered media attention from outlets such as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Today Show. Dr. Trent graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude from Howard University and holds a doctorate in United States History.
TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2025 @ 6:00PM
Dalit Ballen Horn
Executive Director, The Vilna Shul, Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture
Before being the executive director of the Vilna Shul, Dalit served as the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Impact at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, where she held key responsibilities in furthering the organization’s national strategy, vision, and fundraising efforts. Dalit designed and implemented cutting edge and creative approaches to expand the Institute’s partnerships, educational and programmatic agendas, visibility and effectiveness. She currently lives in Brookline with her family and she uses her dynamic leadership skills to grow the Jewish community in Boston around the Vilna Shul.
TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2025 @ 6:00PM
Suzanne Norman
Certified Coach, Speaker, Writer, and Financial Literacy Educator
Suzanne lives by the motto, “Scientia potentia est” – knowledge is power and knows when you have self-knowledge – who you are and what you want – you are much more likely to get it. She is devoted to helping women tap into their power and help her clients find their purpose too. Instead of calling this a retirement, she calls this her “rewirement.” Before she made her pivot, Suzanne spent three decades as a consultant and leader in the investment management industry. In addition to learning many best practices about money, she also learned that true financial wellness is a combination of mental health, physical health, and fiscal health. Seeing an opportunity to combine her years of investment experience with her passion for coaching, she created series of presentations and workshops linking the concepts of wealth and health called The Whealthy Woman.
Suzanne’s financial education work also includes roles in the not-for-profit space as an Education Fellow and Director of External Relations for the Retirement Income Institute, a Senior Education Advisor for the Alliance for Lifetime Income, and as an Advisor for the Grossman School of Business’ Women in Leadership Program at the University of Vermont. Suzanne holds a BA in Psychology and is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), Certified Positive Intelligence Coach®, and is Certified in EQ-I 2.0 EQ 360 (Emotional Intelligence). She also holds a Certificate in Women in Leadership and is a Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®).
TUESDAY, MAY 13, 2025 @ 6:00PM
Charles Street Couture
