Today I met a Woman of Power who has been attending our conference since its inception four years ago.
Allow me to introduce you to Sandra Sims-Williams, the senior vice president of diversity and inclusion with Publicis Groupe.
She returns to the Women of Power Summit each year because this is a place where it is “safe.†She says the conference it is a place where women can talk about the issues that are affecting them in an open, off-the-record forum.
For the 2008 summit, Ms. Sims-Williams brought 12 of her colleagues with her. This year, she is attending with eight women from Publicis. And despite the current economic climate, her company is picking up the tab because Publicis recognizes the value of the conference, and she says it speaks to the company’s commitment to diversity and retention.
It is a message that she pushes inside the workplace and in her personal life. “I’ve told women outside of Publicis that [the conference] is really worth their while.
Throughout the conference we’ll be posting more Women of Power stories. What’s your Women of Power story?
The Women of Power Summit runs Feb. 11-14 at the Ritz-Carlton, Grande Lakes in Orlando, Florida.
Deborah Creighton Skinner is the editorial director of BlackEnterprise.com.