International Women's Leadership Conference

As Vice-Chair of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Madam Li has launched and helped to finance many poverty relief projects, including a project to support poor and disabled students as they finish school; a vocational training program for laid-off women workers; English teacher training courses for China’s poverty-stricken areas; and sand control and water resource management projects.

Jin’s riveting story as a Korean factory girl who immigrated to America as a housemaid at age 22 with little English and $100 to her name is the embodiment of success. Through determination, imagination, and sheer will, she became a U.S. Army Major and graduated from Harvard with a Ph.D.  Her story has won the heart of Korea and now the U.S

Hosted coffee, tea and snack

Pacita Juan has been in social development for 9 years now, starting with programs benefiting the Philippine Coffee industry. While looking for coffee she came across communities who made crafts that had no market access. This inspired her and her partners to look for a solution to this common but widespread problem. Further, she started campaigns on going organic and taking care of the environment. These further solidified the business plan that gave birth to ECHOstore.

MacDella came to America in 1993, one of countless thousands of refugees of the Liberian civil war. Today, she works tirelessly through her foundation to attract international investors to Liberian markets and creating awareness of the plight of the Liberian children through her humanitarian initiatives.

Including special menu items from around the world.

H.E. Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi was appointed Minister of Women’s Affairs in July 2004 following the formation of the new government. Prior to becoming Minister, Dr. Phavi served five years as Secretary of State of Women’s and Veterans’ Affairs, where she was responsible for elaborating gender-responsive policies, strategies and plans of action.

St. Monica’s Tailoring School, operated by Sister Rosemary, houses a diverse group of refugees: former child soldiers, orphans, AIDS victims and young mothers, many of whom are former sexual slaves to the “Lord’s Resistance Army.” The school offers “child mothers” and their babies a safe haven so students can get jobs, feed their children and rebuild their lives.  A truly revolutionary system for reviving the lost souls of her homeland, Sister Rosemary has brought hope to the hopeless and is healing the wounds of war.

Rhonda Begos has been an entertainer since childhood. Rhonda has been an advocate for children’s and women’s rights as it relates to violations of the mind, body and spirit, and has been on a journey toward healing from her own experience and abuse that was suffered as a child. Her story will empower you to take control of your spirit in healing your whole self.

During her successful career in medicine, Eleanor “Connie” Mariano has racked up an impressive list of “firsts.”  Not only was she the first Filipino-American to become a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy, she also was the first female director of the White House Medical Unit, as well as the first military woman to be appointed as the White House Physician, providing medical service for two sitting presidents, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.