We are happy and proud to share that this year will be the 14th time that we are organising our International Women’s Day Conference.
Please mark your calendars for the 6th of March 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm. The event will be held in Hungarian and English, in person and online with interpretation.

THE FREEDOM OF DECISION?!

The economic value of conscious choice:
breaking down biases for a more sustainable future.

Conscious awareness is not a luxury, but the only viable path to long-term professional and personal success.
The Equaliser Conference provides the roadmap for this journey.
During the conference, we will explore the importance of conscious awareness in our decisions through personal stories and panel discussions. We are, examining the topic from a wide range of perspectives, including corporate HR decisions, career, family, health and wealth planning.
Date: March 6, 2026, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location: Magyar Telekom HQ (1097 Budapest, Könyves Kálmán krt. 36.)

PROGRAM

START
PROGRAM
SPEAKER
08:00 Welcome, networking
09:00 Opening – program, technical information Antónia Mészáros (UNICEF Hungary), moderator of the event
09:00 Welcome TBA
09:40 Keynote presentation Zsófia Lakatos (Emerald Public Relations)
10:00 Me and My Decisions…
ldikó Kovalcsik “Lilu”
Krisztina Máté
10:15 The Art of Taking Responsibility Barbara Poisson-Angeli (Angelfish Farm’s)

10:30

coffee break
11:00 presentation Eszter Varga (Tesco)
11:15 Roundtable discussion
powered by Tesco Magyarország
 Balázs Rácsok (Hungarian Interchurch Aid)
Dóra Szuri (AVON)
Eszter Varga (Tesco)
Antónia Mészáros (UNICEF Hungary), moderator
12:00 Career or Family? – presentation Dr. Linda Szijjártó (Magyar Telekom)
12:15 “Career or Family?” – The Modern Woman’s Forced Choices and Everyday Compromises
– Roundtable discussion
 Márta Reguly (Magyar Telekom)
TBA
TBA
Antónia Mészáros (UNICEF Hungary), moderator

13:00

lunch break
14:00
A
Brave, Conscious Change or Decisions Made Under Pressure?! – presentation
 TBA
14:15
A		 Brave, Conscious Change or Decisions Made Under Pressure?! – roundtable Gábor Herendi (director, producer)
Zsófia Mautner (gastroblogger)
TBA
TBA
14:00
B
Financial Awareness, Independence, and Consumer Choices – presentation
 Csaba Katona (historian)
14:15
B		 Financial Awareness, Independence, and Consumer Choices – roundtable Erika Csatos (Álomjövő Tanácsadó Iroda)
Márti Szilasi (ThetaHealing Science Master)
Andrea Dintsér (YourStory.hu, moderator)
TBA
14:00
C
Choosing Change? – presentation
 TBA
14:15
C		 Choosing Change? – roundtable Viktória Czibók (KPMG)
Luca Turmezey (NN)
TBA
Ágota Bíró (Engame Academi, moderator)

15:00

coffee break
15:30
A		 Conscious Decisions in Representing Our Own Value – Introductory presentation – presentation Andrea Szűcs (KPMG)
15:45
A		 Conscious Decisions in Representing Our Own Value – Introductory presentation – roundtable Ági Pataki
Éva Péterfy-Novák (writer)
Andrea Szűcs (KPMG)
Edina Heal (Egyenlítő Alapítvány, moderator)
15:30
B		 Women Behind the Decisions –presentation TBA
15:45
B		 Women Behind the Decisions – roundtable Adél Kováts (Radnóti Színház)
Claudia Sümeghy (JUNO11)
Domi Milanovich (WMN)
Zsuzsa Beke (Richter Gedeon)
TBA
15:30
C		 The Impact of External Pressure on Personal Choices – presentation Marci Pál
15:45
C		 The Impact of External Pressure on Personal Choices – roundtable Edina Lina Farkas
Kíra Járai
Marci Pál
Vera Mérő (moderator)
16:30 Closing remarks Edina Heal (Egyenlítő Alapítvány)
During the day we will provide catering.
The event is free for the active membership of the Foundation and open to the press, but registration is required.

For external participants, attendance is possible by purchasing a supporter ticket, priced at HUF 25,000, payable by bank card during the registration process.

The value of the supporter ticket is transferred as a donation to the Egyenlítő Foundation via the “Adjukössze” fundraising platform. Therefore, no invoice is issued for the ticket purchase; however, in the case of a corporate transaction, we can provide a donation certificate, as we are a public benefit foundation.

The conference will also be livestreamed as a Zoom event. The fee for online participation is HUF 5,000, payable by bank card during registration.

REGISTRATION

SPEAKERS

Founder of ÁLOMJÖVŐ Consulting Office

Erika Csatos, founder of the ÁLOMJÖVŐ Consulting Office, is recognised as one of the top financial advisors not only in Hungary but also internationally.
Her expertise lies in developing and managing long‑term financial plans and comprehensive financial strategies. She has spent more than 20 years working toward raising the level of financial literacy in Hungary.

Today, she is widely regarded as a financial mentor for women—believing that finance also has a “female face.” Since women face unique financial challenges throughout their lives, she designs specialised financial programs to ensure that her clients never find themselves in undignified situations due to a lack of financial resources.

In 2014, she envisioned and launched the Being a Woman Is Good! conference series, which has since gained nationwide recognition. She supports numerous civic initiatives, especially those related to women. One of her key goals is to help strengthen the culture of volunteering and philanthropy within her community.

Senior Manager, KPMG in Hungary

Viktoria is a Senior Manager of the People Services Group within the Tax Department of KPMG in Hungary. Viktória began her professional career in 2015 with KPMG’s Tax Department, specializing in comprehensive advisory services for multinational corporations and individuals. Her expertise encompasses compensation and benefits, reward strategies, remuneration policies, and international assignments. She is highly skilled in managing personal income tax and social security matters for expatriates and employees and provides strategic advice to individuals with significant investment portfolios.

Founder & Managing Director, YourStory.hu

A passionate communicator and network builder, she believes in the power of well‑designed, precisely targeted communication—whether online or offline—and in the importance of human relationships, which can be effectively supported and complemented by digital tools. Her key focus is supporting female leaders, women entrepreneurs, and startup founders.

She has over 30 years of leadership and professional experience, having worked in marketing and communications at PwC and later at KPMG in the Hungarian market, across Central and Eastern Europe, and at the EMA level. For more than 10 years, she led 19 countries as the Director of Marketing, Communications, and Knowledge Management for KPMG in Central and Eastern Europe. She is the founder and managing director of YourStory.hu, an integrated marketing and communications agency.

She led the Women Leaders’ Club of the Hungarian Business Leaders Forum for seven years from its inception. She is a board member of the Egyenlítő Foundation, vice‑chair of the board at United Way Hungary, a supporter of the Élethang Foundation, and a charity runner for Bátor Tábor together with her son, Marci.

journalist at nlc, co‑founder of Lalina Creatives, and a reproductive and adoption counsellor in training.

As a journalist, Lina E. Farkas has spent several decades publishing in numerous Hungarian media outlets (including Hvg, Forbes, nlc, Dívány, Nők Lapja, and WMN). Her work has primarily focused on social and public issues, often with the aim of raising awareness and supporting education. She is currently a senior staff writer at nlc.

In her personal life, she became a Single Mother by Choice. She was among the first in Hungary to speak openly about her decision—showing her face and using her real name—because it is important to her that the concept of family appear in a more nuanced way in public discourse, and that the right to start a family be understandable and accessible to everyone. She does not consider herself an activist, yet she feels responsible for making the existence and reality of alternative paths to parenthood more visible.

She is currently studying to become a reproductive counsellor, with the goal of making information needed for conscious family planning widely accessible. This includes options for fertility preservation, understanding the biological functioning of our own fertility, and the basics of IVF processes. On her new professional Instagram page, lina_fertility, she gladly shares her personal experiences and the knowledge she has gained so far.

In the future, she aims to combine her journalistic experience with her expertise as a reproductive counsellor and contribute to helping women plan their fertility earlier and more consciously—whether that means starting a family or choosing child‑free living.

founder and leader – Equalizer Foundation

Edina Heal is a prominent expert in social transformation, digital marketing and the media industry. A former leader of Google Hungary, and the former CEO of Hungary’s most successful commercial radio station, Sláger Rádió. Currently, as the Head of the Egyenlítő Foundation (Equaliser Foundation), she works for social equality, while also mentoring CEOs and business leaders. She is an influential voice on the success of diverse companies, digital transformation and conscious leadership.

Historian

Csaba Katona is a historian whose research focuses on the social and cultural history of 19th–20th century Hungary. He is the author of several volumes and numerous scholarly and popular science articles, and is a regular speaker at Hungarian and international conferences.

He graduated in 1998 from the Faculty of Humanities at Eötvös Loránd University with a degree in history. From that year until 2011 he worked at the Hungarian National Archives in various positions (archivist, head of department, press and program officer, director general’s secretary). During this time, he also served as the responsible editor of Levétári Szemle, Levétári Közlemények, ArchivNet, and Turul, and was a board member of the Association of Hungarian Archivists.

Between 2011 and 2022 he was a research fellow at the Institute of History of the Research Centre for the Humanities of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and from 2013 he also served as the Centre’s communications officer. Meanwhile, he was Vice President of the Hungarian Heraldic and Genealogical Society, a member of the Hungarian–Serbian Academic Joint Committee, Co‑chair of the Csokonai Vitéz Mihály Literary and Arts Society, responsible editor of SiópArt, and an editor of Világtörténet.

Since 2022 he has been working at the National Archives of Hungary. He is an external member of the “Lendület” Holy Crown Research Group, a member of the editorial boards of Lymbus and Múlt-kor, Co‑chair of the Hévízkult Association, a curator of the Imre Nagy Foundation, and a lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities of Eötvös Loránd University, the Faculty of Food Science at Szent István University, and the Faculty of Central European Studies at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra.

Awards and distinctions:
Cultural Ambassador of the Public Foundation for the City of Balatonfüred (2009);
Csokonai Award (2016);
Certificate of the Federal Agency of the Russian Federation for International Humanitarian Cooperation (2018);
Pro Probitate Certificate of the Rákóczi Association (2021);
Budapest Award (2024);
Terézváros Award (2025).

Television Host, Founder of the Liluland Online Beauty Platform

Lilu, whose full name is Ildikó Kovalcsik, is one of RTL’s most well-known and beloved television hosts. Throughout her career she has been the face of numerous iconic shows, all while succeeding as a businesswoman and a dedicated mother.

Lilu made her debut on RTL in 2003 as the host of the third season of ValóVilág. Since then, she has appeared in many popular programs. She has been the host of Cápák között (the Hungarian version of Shark Tank) for eight years, where she not only entertains viewers but also actively supports young entrepreneurs.

Lilu is present not only on screen; she is also an accomplished businesswoman. Under the brand Liluland, she has built her own online community where she shares content about skincare and beauty. Together with her business partners, she has created an authentic brand that enjoys great popularity.

She has received several awards, including the Businesswoman of the Year title at the GLAMOUR Women of the Year gala. Lilu emphasizes that being active in the online space helps her connect with her audience and support young entrepreneurs.

director, Radnóti Színház

Managing Director, Emerald Public Relations

I am a writer, motivational speaker, and a well-known communications professional; Member Emeritus and former President of the Hungarian Public Relations Association, and the Founder and Managing Director of Emerald Public Relations. I have been working in the PR profession for twenty-five years, regularly speak at national and international professional conferences, serve on competition juries, publish extensively, and lecture at several universities.

television presenter, producer of Sharks

Krisztina Máté is one of Hungary’s most recognized television hosts, and since 2009 she has also been running her own production company. She has always felt a strong connection to the world of business. In the TV show The Story of My First Million and the book based on it, she interviewed the country’s wealthiest entrepreneurs about how they built their fortunes.

In 2019, the first Hungarian business reality show, Shark Tank Hungary (Cápák között), premiered, and she has been the producer of the show since its launch.

food blogger, culinary writer, TV host

Zsófi Mautner started writing the Chili&Vanília blog in 2005, more than a decade ago. At the time, she was a diplomat in Brussels and pursued gastronomy as a hobby in her free time. She created Chili&Vanília to have a platform where she could write out the countless stories, experiences, and ideas she had gathered over the years. She never imagined that her passion would one day become a beautiful profession. She had no ambition to change careers—only an overwhelming desire to share what she had to say.
In 2008, she moved back to Budapest from Brussels, and in 2009 she left her diplomatic career behind for good. Since then, she has been working professionally in the field of gastronomy. To date, she has written nine cookbooks, plus two additional ones in collaboration with Lidl alongside Tamás Széll. She hosted a television cooking show for three years, has given Hungarian cooking demonstrations in numerous countries around the world, and has been a contributor or initiator of many creative culinary projects. The Chili&Vanília blog remains extremely important to her to this day.

writer, human rights defender, radio host, founder of the site and foundation „You are not responsible for it, but you can respond to it”

Vera Mérő is a human rights defender, writer, journalist, columnist, and radio host, as well as the founder of the platform and foundation “Nem tehetsz róla, tehetsz ellene” („You are not responsible for it, but you can respond to it”). She studied at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME), earning degrees in communication and media, media design, and art education.

She began publishing in Magyar Narancs in 2014. Her first book, Pornográcia, exploring the relationship between pornography, female sexuality, feminism, evolutionary psychology, and society, was published by Kalligram in 2012. This was followed in 2022 by Lúg, a nonfiction novel released by Felhő Café Books, in which she tells the story of Erika Renner, the victim in the widely known “caustic soda doctor” case. In the same year, she co-authored The Fundamentals of Comprehensive Sexual Education – A Handbook for Teachers and Other Child-Care Professionals.

From 2017 to 2019 she worked at Amnesty International Hungary, after which she spent two years hosting the morning current affairs program on Klubrádió. Since 2023 she has been the editor and reporter of the Glamour Talks with Vera Mérő podcast, and is also a regular guest on the Spirit FM program 3 Angry People.

She sees it as her mission to bring a human rights perspective into public discourse, and to help steer both societal interest and corporate behavior in this direction.

Vera currently publishes her work most frequently on her author Facebook page, in the print edition of HVG, and on the online platform of Glamour.

Executive Director @ UNICEF Hungary

Antónia Mészáros is the Executive Director of UNICEF Hungary, previously a journalist, tv anchor and documentary film director. She has worked in news, current affairs and documentaries in Hungarian media, as well as British Public Broadcasting. During her seven years at the BBC, she has worked at the prestigious prime time current affairs strand Panorama, Newsnight, Correspondent and other well known programmes.

She covered wars, filmed in hostile environments and worked also as an investigative journalist. Antónia continued making documentaries for the BBC after her return to her native Hungary, in parallel to her on screen work for Hungarian Public Television.

One of her films was selected „best of the year” by BBC World, another premiered in a cinema in front of King Charles. In 2006 she wrote a book about Eastern European migration to the UK. Over the years she has been selected as a European Young Leader, an Aspen Young Leader and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and completed executive education courses at Harvard and Oxford University.

Editor-in-Chief of WMN

Psychologist-journalist; Editor-in-Chief of WMN. She earned her degrees in Psychology at ELTE, in Gender Studies at CEU, and in Sport Psychology at Semmelweis University. For many years, she taught psychology and worked with human rights organizations. Since 2018, she has been a full-time journalist, and she joined WMN in the autumn of 2021.

family rights activist

Márton Pál works for the rights and equality of rainbow families. He is one of the initiators of the “Family is Family” campaign and the curator of the Foundation for Rainbow Families, which aims to strengthen family rights equality and the rights of LGBTQ parents. His work was also recognized by the Háttér Society when it awarded him for his activities for the community. As a family rights activist, he is particularly focused on promoting the rights of same-sex couples — such as adoption and marriage equality

producer, model, businesswoman

Ágnes Pataki is a Balázs Béla Award-winning producer, model, businesswoman. Her production work includes the films „Üvegtigris 1-3”, Montecarlo!, „Fehér tenyér”, „Halálkeringő”, „Egy nap”, „Legjobb tudományom szerint”, and the „Fagyi-film”.

Founder and CEO, AngelFish Holding

As the owner of 12 companies, Barbara believes that her businesses have not only economic, but also social and environmental responsibilities. For her, sustainability is a fundamental principle that permeates all levels of their operations. Barbara strives to make her decisions in harmony with their environment, thereby creating long-term value and balance. Energy sustainability and optimizing their resources, following the right business logic, bring cleaner and more efficient results.

Her businesses reached an annual turnover of 40 million euros in 2025, which they are very proud of, but it is the human and natural side that makes a business authentic, honest, sustainable and unique in the long run.

Director of Strategy and Methodology, Hungarian Interchurch Aid

My name is Balázs Rácsok. I am a qualified social worker as well as a supervisor and coach. I have been working at the Hungarian Interchurch Aid for more than 30 years, where I currently serve as Director of Strategy and Methodology. I began working with victims of domestic violence in 2005, when we opened the organization’s first crisis center. I was deeply moved by the stories of the victims, by the determination of those who had been abused, and I felt there was a need to develop further services and expand the existing ones.

I believe that helping is a form of art that requires a high degree of creativity, perseverance, attention, and humility from professionals. I consider the organization’s motto especially important: to help well means more than simply giving.

I believe that professionals working with victims need strong and continuous support. As a supervisor, coach, and the organization’s Director of Strategy and Methodology, I am committed to strengthening all those who work in this field.

Employee Engagement & Culture Team Lead, Magyar Telekom

Márta Reguly leads the Employee Engagement & Culture team at Telekom. Together with her team, she works to ensure that every employee can be their true selves and are able to contribute to the supportive community that Telekom represents. They support Telekom’s business success by building a future-proof, flexible, curious and collaborative culture.

Prior to this, Márta led the HR consulting team of an international company, supporting leading players in the Hungarian market in achieving their HR strategies, whether in organizational development, performance management, or employer branding.

Director, playwright and screenwriter, actor

Ferenc Sebő Jr. is a director, playwright and screenwriter, and actor. He graduated from the Intermedia Department of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and is the founder of the Budapest Anarchist Theatre. He has directed films and music videos (including “Nem tetszik a rendszer”), worked as a reporter (Abszolút), and created one of the first widely viewed investigative videos about the Samsung factory in Göd (for Átlátszó).

Among his visual art projects, the best known is the “four‑color painting” created for the Hungarian Two‑Tailed Dog Party, but he has also designed a video game and appeared in a Coca‑Cola commercial (FeriTivi).

He currently runs a socially focused TikTok channel (hovege.hu), with a particular interest in data‑driven narrative creation and the creative use of artificial intelligence.

actress, communications professional, mother of three

Klára Spilák graduated as an actress from the University of Theatre and Film Arts (formerly the Academy of Drama and Film). After only a few years on stage, she transitioned to television, working as an editor, reporter, and presenter at the former Hungarian Television (MTV). She later moved into the field of press communications. She served as the Head of Press for the Pécs National Theatre Festival for 15 years, and for several years she also hosted and handled press relations for the “University of All Knowledge” programme. During this time, she continued to work as a voice actress and appeared in several independent theatre productions.

In 2015, she returned to the University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE), where she became Head of Communications until the institution’s transition to a foundation model. It was during this period that she began reconnecting with her original vocation: acting. In recent years, she has appeared in several Hungarian and international films and TV series, and she has also returned to the stage, where audiences can currently see her in two productions.

producer, JUNO11 Pictures

Employee Engagement & Culture Expert, Magyar Telekom

Dr. Linda Szijjártó Employee Engagement & Culture Expert at Magyar Telekom, Work and Organizational Psychologist.

Her professional focus is on supporting mothers returning to the labor market after parental leave and working parents, from both training and scientific point of view. In her work, she particularly addresses the psychological and organizational challenges of balancing parenthood and professional life, as well as solutions that sustainably support parents’ reentry into and retention in the workforce.

In 2024, she conducted a nationwide study on the challenges and needs of parents returning to the labor market. The survey included 1,400 participants and provided in-depth insights into the current situation of returning parents, as well as identifying key needs that employers can address.

Linda regularly delivers workshops, training sessions, and presentations aimed at supporting parents returning to work, as well as raising awareness and preparing employers to build family-friendly organizational cultures.

She has presented her work on the TEDx stage, including TEDxBME in November 2023 and TEDx LibertyBridgeWomen in 2024.

Associate Partner, Tax & Legal, KPMG in Hungary

Andrea holds a Master of International Studies and is also a Certified Tax Advisor and has been a member of KPMG’s Personal Income Taxation Group since 2009. Since 2018, she has been leading the group, within the framework of which she launched the immigration business unit and also managed the salary transparency project and the development of people services. Her areas of expertise include personal income taxation, social security issues of cross-border expatriates, and she has participated in a number of advisory projects related to business representation, promotion, employee’s share programs and other employee benefits. Her clients’ portfolio includes several large companies with a Hungarian background, and she is proud to have participated in the development of the global mobility programs of these companies. She appears on the stage of several professional conferences as a with the above topics on the agenda, and she is also an Equaliser Foundation mentor.

External Communications Manager, Tesco

OUR SPONSORS