Columbus, NC – Many events have occurred this year that have the potential to transform the course of lives. One such event was the first annual Women’s Empowerment Conference held recently in Atlanta. This conference brought together diverse women in their 30’s through 80’s who are alumnae of two high schools in Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies.
The luncheon was hosted by the Atlanta Chapter of the St. Hugh’s High School Alumnae Association (SHHSAA) and the Queen’s Alumnae Atlanta Chapter (QAAC). Proceeds from this event will go towards supporting renovations at St. Hugh’s and scholarships for students at Queen’s. One of the objectives of SHHSAA and QAAC is to develop a broad network of support involving alumnae residing in Jamaica, in cities across the United States, Canada, and elsewhere.
Under the distinguished patronage of the Honorary Consul of Jamaica in Atlanta, Mr. Vin Martin, Esq., several dynamic leaders greeted the attendees, including Sarah Vaughan, President of QAAC, and Co-presidents of SHHSAA, Karen Randall and Marcia Daley. Congratulations were acknowledged from St. Hugh’s South Florida Alumnae Chapter, Ambassador Carlton Masters, and Dr. Inez Carnegie, former principal of St. Hugh’s who was instrumental in founding the Atlanta Chapter.
The keynote speakers, Jackie Woods and Beverley Manley, exemplified women’s empowerment. They wove a multidimensional theme as they encouraged the participants to break from past patterns of behavior. The women were challenged to listen to their hearts and prosper from a new paradigm of personal responsibility, spirit-filled lives, community sustainability, nation building, and planetary healing.
Jackie Woods, founder and director of Adawehi Institute Healing School and Wellness Center in Columbus, NC, evoked the introspection of “Empowering Your Heart for Extraordinary Living.” An expert in the field of self-actualization, Woods provided tools for finding inner alignment, which is the first step towards improving relationships. Author of numerous recorded seminars and three books, Spiritual Energy Cycles, Journey to Ultimate Spirituality, and Soulmate or Cell-Mate, Woods encouraged individuals to practice “vertical living” by being true to the qualities that define our true essence—the qualities of our hearts.
To introduce the concepts of “heart qualities” and “vertical living,” Woods surprised the group by asking them to discuss what “heart quality” they were expressing by coming to the conference. Some may have been expressing “generosity” through giving to the schools in Jamaica; others may have come in the spirit of “sisterhood” or “friendliness” to see old classmates. For others it might have been the “inspiration” of visualizing the many ways women are empowered or the physical “care” of improving the school buildings.
So what does this have to do with relationships? “By knowing who you are,” Woods said, “you can be clear about what you have to bring to a relationship.” This awareness allows people to join with each other, rather than wait with the expectation that the other person will bring something that will make us better or whole.
L-R: Jackie Woods and Beverly Manely
Woods is known through more than two decades of life coaching in Atlanta and guest appearances on syndicated radio and T.V. Her current weekly radio show, “Heart Matters,” is co-hosted with her son, Russell, from www.jackiewoods.org.
Woods’ 12 year-old, 125 acre campus in the foothills of Western NC includes an intentional community of 60 residents, a full service natural foods market, ten holistic healing practitioners, and a Wellness Retreat. Adawehi offers public workshops and resources in areas such as communication, meditation, family and parenting, and business transformation to provide participants with tools for lasting change and fulfillment.
Beverley Anderson Manley, known internationally as the former first lady of Jamaica, is a policy analyst, gender specialist, journalist, and author. Her career has included visiting professorships at several universities; research at universities, including Howard, Harvard, and Cornell; co-producing and co-hosting the award-winning show, The Breakfast Club, on Jamaican radio; and numerous coaching and transformation engagements. You may read more about her at www.beverleymanley.com.
Manley talked freely about how we can allow our past experiences to clutter our lives or how we can choose to get rid of the garbage of the past. Through her humorous stories, she inspired the participants to move out of the pain of the past and take responsibility for the present.
Manley described her early experiences as examples to encourage others to grow from their history and reach the point of knowing that the past does not determine who we are. In her autobiography, The Manley Memoirs, she described experiences at St. Hugh’s School, where, with her two sisters, Manley traveled by train, foot and bus to school every day. The adolescent girls had to sell homemade coconut cakes to schoolmates to defray expenses.
Manley encouraged women to give up being bound by feelings of self-loathing, dishonor, and hurtful relationships. She invited women to open up to a new paradigm in which all people can live out of imagination rather than only memory.
Beverley Manley and Jackie Woods are powerful examples of how we can educate ourselves and our children for personal growth and service to our local communities and the world. The co-hosts would like to encourage supporters from around the globe to participate in improving the experiences of students and faculty at St. Hugh’s and Queen’s high schools. To celebrate and contribute to this continued focus on education for life, contact [email protected] or [email protected].
