Meet the 3 inspiring speakers at the Fearless Forward event
On Oct. 23, the Business Record will celebrate five years of Fearless, an initiative to empower Iowa women to succeed in work and life.
Fearless Forward event attendees will be active participants in fulfilling our mission: Together we will rise above current challenges by leaning into important conversations where everyone has a seat at the table, we will engage with passionate professionals and we will acknowledge our fears but move forward anyway.
Guests will have the opportunity to hear from three inspiring speakers.
Lalonyo AnyaCeng is the owner of Cleaning for Hope, a Des Moines-based residential and commercial cleaning service. She was born and raised in a refugee camp in Uganda after her parents fled conflict in South Sudan. Her family was to come to the U.S. in 2001, but were delayed for four years after the events of 9/11. They finally arrived in New York City on a cold January day in 2005. A woman wearing a black suit and a brown coat greeted them in the airport, and Lalonyo quickly decided she would do anything she could to one day afford a brown coat and a black suit just like hers.
Lalonyo now lives in Des Moines with her four sons and supports other women, immigrants and refugees through her cleaning business.
Shanna Sieck and her husband, Curtis, decided she’d stay home with their children after they were born. Her role of caregiver took on a whole new meaning when her middle son, Mason, was diagnosed with Gardner Syndrome at age 2. They received the devastating news that Mason needed to be in hospice care. At age 7, he died from his illness.
Mason was supported in his final days by Crescent Cove Respite and Hospice for kids in Minnesota. Moved by the incredible care Crescent Cove provided Mason and the rest of their family, Shanna and Curtis set out to open Iowa’s first pediatric hospice and respite home.
They are currently fundraising and searching for a site for “Mason’s Light House.” The nonprofit will become only the fourth pediatric hospice and respite home in the United States. Shanna was born and raised in Grinnell, where she and Curtis live. They have two other children, Colton and Izzy.
Angela Franklin is the Business Record’s 2025 Women of Influence Alum of the Year. She was honored as a Woman of Influence in 2014.
Franklin became the 15th president of Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences in 2011. She is from McCormick, S.C. She graduated magna cum laude from Furman University and is a Phi Beta Kappa. She went on to complete her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Emory University and a year-long clinical internship at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Franklin has more than 25 years of experience in higher education, previously serving as executive vice president and provost at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., where she also held a professorship in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
Franklin has made a significant impact in recruiting students to study medicine at DMU and oversaw the opening of the school’s new campus in West Des Moines.
Guests will also participate in live content creation that will be featured in Fearless, partake in motivational exercises and connect with others equally passionate about gender equity. Attendees will leave feeling encouraged to act fearlessly in their individual and collective pursuits to create a better world.
All three of the speakers, plus three other Fearless Iowa women, will be profiled in-depth in our annual Fearless publication, which will be handed out at the event.
Event details: Thursday, Oct. 23 | 10 a.m. to noon | Des Moines Marriott Downtown
To learn more or register for the event, visit fearlessbr.com/events/.
