On Jan. 29, professional services firm Citrin Cooperman and the Westfair Business Journal will host the “2026 Women in Power” event at Manhattanville University in Purchase.
It’s an opportunity for guests to glean insights from a panel of accomplished women leaders and also network with influential women in our community. Chelsea Blancato, a partner at Citrin Cooperman, will moderate a panel that includes Lola Gazivoda, founder and CEO of Bota Consulting Group; Fran Pastore, founder of the Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC) in Stamford; and Maria Trusa, owner and CEO of Formé Medical Center and Urgent Care in White Plains.
Lola Gazivoda – an immigrant’s journey to entrepreneurial success
Gazivoda’s Bota Consulting Group is an offshore recruiting, consulting and management firm that connects U.S. businesses with talent from her native Albania. The company also partners with onshore organizations to drive revenue growth, streamline project management and provide strategic consulting services. Her leadership background includes almost 20 years at JPMorgan Chase, Capital One Bank and M&T Bank, where she led high-performing teams and managed extensive business banking portfolios. Additionally, Gazivoda served as loan portfolio manager and empowerment zone director forYonkers, overseeing federal funds and spearheading programs for economic and community development.
A Business Council of Westchester 40 Under 40 Rising Star, she emigrated from a small village in Shkoder, Albania, to the United States at age 14, beginning high school in the Bronx without a word of English. But through hard work and determination, she said she gradually mastered the language and excelled academically, earning a degree in finance from Pace University that laid the foundation for her career.
Gazivoda sits on the boards of the Westchester Medical Center Foundation and the Business Initiative Corp. of New York (BICNY) as well as the Business Development Bank Board of Tompkins Community Bank.
Fran Pastore – helping to shape women’s economic futures
Beyond the Women’s Business Development Council, which she founded in 1997, Pastore has advised top leaders in government and business. She has served on the National Women’s Business Council, co-chaired Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s Jobs and Economy Policy Committee and contributed to economic development initiatives at the state and local levels. She currently chairs the Connecticut Paid Leave Authority Board and serves on the boards of Hartford HealthCare, the M&T Bank Connecticut Directors’ Advisory Council and the Webster Bank Community Advisory Council.
Pastore’s affect is global as well. She has worked with women entrepreneurs in Costa Rica, Turkey, Rwanda and Ethiopia, representing the U.S. at the Women’s Summit and the Global Entrepreneurship Conference in Istanbul.
For nearly three decades, she has helped shape policies advancing women’s economic rights, testifying before Congress and the Connecticut Legislature and strengthening economic opportunity for women across the state and beyond.
Maria Trusa – fighting for quality health care and children’s rights
As the owner and CEO of Formé Medical Center and Urgent Care in White Plains, Trusa has focused on creative solutions to providing health care in a medical membership model for the vulnerable Latino community, including undocumented and uninsured families.
Her transformational methodology, she has said, “is centered on guiding women through a step-by- step journey of self-actualization, releasing the bonds that have held them captive and ultimately granting themselves the emotional autonomy to rewrite their stories and empower those around them.”
Through her organization and autobiography “Yo Digo No Mas” (“I Say No More”), Trusa has dedicated her life to raising her voice for the voiceless — men as well as women and children — empowering women from diverse backgrounds especially to confront the traumas and events that have bound them; helping to instill in them the confidence and emotional resilience to rise above their pasts and claim control of their llives.
The “2026 Women in Power” event takes place 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, at Manhattanville University’s Reid Castle, 2900 Purchase St., Purchase. To register, click here.
