*Lunch attendees include Jo Malone, Lily Cole, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, Jacquetta Wheeler, Liberty Ross, Emma Freud, Lynne Franks, Baroness Scotland, Sydney Ingle Finch, Edith Bowman, Dawn Porter, Margherita Taylor, Kathy Lette, Alice Temperley, Noreena Hertz, Shingai Shoniwa, Carla Buzasi, Editor-in Chief, The Huffington Post UK and founders June Sarpong & Dee Poku

Television presenter June Sarpong and former Hollywood movie executive Dee Poku together with The Huffington Post UK are bringing their Women: Inspiration & Enterprise initiative to the UK and will introduce the event at an exclusive lunch at The Hospital Club in London. Taking place on the 5th December, the lunch will be hosted by Jo Malone, Noreena Hertz, Lily Cole, Shingai Shoniwa, Emma Freud, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, Baroness Scotland and Kathy Lette, and will be attended by influential newsmakers, industry leaders and global thinkers from across the UK.

WIE (Women: Inspiration and Enterprise) is an annual women’s conference and community aimed at delivering social change and empowering a new generation of women leaders. The New York event has attracted a stellar lineup of women, including hosts Sarah Brown, Arianna Huffington and Donna Karan, Queen Rania, Melinda Gates, Diane von Furstenberg, Nancy Pelosi, Jill Biden, Nancy Meyers, Baroness Valerie Amos, Aerin Lauder, Jennifer Buffet, Ted Turner, Padma Lakshmi, Candace Bushnell, Lauren Bush, Christy Turlington, Ashley Judd, Iman, Glenda Bailey, Tamara Mellon and Nora Ephron.

Supported by The Huffington Post UK and The Hospital Club, the December lunch will act as a prelude to the first UK symposium, introducing the WIE concept to some of the UK’s most prominent female role models.

The WIE Symposium UK will launch on March 8th, 2012 International Women’s Day, with a full day of thought-provoking panels, inspirational masterclasses, powerful keynotes and an awards ceremony. The event will bring together high profile women from politics, philanthropy, business, media, fashion and the arts to address a full range of the issues that both drive and enrich the world around us, from the future of girls’ education to getting women off the sidelines in business and public life and the “green revolution.”

Additionally, the founders will announce the launch of the WIE Prize. Fifteen promising young girls will be offered the opportunity of winning free tickets to WIE. As well as attending all sessions, the women will be matched with mentors who will commit to providing support and advice to the girls for a minimum time period. The initiative opens to the public on January 1st 2012.

Founders June Sarpong and Dee Poku said, “We are incredibly excited about launching WIE in the UK. Although we’re mostly New York based, London will always be home and the UK is filled with incredible female thought leaders who are already doing their bit to empower the next generation. Our goal is to harness the legendary creativity and innovation of London to empower women and girls across the country and help them reach their full potential.”

Sue Walter, CEO of the Hospital Club says, “The Hospital Club is privileged to be hosting London’s inaugural WIE Symposium. We share many of the same values around inspiration, enterprise and nurturing emerging talent and we’re very excited to be joining forces to bring British women this unique opportunity to learn from each other and be inspired by what the future holds.”

Carla Buzasi, Editor-in-Chief, The Huffington Post UK added: “I’ve watched from afar with envy at the great events Women: Inspiration & Enterprise have produced in New York and am delighted that The Huffington Post UK is playing its part in bringing WIE’s energy and ideas to London. I believe strongly that mentoring can help provide young women with the grit and determination they need to succeed in an ever more competitive workplace, so the WIE Symposium is a fantastic idea and one that The Huffington Post UK will be passionately supporting.”

Twitter: #WIE2012

Nicole Kidman, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Serena Williams, Rita Wilson, Jane Fonda, Christy Turlington Burns, Glenda Bailey, Rose Byrne, Petra Nemcova, Tamara Mellon, Fran Drescher,  Rosario Dawson, Mika Brzezinski, Deborra Lee Furness, Van Jones, Victoria Jackson and many more join the second annual WIE Symposium, hosted by Arianna Huffington, Sarah Brown and Donna Karan

Event extends to five days including an expanded two-day

conference on  September 18 and 19^th, 2011;

 Tickets go on sale to the public today, August 22 on wiesymposium.org

NEW YORK (August 22, 2011) – Arianna Huffington, Donna Karan and Sarah Brown today announced an extraordinary lineup of newsmakers, industry leaders and global thinkers confirmed for the second-annual WIE Symposium (Women: Inspiration & Enterprise), to be held on September 18 and 19 in New York City. Tickets go on sale today on wiesymposium.org.

This is the second year of the WIE Symposium founded by June Sarpong and Dee Poku. Last year, the event debuted with a stellar lineup of women from the fields of politics, philanthropy, media, fashion and the arts meant to inspire and empower the future generation of female leaders, advocates and entrepreneurs. Now, expanded into two symposium days, the event will explore the central theme of “What it means to be a woman now” through challenging panels and informative lectures. Coinciding with the UN Week, WIE explores all aspects of the modern woman, who is redefining what it means to be female in our ever-changing world. In addition to the interactive panels and high profile speeches, additional events during the Five Days of WIE, will be announced in the coming weeks, including an awards ceremony and a special fashion week event.

Speakers, honorees, co-hosts and participants over the five days will include the world-class lineup of Nicole Kidman, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Rita Wilson, Serena Willaims, Jane Fonda, Christy Turlington Burns, Rose Byrne, Glenda Bailey, Petra Nemcova, Tamara Mellon, Fran Drescher,  Rosario Dawson, Alexandra Wilkes Wilson, Sonia Kashuk, Gina Bianchini, Mika Brzezinski, Reshma Saujani, Deborra Lee Furness, Lisa Gersh, Blake Mycoskie, Van Jones, Sylvia Rhone, Jimmie Briggs, Victoria Jackson, Courtney Ross, Jacqueline Novogratz, Celine Rattray, Diana L Taylor and many more.

“My co-hosts Donna and Arianna have been generous in bringing their expertise, connections and energy to WIE to help create a programme to inspire and encourage women to reach their full potential and help shape the world for others,” said Sarah Brown, Global Patron of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and wife of the former UK Prime Minister. “The WIE Symposium is an opportunity for women from around the world, with many different backgrounds, to share their stories and be inspired by each other’s wisdom and courage. I’m thrilled that once again WIE will help build bridges with our sisters in developing countries, giving voice to the girls and women at the heart of advancing progress for their families, communities and nations. When women join forces to support and encourage each other, none of our goals are impossible or out of reach.  This is a message we hope to carry beyond the WIE Symposium and maintain throughout the entire year, throughout the world. Women are catalysts for change.”

Added Karan, “What makes WIE unique is that this event considers the modern woman. We don’t make assumptions that to be female means being one thing or the other: married to a man, a professional, a parent. A woman can be all these things, or many permutations of this. A woman can be strong and powerful and still be interested in beauty and fashion; she can be feminine, a caretaker, and still be as captivated by the world around her and motivated to inspire change or aggressive in business. WIE is for that woman, who, in this modern age, is all of us.”

The event will begin on September 18th with “WIE Enterprise Day,” hosted by Huffington and Steven Strauss, Managing Director of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, at 82 Mercer Street, New York. The day will include a series of workshops and master classes, exploring every aspect of business from beauty and fashion to technology and music, driven by the most inspiring thinkers and creative leaders in their fields. “I look forward to hosting this dynamic day of discussion,” said Huffington, “but more than anything, I look forward to seeing women with real solutions, real motivations, and real desire to live out their dreams and ambitions. I’m not afraid to stand up and demand change or say what I believe in –I’ve created a space online where people do that every day. With WIE Enterprise, I hope to inspire the next generation of women leaders to take charge and carry out the change they want to see in the world. We depend on them.”

The next day will progress with the main event, “WIE Inspiration Day,” hosted by Huffington, Karan and Brown, at 82 Mercer Street, New York. A full day of thought-provoking panels and discussions, the event will explore every aspect of the theme of “what it means to be a woman now.” Stellar panels will address a full range of the issues that both drive and enrich the world around us, from the future of girls’ education to getting women off the sidelines in business and public life; to UN Millennium Development Goals; to the “green revolution.” The day will be anchored by several “spotlights” on some of the biggest newsmakers in the world, to be announced at a later date. Small breakouts aimed to inspire discussion will include a timely meditation on the modern marriage, a beauty master class hosted by Target, an exploration into “Is Race still an issue?” and many more.

The WIE Symposium will also feature numerous exhibits and Brown will give the annual White Ribbon Alliance Lecture, outlining how the rapidly growing global movement has campaigned to mobilize communities demanding more health workers, better supported while holding governments accountable to their Millennium Development Goal promises to reduce deaths in childbirth by 75% before 2015.

The WIE Symposium is supported by many partners and sponsors, including Target, Johnson & Johnson, Akris, Marvell, Ogilvy, Ning, The Sharpe Alliance, and Saks. Huffington Post, The New York Post and Harper’s Bazaar are media partners, along with along with the Urban Zen foundation, founded by Donna Karan. Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood.

For tickets information and further event details, visit  wiesymposium.org

Editor’s note: To register as press, please email mrm@marissarmoss.com

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood: Every day, 1,000 women and girls die in pregnancy and childbirth.  The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is an international coalition bound together by a common goal: to ensure that pregnancy and childbirth are safe for all women and newborns in every country around the world.  Since its launch in 1999, the White Ribbon Alliance has been amplifying the voices of women and their communities, and is now a leader among those holding governments and institutions to account for the tragedy of maternal mortality. 2010 was a ground-breaking  year, with an unprecedented $40billion commitment made to maternal and child health last September under the UN Secretary General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, something which the White Ribbon Alliance were instrumental in achieving.

The Urban Zen Foundation, founded by Donna Karan, creates, connects and collaborates to raise awareness and inspire change in the areas of wellbeing, preserving cultures and empowering children. They design forums, partner with existing organizations and bring together experts to define solutions and implement action. Urban Zen also created a retail model merging philanthropy and commerce with part of retail sales going to the foundation.

Dee Poku is a social entrepreneur, marketing consultant and philanthropic strategist. She is the Co-Founder of the WIE Network along with June Sarpong. Poku is also the owner of Right Angle, a branding and marketing consultancy that develops and implements innovative campaigns for a cross section of high profile films, non-profits and consumer brands.  The company specializes in strategic partnerships, bringing entities – brands, films, non-profits, high profile individuals together whereby all parties benefit from a given campaign. Her background includes senior marketing roles at Paramount Pictures and Focus Features where she oversaw the movie release campaigns for the likes of Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’; the Coen brothers’ ‘No Country For Old Men’; Sofia Coppola’s ‘Lost in Translation’, Ang Lee’s ‘Brokeback Mountain’.   Dee Poku holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics. She is a member of the British Academy (BAFTA) and Women in Film.

June Sarpong, Co-founder of the WIE Network has become one of the most recognisable faces of British television, as well as being one of the UK’s most intelligent and dynamic young hosts. As the female face of Channel 4’s successful Sunday morning strand T4 for the last eight years, June has become part of TV history – her groundbreaking Tony Blair Channel 4 special, ‘When Tony Met June’ saw her being granted unprecedented access to the British PM. She has also interviewed and introduced some of the world’s biggest names including: Nelson Mandela, HRH Prince of Wales, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bono, George Clooney and 50 Cent. Last year she launched Politics in the City.com, an innovative women’s lifestyle and news Internet site. June is an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust and also campaigns for the Make Poverty History movement – she was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) on the Queens 2007 new years honours list for services to broadcasting and charity, making her along with Princess Anne’s daughter Zarah Phillips one of the youngest people to receive an MBE that year.  Alongside Will Smith she also hosted, Nelson Mandela’s  90th Birthday celebrations in London’s Hyde Park.

See highlights from WIE 2011

They pulled together some of the biggest names in media and started the Women: Inspiration and Enterprise conference in New York last year, and are gearing up for a second conference in September. All proceeds from the WIE Symposium benefit the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood.

Why WIE?

June:

Dee and I decided to start the WIE Symposium because we wanted to create an event that would bring together women from all walks of life to share, connect and empower each other to be their best selves. We also wanted an event that was fun!

Dee:

We felt there was a need for more inter-generational dialogue. That the women leaders today would benefit from hearing fresh new ideas from the next generation and likewise, those budding trailblazers would be inspired and empowered by their role models. We’re pretty proud of what we achieved in our first year in terms of the caliber of speakers and the solid content. We’ve also established a strong identity pretty quickly.

We like to think that the WIE Symposium has opened doors for a lot of women – for our contemporaries and for young women just starting out in their careers, by giving them access to some incredible pioneers.

Who hooked you up?

Dee:

A girlfriend, film producer Celine Rattray. New York is so much about networking – who you know. And when I first moved here 8 years ago, she completely unselfishly opened the door to her network. It proved invaluable both professionally and personally.

June:

I have a few: Baroness Margaret McDonagh, Baroness Valerie Amos, and of course: Sarah Brown, Donna Karan and Arianna Huffington for agreeing to host the WIE Symposium.

Dee:

They are incredible mentors.

June:

Men and women network differently and hook each other up differently. I think women have to feel a connection, men just need to respect each other irrespective of whether or not they actually like each other.

Dee:

Very much so. I think women have to like each other in order to bond. Men can distance themselves a little more. For them it’s more about the end goal.

New York is where it’s at

Dee:

We see a vast improvement for women in tech. And definitely more of an openness to network amongst women in that sector – its no longer a dirty word. In other industries, the emphasis appears to be more on socializing. But we don’t see nearly enough mentoring and that’s a shame. We plan to launch a new mentoring program at WIE this year which we’re very excited about.

June:

I think the New York tech scene is a perfect stomping ground for women – it’s no where near as much of an all-boys club as Silicon Valley. Plus, the shopping is better…

http://www.forbes.com/sites/julieruvolo/2011/07/18/to-the-entrepreneurially-minded-women-of-the-class-of-2011-new-york-welcomes-you/11/

In my Africa, fellow Ghanaian Kofi Anan led the United Nations as Secretary-General, and writer and poet Wole Soyinka is a Nobel Laureate. My African heroines include Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the President of Liberia and the first elected female Head of State in Africa, and the valiant Yaa Asantewaa who led an army that fought against British colonialism in 1900.

When people who look like you fill the influential roles in society, the heads of state, the judges, the doctors and the bankers, nothing feels impossible or out of reach. When the writers, television stars, artists and musicians all look like you, you simply don’t know any different. That’s allowed me to succeed in life — and I feel lucky.

As a black British woman of Ghanaian descent who grew up in London and Accra and now lives between New York and Los Angeles, I have a unique perspective on the world. Wherever I choose to live or work, I’ve always felt it important to be a positive ambassador for my community, for my race, for people who look like me. Because when you win, you help pave the way. When there are so many unhelpful stereotypes of black people being propagated in the media, in politics and in popular culture, you feel a huge responsibility to be a part of the positive impact we make on society.

Africa is the continent where the largest concentration of black people lives. So much positive and good comes out of the continent that’s rarely reported. So why do we hear from and about so few of these black voices?

In the West I’ve encountered two schools of thought among the black community when it comes to Africa. The continent is either romanticized as “The Motherland,” the spiritual home they dream of visiting. Or, Africa is a place to be pitied — a poverty-stricken people in a state of permanent famine or war, ruled by evil dictators. But my Africa is neither.

Let’s neither idealize the continent not pity it but see it for what it is, a multi-dimensional community with bustling cosmopolitan cities, where countries such as Ghana and Tanzania have peaceful democracies and burgeoning economies.

Lets celebrate all the amazing writers, musicians, politicians and academics doing incredible things. Africans living on the continent and around the world are making great strides and making a real difference — the movie stars like Chiwetel Ejiiofor and Idris Elba; the tv anchors like CNN’s Isha Sesay, and my business partner and fellow Ghanaian June Sarpong. Model and humanitarians Iman and Liya Kibede; writers such as Chimamanda Adichie and Ben Okri and musicians Akon and Amadou & Mariam, are all people we can look to for inspiration.

This is the Africa I would like the next generation to see. By celebrating all that’s positive and good about Africa, we can allow ourselves and our children to think big.

That’s not to draw a veil over the oppression in Zimbabwe, or forget the victims of war in the Congo or the famine spreading across Somalia. We must remain vigilant and aware, and hold our leaders to account. But it’s only by showing people what’s possible, all that we are and can be, that we can really make a real difference to the way we’re perceived and perceive ourselves.

I run an annual conference, the WIE Symposium, which is focused on empowering and inspiring women of all races and cultures. We’re creating a community of engaged and informed women who are united around the issues that matter to them. WIE is very much about combating negative stereotypes, bringing women together and inspiring the next generation.

I see HuffPost BlackVoices as a great opportunity to do the same for the black community here in America and beyond.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dee-poku/african-culture_b_914502.html

See highlights from WIE 2010