PayTech Women Atlanta Chapter

11/14/2025

Please register today and plan to join us as Erin Peterson shares how you can Talk Like a Visionary at any stage of your career. Whether you are a student or fully seasoned, it’s never to late to up your resonance game. Many thanks to Dr. Laveda Pullens, Laura Gibson Lamonthe and for hosting this event. Thank you Dana Sills, PayTech Women Atlanta Chapter Chair for bringing this effort from concept to ex*****on. It’s certainly one not to miss.

Join us for this In-Person Chapter LinkUp on December 9. This event will be an opportunity to lead change - women must be heard, remembered and followed. Talk Like a Visionary equips women with clarity, creativity and conviction. This isn’t about “performing.” It’s about claiming your voice,...

09/19/2025

Paytech Women Atlanta Promotes Future Fluency at Synovus

This past Tuesday, September 16th, 2025, PayTech Women Atlanta partnered with Synovus to host Ania Lackey, Executive Director of Fintech Atlanta, Bowman Hill, AI Data Analyst and AI Expert of Synovus, and Laura Gibson-Lamothe, Executive Director at the Georgia Fintech Academy and Executive Committee – Secretary of PTW for a highly interactive panel on future fluency. Our illustrious panel was mediated by Jessica Jones, Product Marketing, Third-Party Payments at Synovus, Member of the PTW Atlanta Chapter Planning Committee, and Executive Coordinator of FinTech Atlanta, and Dana Adams Sills, CMO of SP2 and Chair of the PTW Atlanta Chapter.

Members and future members gathered at the venue graciously sponsored by Synovus and hors d’oeuvres graciously sponsored by the PTW Atlanta Chapter. The evening began with informal networking leading into the interactive panel, followed by group photographs, and ending with lingering network as nobody really wanted the event to end.

With Laura providing insights into future fluency as it relates to our educating future leaders and application of ethical guardrails, Bowman providing insights into the various AI models and case studies, and Ania explaining how these new tools delivered by the current and next generation of leaders impacts our fintech ecosystem, the conversation truly did not want to end. Laura provided multiple resources for our audience to get started on becoming future fluent using AI and even courses where attendees could earn badges to help with their competitive position in the job market. Tradeoffs of information for privacy were discussed and encouragement to try AI for non-sensitive information-related issues were encouraged for attendees to see how AI could help them in both their personal and professional lives.

The moral of the story: Fear comes from not knowing or understanding something. Gain understanding to quelch the fear. Become empowered by the knowledge you attain. Baby steps can lead to giant leaps forward.

08/29/2025

Would you like to be well-versed in the future of our industry? Register today for our upcoming event on getting Future Fluent with Synovus and PayTech Women Atlanta Chapter.

Learn more and register here. https://www.paytechwomen.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1988805&group=

Many thanks to Jessica Jones and Dana Sills, MBA as well as all our presenters Ania Lackey, Kevin Dodson, Jonathan J O'Connor, Kristin Slink, and Laura Gibson-Lamothe for putting together another stellar CAN'T MISS event!

Join us for this In-Person Chapter LinkUp on September 16. This event will be an opportunity to both network and gain insights into industry topics.

05/05/2025

PayTech Women Atlanta Taco Tuesday – A Networking Success

You know when your event is a success when you are asked multiple times by smiling eyes and warm voices, “When is the next event?”

The only thing that didn’t go as planned was that we forgot to gather our friends for a group picture, so instead, we have this nice collage of engaged people. They looked so happy you would have thought that we were picking up their tab (which we didn’t – that would be a future sponsorship opportunity for another time).

We could argue that we didn’t want to disrupt the flow of intense and highly engaged networking, which was really going on for a “group selfie;” however, in the fizz and enjoyment of the moments, we simply truly forgot.

This event was the opposite of speed networking. Every attendee was given a nametag, encouraged to pick up a flyer, and also given a pen to take notes on their time collaborating with their table and possibly a second table. This allowed the participants at each table the opportunity to truly get to know each other. Connections made. Opportunities opened. Friendships forged.

04/24/2025

The Power of You Personal Branding Brought to You by Media Frenzy, Synovus, and PayTech Women Atlanta

This past Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025, Sarah Tourville, CEO & Founder of Media Frenzy Global presented to dozens of attendees who braved evening rush hour traffic to attend her session on The Power of You: Personal Branding for Career Growth sponsored by Synovus (overlooking the traffic frenzy that is I-75 & I-285) and hosted by the PayTech Women Atlanta Chapter.

Although the event was free to attendees, everyone we spoke to received far more than the “cost of admission” or expectation. After informal networking enjoying exceptional hors d’oeuvres and locally sourced internationally famous soft drinks (you know the ones), the focus on the room turned to Sarah who led us on our branding journey. She began by advising as to the emptiness of copying and imitating other successful, famous people when embracing and expressing our own authenticity not only sets up apart, but makes us a memorable stand-out when, say, competing for a promotion or new role.

Sarah surfaced the blurring of professional and personal lines both online and offline, reminding us that we are Googled by new contacts before business meetings, just as we Google others. As she put it, visibility is the new currency. The more visible you make yourself, the more opportunities you will encounter. Again, we are reminded that our authenticity is a competitive advantage, and not something to blend away into bland neutrality and immemorability.

The audience was then guided through a series of introspective questions such as focusing each individual on defining our personal values, thinking about what’s shaped each of our own current leadership styles, and meditating on what reasons others seek us out. The last question got us to think about seeing ourselves from the point of view of others, and that led us to speaking of ourselves the way we wanted to be referred to. With such thought-provoking exercises, you could hear a pin drop in the room. That is, until attendees were asked to share. Then we had a Sharing Frenzy. Frenetic, kinetic, authentic, refreshing.

Everyone left with a story to build upon and to share – the story of their own personal brand. The best possible work in progress we could have to create, mold, and perfect.

04/24/2025

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jinzoQsquPU

I want to shine the spotlight on Julianie Ferguson and Dana Sills, MBA—two powerhouse women leading the way in the paytech industry. Their work is driving i...

04/07/2025

Interested in a Taco Tuesday networking event on Tuesday, April 29th, 2025? Come out with our team to expand and strengthen your network. All attendees are responsible for their own tabs. Click on the below link to learn more and register today.

https://www.paytechwomen.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1954786&group=

03/19/2025

PayTech Women Atlanta invites you to register to attend our next event, The Power of You: Personal Branding for Career Growth which will be held on Tuesday, 4/22/25 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Enjoy networking while learning how you can develop and truly invest in your personal brand.

Click here to register:
https://www.paytechwomen.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1949806&group=

02/16/2025

PayTech Women Atlanta Galentine Event at Kendra Scott Avalon

This past Wednesday, PayTech Women Atlanta and friends of PTW Atlanta gathered for an informal evening of networking, shopping, enjoying sweet treats, and good cheer.

A huge thank you to Amanda Young, Marketing and Philanthropic Manager at Kendra Scott, as well as Kaitlyn, the Manager on staff during the event, and her entire team of jewelry and color specialists.

Many enjoyed picking out something special for themselves or another as evidenced by the signature yellow bags. A percent of proceeds is dedicated to the PTW Atlanta Chapter as a 501(c)(3) in their support for furthering women in the fintech/payments industry through leadership, educational, networking, and other events both locally and virtually.

For everyone who shared their spark with another that evening, thank you for making a connection. Together we make quite a constellation.

01/16/2025

Please register here

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/paytech-women-atlanta-chapter_paytechwomen-paytechwomentatlanta-futureoffintech-activity-7285767203885363200-aUk5?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

to join us for an evening of networking, pre-Valentine's Day shopping, and lite hors d'oeuvres the Wednesday before Valentine's Day at one of our Kendra Scott locations. Details provided in the link. A portion of any purchases made at the event will help fund PayTech Women Atlanta Chapter initiatives. Thank you for all your support. We HEART you very much! Fellows, you're welcome, too. What a great way to prepare for Valentine's Day while strengthening and expanding your meaningful network.

12/17/2024

A Year to Remember. An Event to Never Forget

Inspired by a member of our planning committee stating wouldn’t it be nice to host a holiday party and seeing many of our fellow chapters planning to do the same, we were able to combine the generosity of Kathleen Houseman and Dexterous Talent and hospitality of Jessica (“Jess”) Jones of Synovus to be able to pull off an amazing event in a short amount of time despite every opportunity, er . . . challenge, you could throw at a situation (absences, holidays, applying new technology, technology limitations, the fact that the weather was not festive on the day of, being in a combination of balmy warm 66 and raining cats, dogs, and alligators [why not?] so nobody wore a holiday sweater lest they collapse from self-induced fever).

Yes, Kathleen Houseman donated a gorgeous St. Augustine vacation that was to be raffled off at the event. She also provided all of the food and beverage which was simply magnificent (hint: Publix catering can be POSH). And new member, Jess Jones of Synovus, who literally met us as an organization at our most recent Summit amazingly lent us her 7th floor Pent Floor (it’s like a penthouse, only better – its the only way you want to view I-285 traffic where you can smile and relax on their covered outdoor patio).

Thank you to all members and friends of PTW who suffered the weather and traffic to arrive and thrive. Everyone enjoyed the casual networking and holiday networking match up. I, of course, was Cousin Eddie (chic, glamorous, I know) and was able to connect with my very own Clark Griswold. 😊

The culmination of the event was the curious raffle which upticked in activity all during the event (thank you procrastinators – you really do know how to Get It Done!). In the end our very own Hope Page won the drawing managed real-time and onsite by Jewel Hazelton with Kathleen making the final draw.

Before ending, we ventured onto the observatory deck to pose for Carey, move furniture, pose for Carey again, smile, blink and smile again while he took as many shots as he could to make sure everyone looked as fabulous as they are, before they moved furniture again. You would think we were at a CrossFit training with all the furniture that can be moved in such a short amount of time.

A note on which to end the year: THANK YOU!
You are what makes our chapter thrive.
You are who give our chapter life.
You are the ladies who cheer for our sisters when others may simply be competing.
You embody the very good of humanity in a world where many are more interested in bad news, not good news.
Thank you for creating good news with us.
2025 is a brand-new season for PTW Atlanta. We sure hope to see you there on the top of our front page smiling.

With Love,
Dana Sills & the PTW Atlanta SuperSt*rs

May you be a light to others, and may your constellation be oh so very merry and bright.

Beautiful Picture
[Picture of I-285 not included]

12/03/2024

Please consider supporting the PayTech Women Atlanta Chapter with a donation toward a raffle that will take place during our upcoming holiday event. Use the QR code to make a raffle ticket donation contribution. Register for the event here. https://www.paytechwomen.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1911280&group=