Upcoming Events (I’ll Be at the Fun Table)

Manhattan in September. With the sounds of motorcades buzzing by every few minutes, one can’t help but get wrapped up in all the excitement. The hotel lobbies of the Four Seasons and Grand Hyatt next to Madison Ave are filled with dignitaries from around the globe, their secret service not far behind. Dedicated staffers cram the elevators. All are in NY that week with a shared dream—world peace.

While Presidents and Prime Ministers rushed off to sessions at the 73rd General Assembly at the United Nations, I walked the twenty blocks, in heels mind you, to the Pierre Hotel to attend Fashion4Development’s First Ladies Luncheon. Honored guest Madam Ban Soon-Taek, first lady of the United Nations, as well as the first ladies of African nations and South Africa were on the red carpet. Opening remarks were given by Arianna Huffington, and let’s not forget the intro and shameless photo op with Chris Collins, Co-Founder, League for Gentlemen and top model for Ralph Lauren. Call me!

Oh look there’s Annie Lennox. My jaw drops… Apparently Annie is an advocate for women empowerment worldwide and is accepting an award for her work with the HIV/AIDS epidemic that is still a threat to thousands in Africa. And Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, who leads the world’s third largest consumer goods company with sustainability as its mission. Impressive! This is quite the crowd. And quite the cause. And while some may be skeptical, as I know I had some doubts, the fashion industry is truly making strides to become a socially responsible industry.

And let’s think about this, the fashion industry is truly global. From design, to sourcing materials, manufacturing, employees, transport, distribution, the clothing supply chain touches several countries. Suzy Amis Cameron, model, actress and wife of director James Cameron, takes home the ECO Award, top model Natalia Vodianova takes home the Women and Children’s Champion Award, and Petra Nemcova, the Golden Heart Award. Their humanitarian work both home and abroad is inspirational and impactful.

All these leaders are making the most of their success by leveraging their fame to give back. And while the F4D tag line claims “giving back is the new luxury”, I’d take it a step further and say that giving back is something we can all afford. In fact, it’s something we have already been doing for centuries in our own communities—taking care of our neighbors. “Philanthropy” is not reserved for the wealthy. For some, it is giving back with capital contributions, for others, it is donating time and resources. Number one on my list, mentorship. Giving back is something we can all do in our daily lives. So while some might call it a luxury, I’d like to simply call it our duty as global citizens.

While the people up on stage held my attention for the majority of the event, it was the amazing individuals at our Women4Empowerment table that proved truly remarkable in their own rights. Samina Chowdhury, top producing realtor and co-founder of Women4Empowerment, and her fellow board member and jewelry designer, Tanzila Chowdhury, were seated to my right. Emanuel Perlman Cantor, singer, songwriter and founder of Destination Peace, and Joslin Seeds, Fashion Mogul and Philanthropist, were to my left. This was a table filled with pure compassion.

And these four individuals are traveling this weekend to attend Saturday’s A4E 2016 Global Empowerment Summit. They will be giving their time, expertise and resources to help our San Diego community tackle human trafficking and find sustainable solutions to better empower our women and youth socially and economically. Because what the past few weeks have taught us, is that the time to recognize the power of women is now. We are honored for these guests to make San Diego a priority and to come be a part of a summit that will ultimately create solutions to help save lives. We’d be honored if you would join the cause. See you Saturday and let’s change our world on 3…2…1…

• 2016 Global Empowerment Summit
  Alliance4Empowerment and UC San Diego
  October 22, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine
  We’re going GLOBAL on the Mesa this Saturday as Alliance4Empowerment returns with UC San Diego for the 2016 Global Empowerment Summit. This year’s event will pull in speakers and guests from India, Thailand, Canada, Tibet, United Nations, World Bank, New York, DC…Congresswoman Susan Davis, Keynote Speaker Emeritus Toni Atkins, Meg Jones Chief Economic Empowerment UN Women , Maya Brahmam Senior Communications Officer World Bank Group, Martin Cooper, Cassandra Seidenfeld, Joslin Seeds, Emanuel Cantor, Amandine Roche, the list of speakers is unbelieveable. And they are all coming together with survivors, law enforcement, entrepreneurs, researchers, engineers, visionaries, students, civic leaders and philanthropists to tackle the ugly truth of human trafficking in San Diego and our border region. Get ready as this summit will be the ultimate example of what it means to live on our Miracle Coast No Boundaries.

• Mid- Coast Trolley Groundbreaking Celebration
  October 22, 11 a.m.; Manchester Field, The Preuss School, UC San Diego
  Come whoop it up with SANDAG this Saturday at their Mid-Coast Trolley Groundbreaking celebration. This family event, open to the public, will feature free food, fun activities for the kiddos, live music and more. Learn how this new transit will help connect communities, while reducing traffic, parking (ugh don’t get me started), and carbon emissions. I see many more trips to TJ in the year 2021. Una cerveza por favor.

• Entrepreneur Challenge
  October 26, 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.; Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine
  Moderated by SDVG President Mike Krenn, this EC kick off event is sure to draw in a big crowd with featured speaker Mark Bowles. Seven-time serial entrepreneur and local business legend, Bowles’ last company, ecoATM, sold for a whopping $350M. You might be thinkin’, “What’s he got, that I don’t got?” Now’s your chance to find out. Come learn from our city’s best.

Tags: Blogs, Life on the Mesa