Founders Collective
An immersive leadership experience for women ready to expand their impact.
The most meaningful leadership is rarely about having all the answers. It’s about knowing yourself well enough to lead with intention, having the courage to engage complexity, and understanding how your choices shape the people and organizations around you.
The Founders Collective is an immersive leadership experience designed to challenge and develop women who are ready to expand the way they lead. Rooted in the enduring values of Alpha Omicron Pi and inspired by the vision of our Founders, the Collective brings together women from across AOII for an experience of reflection, dialogue, exploration and connection.
Through three immersive experiences, participants will explore leadership from the inside out — beginning with the individual, expanding to relationships and teams, and ultimately considering what it means to steward an organization and its future.
The Experience
Know Yourself: The Inner Work of Leadership
Effective leadership begins with understanding yourself. This experience invites participants to explore their leadership identity, personal values, strengths and blind spots — and what it means to lead with authenticity, confidence and intention.
Explores: self-awareness, values, leadership identity, mindsets, emotional agility, presence, personal effectiveness
Lead Others: The Art of Influence and Connection
Leadership becomes more complex when other people enter the equation. Participants will examine how to build trust, navigate difficult conversations, engage differing perspectives and create alignment without losing sight of what matters most.
Explores: influence, relationships, trust, conflict, communication, feedback, collaboration, collective impact
Shape What’s Next: Leadership, Strategy and the Greater Good
The further leadership extends, the more consequential the decisions become. This experience challenges participants to think expansively — to consider the difference between managing what exists and shaping what comes next.
Explores: strategic thinking, systems thinking, decision-making, purpose & vision, ambiguity, priorities, governance, organizational stewardship, long-term impact
Format & Schedule
The Collective unfolds over approximately eight months, combining three in-person gatherings with virtual experiences for reflection, application and continued connection in between.
- Gathering 1: February 12-14, 2027 – Know Yourself
Virtual reflection & application - Gathering 2: May 14-16, 2027 – Lead Others
Virtual reflection & application - Gathering 3: September 10-12, 2027 – Shape What’s Next
Time commitment: approximately 10–15 hours/month on average, with additional time during the in-person gatherings. Attendance at all three in-person experiences is required as learning builds session to session.
Who Should Apply
The Founders Collective is for initiated AOII members in good standing who have demonstrated leadership — in their careers, communities, organizations or other areas of life — and who are ready to think more deeply about how they can contribute to AOII’s future.
We’re looking for members who:
- Have demonstrated leadership and a track record of making things happen
- Are serious and intentional about their continued growth
- Think beyond their own role, chapter or experience
- Bring perspective — experience, expertise, ideas or passions that add to the conversation
- Think strategically about AOII’s opportunities and challenges
- Lead with courage and are willing to ask hard questions and engage complexity
- Value collaboration and are genuinely curious about other perspectives
- See AOII’s future as something they can help shape, not just benefit from
You do not need extensive AOII volunteer experience. Your leadership doesn’t have to have happened in AOII — professional experience, community involvement, entrepreneurial pursuits and other meaningful commitments all count. What matters is what you bring: your experience, perspective, curiosity, courage and willingness to contribute.
How to Apply
Applications open October 12 and are due November 9, 2026. Participants will be selected by December 2 and participation confirmation is due December 16.
The application asks for:
- Applicant info (name, contact info, chapter/initiation year, headshot)
- Professional background (employer, title, industry, résumé)
- An AOII résumé, or a summary of leadership and volunteer experience
- Three short written responses (300 words or less each), on what you’d bring to the Collective, a challenge or opportunity you think AOII should be considering, and what you hope to give and gain from the cohort
- A brief (two minutes or less) video on why the Collective, and why now
Cost & Logistics
Tuition is $500, payable personally or through employer professional-development funds where available. AOII covers travel, lodging, meals and materials for all three in-person experiences. Selected participants will sign a commitment agreement outlining expectations for attendance, preparation and participation.
The Founders Collective is made possible thanks to the AOII Foundation and its donors.