AT&T female executives find common connection with Afghan and Rwandan businesswomen
June 9th, 2010 Posted by adminAT&T female executives find common connection with Afghan and Rwandan businesswomen
DALLAS – JUNE 9, 2010 – Female executives from AT&T will sit down with Afghan and Rwandan women business owners to break bread and share business advice June 10 with the PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS program.
Nine of AT&T’s top executives will meet with the international students of the 2010 PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS program, a business, leadership and public policy training program, founded by Terry Neese and her non-profit organization, the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women.
The luncheon will give the program’s 24 aspiring Afghan and Rwandan businesswomen the opportunity for one-on-one conversations with women from one of the world’s leading telecommunications leaders, AT&T. Earlier this year DiversityBusiness.com named AT&T one of America’s Top 50 Corporations for Multicultural Business Opportunities, ranking No. 2 for outstanding support of women- and minority-owned businesses.
AT&T’s commitment to developing the nation’s future leaders and a strong global economy is evident in its efforts to support the PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS mission of empowering and educating women. AT&T senior-level female executives expected to attend this event taking place at Northwood University, include Charlene Lake, Senior Vice President Public Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Vice President of Talent Development and Chief Diversity Officer, Cindy Brinkley.
Brinkley said that for a company that’s all about connecting people, the opportunity to connect with fellow businesswomen is mutually beneficial. “It is so rewarding for us to have the opportunity to connect women on a global level,” she noted. “What a privilege to sit down with a woman from another country to discuss life lessons and our careers. No matter who we are – Afghan, Rwandan or American – we all have to start somewhere as women in the business world. Our challenges – and opportunities – are more similar than one might expect.”
Neese says that the support from AT&T has gone above and beyond a traditional company’s call to corporate social responsibility. She added that AT&T is a company that understands the value of a diverse culture, and the power and potential of women to the economy.
“AT&T is proud to support the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women and the work it is doing for women around the world,” Lake said, who is on the advisory board to IEEW. “As a global company, we have the ability to contribute to a strong world economy. Helping empower women business owners in war-torn parts of the world living in challenging cultures is a very real way of working toward that goal.”
