(From left): Anita Smith, of the Cayman Islands; Susan L. Taylor, Editorial Director of
Essence Magazine; Catherine Tyson, of the Cayman Islands; and Lorlett Hudson, One
Hand Can’t Clap Organization, London.

On Friday, 5 October the Marriott Marquis in the heart of New York City buzzed with activity as women from billion dollar business empires and from around the world gathered for the “Women Who Are Shaping the World Leadership Summit” hosted by Essence Magazine.

Although the 700 plus attendees mainly hailed from the United States, there was representation of about 25 women, hailing from overseas including the Cayman Islands.

The summit on its fourth year running was geared into bringing together women of diverse fields to share and network with each other. Women at the pinnacle of their careers delivered various empowering talks on successful career building, finance, the balancing act of being a leader and nurturer within a business environment and dealing with professional and personal transitions.

The Islands were not left behind as Caymanian Catherine Tyson, author of upcoming book “I’m Somebody’s Mama”, due to be launched the end of this year, and her friend Anita Smith attended the event.

Ms Tyson used this opportunity to network, introduce and share her future venture with the women and some of the groups. She feels that valuable opportunities such as these are necessary for Caymanians to fellowship and share ideas with other women from other places, while gathering valuable tools and information as to what is happening in other areas of the world in reference to the progression of women and black people on a whole.

The power-packed summit was introduced by Susan L. Taylor, Editorial Director of Essence and Angela Burt-Murray, Editor-in-Chief.

Mrs Taylor has been the face of Essence Magazine since 1971 and continues to encourage and empower women all over the world with her “In the Spirit” column found in Essence Magazine each month. She is also a best selling author of 3 books.

The whole day event was spiced with wisdom filled talks from women and men who are trendsetters and world leaders in business, government, education, media and art worlds. The impressive list of elite speakers and moderators included Finance Expert and TV host Suze Orman, Debra Langford of Time Warner, Carla Harris, Managing Director of Morgan Stanley and named by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America, Cathy Hughes, Founder and Chairperson of Radio One, Inc. and named on Ebony magazine’s top 150 most powerful African Americans, Soledad O’Brien, CNN; Dr Michael Eric Dyson, author, Orator & cultural critic, and Holly Robinson-Peete, Actress, Singer and Philanthropist were amongst the few.

There were panel discussions from men and women on the topic of love and relationships, balancing act, career direction and redefining, entrepreneur guide, among other relevant topics of interest. Throughout the conference, the women were encouraged to meet one another and network their ideas and business ventures with times set aside for doing so.

Ms Tyson stated that the conference afforded her the opportunity to introduce her upcoming venture to professional trendsetters in the world of self-actualization and creative areas and was received with excitement and anticipation at the common topic area that many face in the world.

She was introduced to media and common interest groups that are looking into joint ventures as well as invited to speak abroad in the near future. Information regarding Ms Tyson’s book can be found on somebodysmama.com.