While many Angelenos were basking in the calmness of their Saturday morning, purposeful women from various disciplines congregated to Hollywood to attend Hello Sunshine’s second annual Shine Away conference — a two-day event aimed at bringing women together to connect, network and collaborate with each other .

On Saturday (October 5th), approximately 700 attendees were welcomed to the event by Reese Witherspoon, who owns the media company that produced the affair alongside the lead sponsor AT&T. Taking place at Nya Studios, the warm greeting kicked off two days of programming, activations, workshops, wellness moments and panels from notable leaders and their brands.

Following the founder and actress’ opening remarks, she sat down with Octavia Spencer and Laura Dern for an initial powerful conversation. Moderated by AT&T’s Chief Marketing and Growth Officer Kellyn Kenny, the prolific actresses described how their personal relationships with each other ultimately fuel their creative projects — for the better.

The panel covered many topics, including lessons learned in life — both professionally and personally — as well as how they hope to continue elevating women narratives. Here are all the takeaways from Saturday’s panel.

Reese Witherspoon admits to not being business savvy when she started pursuing her creative business endeavors

It’s apparent Witherspoon is genuine with her efforts. In her opening speech, she almost came to tears while telling a heartfelt story about how sunflowers move in relation to the sun for nourishment — ultimately utilizing the anecdote as a metaphor to make the point that there’s enough nourishment (and room) in the world for everyone to shine with success.

Her authenticity, relatability and vulnerability definitely separates her from what is the status quo in Hollywood. That day, her delivery made it very clear that she genuinely wants to elevate women and BIPOC visionaries in film and television.

Alongside the other Hollywood panelists, the Sweet Home Alabama star cites that Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman and Kerry Washington are also other cherished members of her community that she relies on to progress women storytelling.

Witherspoon started her own production company at 32 years old, yet admitted that she didn’t always have a sustainable business plan until she brought on CEO Sarah Harden, who eventually hired execs and built an infrastructure for the company.

She confessed to having an “aha” moment when her accountant presented a harsh truth, saying:

“I had a moment right after Big Little Lies. I had self-funded my first company and I thought… okay, well, Big Little Lies won all these Emmys and Wild and GoneGirl got all these Oscar nominations and we made $600 million at the box office. I had four employees and I couldn’t keep the lights on. I remember the accountant calling me, going, ‘You didn’t make enough money producing those three things to keep four employees.’ So I was like, ‘I’m doing something wrong.’ And that’s when I had this ‘aha’ moment. I was like, I need to have help. I don’t have a business plan.”

She candidly continued, “I think it was an important moment for me to realize that there’s things that I didn’t know and I had to reach out for help… It’s also good to know what you’re not good at.”

Laura Dern attributes her latest revelation to the Shine Away conference in real-time

Laura Dern, who was alongside Witherspoon and Spencer for the panel, admitted that she had an “aha” moment herself the night before the conference. Her 19-year-old daughter had just ended a business call when the Palm Royale star asked her a frank question: “What are your goals?”

“Well, of course, acting, writing and directing and producing stories… but also, I’m an activist. I want to go to law school. I’m interested in making documentary films,” her daughter replied.

Dern went on to say that she was embarrassed for thinking her daughter should “pick a lane” until she had an almost instant revelation. “Because of all of you sunflowers, I went, ‘Wait a second. She’s going to feel the sun everywhere and she’s going to be expanded because of all of you,’” Dern disclosed. “She’s going to be a businesswoman and a leader and a mom and take care of herself and go to pilates, even when it hurts. I really want to thank you (all) for teaching me what we’re entitled to in our voice and our ownership of self.”

Octavia Spencer is working on a movie adaptation of First Lie Wins and reveals what’s next for her

Octavia Spencer first teased her movie adaptation of the novel First Lie Wins, which is also featured in Reese’s Book Club, saying, “What I will say is that it’s propulsive. It’s a thriller and it’s sexy.”

The Academy Award winner avoided spoiling any storylines for the audience, but she did reveal that the stories she hopes to continue making have no boundaries.

“I want to continue to tell stories in all genres, (on) marginalized people, people who don’t actually necessarily have a voice. I’m on the board of AFI and I also contribute to the Sundance Institute. My company meets with people fresh out of college who get an agent. We are constantly looking for the emerging voices,” Spencer states. “So, I just want to continue to tell stories and hopefully inspire. I don’t care how we get there… if it’s a horror story, it’s inspiring (laughs). It’s show business, but it’s also an art form. I want to be able to continue to do things in all genres, but present opportunities for not just myself, but for as many people as I can bring along with me.”

AT&T’s Chief Marketing and Growth Officer and moderator of the panel Kellyn Kenny exclusively revealed what it was like working with Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine on Shine Away

Kellyn Kenny couldn’t rave enough about collaborating with Hello Sunshine on Shine Away and only hopes that their partnership makes the event “bigger and better” in years to come.

“I like to think it’s been inspiring on both ends… they felt really energized about the power of connection and the power of networking. And us, being just so on board with Reese’s mission: Female empowerment. When you think about entering into business partnerships, it’s not all the time that they have the opportunity to be as creative as we’ve made it to be here and where you can draw such inspiration from both the attendees and also the panels,” the executive exclusively said. “Hello Sunshine and A&T have kept the attendee in mind first. Everything that we’ve done is trying to curate an experience that really resonates with the people who are taking huge amounts of time out of their day.”

Other notable panelists in attendance throughout the weekend included Heather McMahan, Alex Morgan, Candace Parker, Diana Flores, Olivia Munn and Naomi Watts.