The 2021 Women Who Lead lunchtime series concluded after three days of amazing information on finances, career guidance, and plenty of tidbits on Women’s history.

Thursday’s panel began with  Dr. Sharelle Barber, a social epidemiologist who studies structural racism and how it gets embedded into our cities. She also spoke about the effects of structural racism and how it can lead to events like the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and Jackson, Mississippi. 

Friday’s panel was centered around financial literacy, starting with Karen Orie from the Hampton Roads Educators Credit Union. Karen shared some valuable information about the kinds of accounts you can open with the credit union for saving, vacations, or other specific goals. She mentioned the flexible interest rates on loans given for COVID relief. Faizan Kamal, a franchise consultant who specializes in helping people turn their businesses into international franchises shared sentiments stressing the importance of using technology as a resource to start your business. Dr. Marla Ashe from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund gave information on available scholarships for the upcoming fall semester. 

Leslie Lewis, a Business Solutions Officer at the Carolina Small Business Development Fund, followed after Dr. Ashe with advice on how to access useful resources for starting a small business like available loans, grants, and consulting on starting a business. The panel concluded with Anita Ruffin, an Independent Sales Director for Mary Kay Cosmetic. She gave tips on the many resources that make starting a business easier since the pandemic began. 

Saturday was the conclusion of the series with a Women in STEM panel. Dana Beckton, The Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Sentara first stressed the importance of providing services and resources for employees to feel like they are a part of a diverse workspace. Dr. Vanessa Abernathy, a clinical psychologist, followed with methods to deal with anxiety during the pandemic. Some of the tactics included managing your sleep, caffeine intake, and breathing techniques. The final moments of the panel included 6 women in stem, Dr. Mia Carey, a National Park Service archaeologist, Angelica Willis an artificial intelligence researcher from Google Health, Dr. Belinda McEachern from the Columbia, South Carolina branch of Blacks in Technology, Dr. Oluwatoyin Asojo, chair of the Chemistry Department and Hampton University, and HBCU Advocate founder and publisher Angela Jones, who worked previously as a systems engineer. These six women shared experiences on their journey to their positions of success. The question that asked who was the most influential character in their matriculation garnered a variety of responses, including iconic figures like Madam CJ Walker, and even everyday figures like family members. 

The event, which was sponsored by Sentara Healthcare, was a huge success with a great opportunity to see the many obstacles that women overcome to reach success. The work that these women do is impactful on a national scale and the information they provided will be a resource for women who come after them. The link to watch the panel from each day will be available on hamptonroadsmessenger.com and thehbcuadvocate.com  

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