Business
Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit 2014 slated for Feb 26 – March 1 in Boca Raton, Florida
Julieanna Richardson, Founder and Executive Director, The HistoryMakers, America’s largest African American video oral history collection. Richardson, who holds a J.D. degree from Harvard and once practiced corporate law, followed a unique path in heading up the largest national collection effort of African American video oral histories on record. With a diverse background in theatre, television production, and the cable television industries, she combined her various work experiences and her passion for history to conceptualize, found and build The HistoryMakers. The HistoryMakers is a national, non-profit educational institution based in Chicago, committed to preserving, developing, and providing easy access to an internationally recognized archival collection of thousands of African American video oral histories.
Marian Wright Edelman (Barbara Graves honoree), Founder and President of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF). Edelman, an American activist for the rights of children and against the Second Amendment, was the first African American woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar. She began practicing law with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.’s Mississippi office, working on racial justice issues connected with the civil rights movement and representing activists during the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964. In 1973, she founded the Children’s Defense Fund as a voice for poor, minority and disabled children. The organization has served as an advocacy and research center for children’s issues, documenting the problems and possible solutions to children in need. To keep the agency independent, she saw that it was financed entirely with private funds. As founder, leader and principal spokesperson for the CDF, Edelman worked to persuade Congress to overhaul foster care, support adoption, improve child care and protect children who are disabled, homeless, abused or neglected.
“Each year, the presentation of the Legacy Awards at our Women of Power Summit delivers power examples to live by and ever-higher levels of inspiration,” says BLACK ENTERPRISE CEO Earl “Butch” Graves Jr. “This year’s awards evening will again represent a perfect start to a powerful weekend for the hundreds of women who will gather for a weekend of meaningful purpose and professional excellence.”
“We are thrilled that we will have this opportunity to pay well-deserved honor to women who are gifts to the world,” says Black Enterprise Business Report television show Host Caroline Clarke, who along with Black Enterprise Editorial Director Sonia Alleyne, serves as a co-editorial director of the Women of Power Summit. “Their examples are proper tribute to the Legacy Award honorees before them, and powerful motivation for those to come.”
Following the Women of Power Legacy Awards Dinner, more than 700 women will engage in 2 immersive days of executive development sessions and activities designed to train, equip and encourage industry leadership, career strategies and effective peak-performance and work-life balance techniques. Topics will include positioning for being recruited for corporate boards, identifying and securing a top-notch Career Advancement Team, driving organizational innovation and managing social media as a tool for professional advancement.
Confirmed speakers include: Apple Vice President of Environmental Initiatives and former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Lardon & Associates Managing Director Donna James, State Farm Vice President of Human Resources Annette R. Martinez, Executive Leadership Council President & CEO Ron Parker, Spencer Stuart Partner Sharon Hall, and Nutrition Coach and Television Personality Rovenia M. “Dr. Ro” Brock, Ph.D.
The host sponsor of the Women of Power Summit is State Farm Insurance. Presenting sponsors include EMC, Gatorade, Lays, Pepsi, Tropicana and Quaker. Platinum sponsors include FedEx, Hilton Worldwide, Abbott Vascular and Macy’s; corporate sponsors include PepsiCo, Bank of America and Southwest Airlines.
