It’s with great excitement I welcome you to the Young Women’s Leadership Symposium, a compelling new initiative designed to feature professional opportunities specifically for middle and high-school age females.

I have always been driven by the belief that communities are most successful when all people can envision themselves as potential leaders. If everyone shared in the responsibility of providing opportunities, inspiring change, and overcoming obstacles that might hold us back, then everyone could have the means to transform their lives and the lives of those around them. With that dream in mind, I helped launch the National Diversity Council in 2008 to help recognize and promote differences in our backgrounds and abilities of people in our businesses and communities.

What better way to encourage social entrepreneurism than partnering our youth directly with community leaders and thinkers. I have always been passionate about youth education, and consider the empowerment of young women, celebrating their identities, successes, and role-models, an integral part of our diverse life.

I would like to thank Ronda Woble and Kimberly Woollard, our founders, for sharing their exciting new vision with young women everywhere. Hopefully, these symposiums will inspire you to connect with others around you, educate you on some of the ways success is achieved, and help foster a broader sense of pride and sisterhood.

Dennis Kennedy

Founder & CEO

National Diversity Council