Massachusetts – The Caribbean American Women Foundation (CAWF) in association with the Authentic Caribbean Foundation (ACF) will present the inaugural Caribbean-American Women’s Empowerment Conference on Saturday June 27, 2020 at 6.00 pm.
The virtual event will be streamed live on various platforms including the CAWF website; the Authen Caribe Facebook Page and Instagram at Authentic Caribbean.
The conference is part of the series of events nationally, highlighting Caribbean Heritage Month and is the brainchild of Charmaine Charles, (CAWF) who is of Jamaican/Haitian descent and is based in Massachusetts.
The conference seeks to bring together Caribbean-American women of various backgrounds and professional persuasions to speak on issues that impact women in general but especially women of the Caribbean-American community.
CAWF believes that Women of Caribbean descent should have a community to which they can turn, to address issues important to them. CAWF also seeks to provide resources for women of Caribbean descent through a network of Caribbean-American women who are positioned to offer solutions.
One of the issues to be discussed is mental health, a long held taboo in the Caribbean community. “Mental health is not an issue that is openly discussed in our community. It’s been taboo for generations, going back to our ancestors. I wanted to find Caribbean women in mental health to address this so we no longer have to feel shame in being open about it” says Charles.
“As a Caribbean-American woman, I grew up not knowing how to take care of myself mentally; where I should go? Who I should see? What I should say?” additionally, “I was raised around women in business and entrepreneurship. There are a lot of women out there in that space and it should encourage other Caribbean women to see themselves at such high levels, hear the struggles they went through and the success they have attained.”
The impressive line-up of panelists who will speak on mental health issues include:
- Monica Cannon Grant- Violence In Boston Inc;
- Ambassador Thelma Phillip- Browne – St. Kitts & Nevis;
- Keisha Greaves- Owner of Girls Chronically Rock LLC;
- Dr. Patricia M. Cedeno-Zamor PhD. MHA, MSW and
- Illouise Murillo-Tucker, DNP, RN, NPP
Speaking on Business Entrepreneurship and Caribbean Women in the Future are:
- Safiya Leslie-Riddim, Symphony & Pet Business;
- Minister Josline Croes, Aruba;
- Miranda Alexander, Caribbean Community In Philadelphia;
- Andrea Lawful-Sanders, The Source- WURD Radio
- Dr. Louise Michelle Vital, Assistant Professor Of International Higher Education, Lesley University
For more information, contact: [email protected] or 857-271-6006 or visit the website https://caribbeanamericanwomen.com/
For a full calendar of Caribbean American Month activities visit: celebratejune.org
