Women Empowering Women at the UN

Teresa Kay-Aba Kennedy at the United Nations

THE BUZZ: On Monday, September 22nd, 2014, I attended the Women Empowering Women Luncheon and Fashion Show at the United Nations. It was the first fashion show of its kind at the UN. The amazing June Sarpong was our primary convener. I spoke at her first WIE event in New York and will support anything she does. She is an excellent curator of events.

June’s LDNY Foundation joined forces with the International Trade Centre (ITC) to launch the LDNY C-Line Initiative. The LDNY Collection (C-Line) is a new affordable luxury fashion line that supports the next generation of design talent and promotes female artisans from around the world. In addition to sourcing from these global artisans, LDNY C will create customized training programs that will support its partners to develop higher-quality product that meets international luxury standards. The fashion show featured designs by women around the world – India, Peru, Palestine, Ethiopia, Mongolia, and Papua New Guinea.

The lunch was a Who’s Who of prominent speakers and supporters such as:

Ms. Arancha Gonzalez – Executive Director, ITC

Ms. Gina Casar – Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of UNDP

Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka – Executive Director, UN Women

Ms. Cherie Blair – Founder, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women

Madam Yoo (Ban) Soon Taek – Wife of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Ms. Alison Levy – Global Director of Brand Development, Fashion GPS

Mr. Simon Collins – Parsons The New School for Design

Mr. Roy Luwolt – Co-Founder, Malone Souliers

Mrs. Mary Alice Malone – Co-Founder, Malone Souliers

Mr. Amir Dossal – Global Partnerships Forum

Fellow Young Global Leader David de Rothschild was there as an advocate, along with supermodel and activist Cameron Russell and menswear designer Charlie Casely-Hayford. I was able to catch up with many friends in attendance including Marcia L. Dyson, Susan L. Taylor (National CARES Mentoring Movement – I am part of the original Braintrust and helped with the wellness curriculum) and her husband Khephra Burns, Chloe Drew (formerly Executive Director of CUP and now Director of the Mayor’s Office of Appointments), and Rachel Goldstein (Founder, Agent of Change).

The ultimate goal is to use fashion to drive change by providing opportunities for economic empowerment throughout the entire value chain. They stressed that we can all support by being conscious consumers. Find out more about the initiative.

Thank you to OluKanye AdeWest for these two photos: