The 2005 Women’s Leadership Conference celebrated female entrepreneurship and ingenuity Friday at the Mount Vernon Campus.
The event, titled “Thinking Globally, Leading Locally,” hosted seven women from around the country who have assumed prominent leadership roles in their communities.
Author and Professor Carolivia Herron, best known for her children’s book “Nappy Hair,” and Natalie O. Ludaway, chair of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, addressed the nearly 60 attendees.
Herron spoke about eight different moments in her life that made her a leader, culminating with her work with a children’s literacy program in Anacostia.
“In the process of making choices to be who I am the leadership thing happened,” Herron said.
Other speakers included GW professor Alliida Black, project director and editor of The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, a history project about the former first lady’s writings. Gina Hamrah, a hairdresser in the D.C. area who established the Afghan Widows and Orphans Fund in 2002, and Cynthia “Cissy” Fry Wilson, the second female mayor of Granbury, Texas, one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S., also spoke.
“I had a vision, I took a chance, and I made it happen,” Wilson said about her rise to political power. “When I graduated from GW, it was not on the radar screen that I would speak to you about my experiences as mayor of a city.”
This was the third annual Women’s Leadership Conference. Rachelle Heller, associate dean for academic affairs at Mount Vernon and an organizer of the event, said she expects the Foxhall campus to continue to sponsor the program in future years.
“We are celebrating these women who have taken leadership roles,” Heller said. “By listening to their strengths we’ll find our own pathway to leadership.”