Samantha E.
Girl Reporter
“I am enough”
The Empowering Young Women Conference was founded by The Adrian Dell and Carmen Roberts foundation. The EYWC’s mission statement is to motivate, educate, and empower young women and adults from all over the world. The conference’s purpose is to “empower young women and their female parents and/or guardians through interactive, awareness workshops, inspiring messages and advice from female role models and community leaders.” Their hope has been to help form a foundation needed to “build a balanced sense of self, thus setting a positive course of action for future generations.”
At the start of the conference we were welcomed by Carmen Roberts (Chair of The Adrian Dell and Carmen Roberts foundation.), Wanda Scruggs (Chair of the EYWC), and many more speakers. After the being welcomed, we were given an amazing speech by Whitney Ashley, a graduate from J.W. North High School, and a three-time Olympic track and field athlete, who talked about never giving up no matter how many blocks in the road you’ll face. Afterward we got to go a workshop of our choice. The workshop I decided to go to was called “First Choice”, the workshop was run by Melinda Clarkson-Ward the CEO of Universal United State Pageant. She focused on teaching us to master whatever we choose to do later in life. I learned from her workshop how to be confident in myself, and how to present yourself during important situations in your life such as interviews. We were also educated on how to act, think, and dress like a QUEEN!
For lunch, they held a poetry contest and fashion show. The winner of the poetry contest was given an Apple Ipad. The fashion show models were all from J.W. North, and they were able to showcase clothes from different themes, and some participants in the crowd got complimentary pieces of jewelry. After the Fashion Show, we got a talk from Dr. Leita Harris about feminine health. My favorite part of the conference, was when they set up a career panel made up of various people from different types of work. Some of the panelists included Elizabeth Clark (a Riverside Police Officer), Virginia Blumenthal (from Blumenthal Law Firm), Belinda Handy (Commissioner of the Riverside Superior Court), and lots more. We were able to ask them all various question about their work. After the amazing career panel, 25 seniors with prom coming up, were able to get free prom dresses and a free hair and makeup session. Later, we got to see a short but incredible talent show where three talented girls sang their hearts out. After the talent show we were given thanks for attending the event and a strong “I am enough” to top it off.
Girl Scouts Now! GSSGC Blog 