South Florida Women of Color

South Florida Women of Color Building relationships and uniting leaders
www.Nationalwomenofcolor.com WHO ARE WE? We do this through uniting leaders and building professional relationships.

MISSION OF WOCEI: TO ENHANCE AND EXPAND LEADERSHIP BY WOMEN OF COLOR

Our goal is to be the leader in promoting the professional growth of Women of Color. We plan a number of events throughout the year to include our annual Women of Color Empowerment Conference (September 9 -11, 2016); Advocates for Change Forums; Business Etiquette sessions; Health Fairs; Diversity Training Opportunities for com

panies; Candidate Forums; a Professional Mentorship Program; Heritage awareness forums and much more. ABOUT THE WOMEN OF COLOR EMPOWERMENT INSTITUTE, INC. The Women of Color Empowerment Institute, Inc. (WOCEI) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization devoted to addressing public policy issues of concern to Women of Color in South Florida and elsewhere. Some of our objectives include:
● Building awareness of health care disparities, disease and social ills that disproportionately impact Women of Color nationwide;

● Supporting and encouraging women leaders to run and win public office;

● Developing capacities for social change that will empower women to transform communities;

● Developing programming that will increase and promote heritage awareness;

● Combating stereotypes, double standards and bias against Women of Color;

● Providing training opportunities for businesses and government;
● Providing mentoring programming;

● Expanding technological capacity for Women of Color;

● Uniting Women of Color with multicultural differences. We work collaboratively with a number of state and local partners, including but not limited to universities, bar associations, urban leagues, corporations, sororities and links chapters. Our largest yearly project is the Women of Color Empowerment Conference. The leadership conference focuses on educating and motivating dynamic Women of Color to lead organizations, launch effective advocacy campaigns and take full advantage of technology in today’s marketplace. We take the successful strategies discussed during the conferences and formulate yearly programming directed towards transforming communities. WOCEI has also established a professional mentorship program for young and emerging professionals. WOCEI’s events are well attended and supported by state, local and federal leaders. Past event speakers have included Trumpet Awards Founder Xernona Clayton; Judy Smith, the inspiration behind the hit television show Scandal; Africa Channel founder Paula Madison; MSNBC’s Joy Reid; Congresswoman Donna Edwards; Florida Supreme Court Justice Peggy Quince, American Bar Association President, Paulette Brown; television Judge Glenda Hatchett and Gina Paige, Founder of African American Ancestry, to name a few. Our panel conference discussions have been comprised of women news anchors; election experts, technology experts, top corporate executives and legal scholars from across the nation. Our programming has received national awards from various organizations. In 2014, the conference was featured on C-Span. In order to continue our great programming and grow into a national linkage and policy research institute for Women of Color, we need you as a partner. Please review our objectives and let us know how you are planning to join the movement! Visit us at nationalwomenofcolor.com to become a member.

Leadership isn’t only about getting a seat at the table. It’s about what you do once you’re there — and who you help bri...
08/22/2026

Leadership isn’t only about getting a seat at the table. It’s about what you do once you’re there — and who you help bring into the room next.

At the 15th Annual Women of Color Empowerment Conference, one of our most important conversations will be “Keeping the Door Open from the Inside.”

This extraordinary panel brings together women who have reached the highest levels of leadership in technology, business and media — and who understand that influence carries responsibility.

Facilitated by Jacky Wright, Global Technology Leader and former Chief Technology and Platform Officer for McKinsey & Company, the conversation will feature:

Rosanna Durruthy — Vice President, Belonging, Learning and Employee Experience at LinkedIn

Paula Madison — pioneering media executive and news industry icon; former GE Company Officer and NBCUniversal EVP of Diversity; former Owner/CEO of the Los Angeles Sparks; and Principal Owner of The Africa Channel

Lita Richardson — former Executive Vice President of Content and Brand Strategy for CBS Media Ventures

Together, they’ll explore the questions that matter once we achieve positions of influence.

This is more than a conversation about making it to the top. It’s about turning access into opportunity, influence into impact, and individual success into a pathway for others. It’s the reason WOCEI has been in existence for 15 years.

Join us September 11–13 in Fort Lauderdale for the 15th Annual Women of Color Empowerment Conference: Made for This Moment: Purpose, Power & Progress.

Register today at Nationalwomenofcolor.com.

There may be no better woman to help us ground the moment than Ethel Isaacs Williams, Immediate Past President of The Li...
08/20/2026

There may be no better woman to help us ground the moment than Ethel Isaacs Williams, Immediate Past President of The Links, Incorporated.

We are living through a moment that demands more from women who lead — more courage, more clarity, more connection and a deeper understanding of the forces shaping our communities, our institutions and our future.

Before we talk about where we are going, we need to understand where we are, what this moment requires of us, and how we are being called to lead.

Ethel Isaacs Williams will help us set that foundation with “Grounding the Moment: Understanding the Times We Are Called to Lead.”

This conference is not simply about being inspired. It is about leaving informed, connected, equipped and ready to move.

For 15 years, the Women of Color Empowerment Institute has brought extraordinary women together to learn from one another, build relationships and expand our collective power. This year, the moment feels especially important.

September 11–13, 2026 | Fort Lauderdale

If you have been thinking about coming, this is your sign. Register now .com
You were Made for this Moment.

Register now .com
08/18/2026

Register now .com

Some people walk through an open door—and then close it behind them. True leaders hold it open for others.That is why th...
08/13/2026

Some people walk through an open door—and then close it behind them. True leaders hold it open for others.

That is why this panel discussion, “Keeping the Door Open from the Inside,” is so important.

Reaching the highest levels of leadership is a tremendous accomplishment—but what happens once we are inside the rooms where opportunities are created and decisions are made? This powerful conversation will explore the responsibility that comes with influence: developing the next generation of leaders, sponsoring emerging talent, challenging institutional barriers, and creating lasting pathways for others to advance.

Facilitated by Jacky Wright, Global Technology Leader and former Chief Technology and Platform Officer for McKinsey & Company, the panel brings together extraordinary women whose leadership has shaped business, media, technology, and workplace culture:

* Rosanna Durruthy, Vice President of Belonging, Learning and Employee Experience at LinkedIn
* Paula Madison, pioneering media executive and news industry icon; former GE Company Officer and Executive Vice President of Diversity at NBCUniversal; former owner and CEO of the Los Angeles Sparks; and principal owner of The Africa Channel
* Lita Richardson, former Executive Vice President of Content and Brand Strategy for CBS Media Ventures

This conversation is not simply about getting a seat at the table. It is about using that seat to widen access, amplify overlooked voices, and make sure the door remains open for those coming behind us.

Join us at the 15th Annual Women of Color Empowerment Conference, September 11–13 in Fort Lauderdale.

Made for This Moment: Purpose, Power & Progress

Register today at NationalWomenofColor.com.

🙌🏽 15 YEARS. THREE EXTRAORDINARY HONOREES. ONE UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT. ✨For 15 years, the Women of Color Empowerment Instit...
08/11/2026

🙌🏽 15 YEARS. THREE EXTRAORDINARY HONOREES. ONE UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT. ✨

For 15 years, the Women of Color Empowerment Institute has brought women together to build relationships, open doors, strengthen communities and prepare leaders for the moments that matter.

On Saturday, September 12, we will celebrate that legacy in spectacular fashion at the 2026 Women of Color Empowerment Conference Gala at the beautiful Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa in Fort Lauderdale.

And we are incredibly proud to honor three national leaders whose lives and work embody purpose, power and progress:

⚖️ Judge J. Michelle Childs — a distinguished jurist whose remarkable career and commitment to justice have earned national recognition.

⚖️ Benjamin Crump — nationally renowned civil rights attorney and advocate whose voice has helped shape some of the most consequential conversations about justice and equality in our country.

✨ Paula Madison — trailblazing media executive, entrepreneur, author and former NBCUniversal leader whose extraordinary career has broken barriers and created opportunities for generations to follow.

This will be more than an awards ceremony. It will be a celebration of 15 years of impact, sisterhood and legacy—and of the people who have used their influence to make room for others.

Come dressed to celebrate. Come ready to connect. Come prepared for an elegant evening of inspiration, music, dinner and dancing as we honor our past and celebrate what is still ahead.

🥂 2026 Women of Color Empowerment Conference Gala
📅 Saturday, September 12, 2026 | 7:00 PM
📍 Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa | Fort Lauderdale

Fifteen years brought us to this moment. And we are just getting started.

Register at NationalWomenofColor.com⁠

“Lessons from the Past: Who Is Telling Our Story?”Dr. Tubbs is a two-time New York Times bestselling author, sociologist...
08/10/2026

“Lessons from the Past: Who Is Telling Our Story?”

Dr. Tubbs is a two-time New York Times bestselling author, sociologist, scholar and acclaimed storyteller whose work challenges us to look more closely at the history we think we know. With a Ph.D. in Sociology and an MPhil in Multidisciplinary Gender Studies from the University of Cambridge, she has become a leading voice examining race, gender, equity and the consequences of historical erasure.

Her groundbreaking bestseller, The Three Mothers, brought long-overdue attention to Alberta King, Louise Little and Berdis Baldwin—the extraordinary women who raised Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin. Her newest bestseller, Erased: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden from Us, goes even further, examining how the stories America tells about itself have been shaped by whose voices were elevated and whose were left out.

And that makes this conversation especially important right now.

At a moment when our nation is debating history, identity, power and whose stories deserve to be told, Dr. Tubbs reminds us that we cannot fully understand the present—or determine where we are going—without understanding what has been left out of our past.

This will not simply be a history lesson. It will be a conversation about memory, power, representation and our responsibility to make sure the stories of women—particularly Black women and women of color—are not erased from the history being written today.

Who tells our story matters. Who preserves it matters. And who is missing from it matters.

This is one conversation you need to be in the room to hear.

15th Annual Women of Color Empowerment Conference
Made for This Moment: Purpose, Power & Progress
📅 September 11–13, 2026 | Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Register today at NationalWomenofColor.com⁠

Look who’s joining us! We are thrilled to welcome the incomparable Vivica A. Fox as a Special Guest at the 15th Annual W...
08/09/2026

Look who’s joining us!

We are thrilled to welcome the incomparable Vivica A. Fox as a Special Guest at the 15th Annual Women of Color Empowerment Conference!

Actress. Producer. Author. Director. Entrepreneur. Vivica has built an extraordinary career by continuing to evolve, reinvent herself, and boldly step into new opportunities. Her journey is a powerful reflection of this year’s theme:
Made for This Moment: Purpose, Power & Progress.

We can’t wait for the energy, wisdom, stories—and undoubtedly a little fun—she will bring to the conference!

And Vivica is just one of the phenomenal voices joining us for an unforgettable weekend of connection, inspiration, leadership, sisterhood and celebration.

📅 September 11–13, 2026
📍 Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Don’t just hear about it afterward. Be in the room.

Register today at Nationalwomenofcolor.com

The momentum is building—and so is the excitement!We are thrilled to welcome Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace to the 15th Annu...
08/09/2026

The momentum is building—and so is the excitement!

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace to the 15th Annual Women of Color Empowerment Conference, September 11–13 in Fort Lauderdale!

She will be one of the incredible voices joining us this year to share perspectives that speak directly to this year’s theme:

Made for This Moment: Purpose, Power & Progress.

For 15 years, the Women of Color Empowerment Conference has brought together dynamic women and allies from across industries and generations to connect, learn, build relationships and leave ready to move forward with greater purpose and power.

September 11–13, 2026
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Nationalwomenofcolor.com

Come join us. You were Made for This Moment!

Long before history books recorded the brilliance of African civilizations, stories traveled across rivers and oceans of...
08/02/2026

Long before history books recorded the brilliance of African civilizations, stories traveled across rivers and oceans of a powerful feminine spirit known throughout much of West, Central, and Southern Africa as Mami Wata.

She is not simply a mermaid. She is a guardian of the waters… a symbol of beauty, wisdom, healing, abundance, transformation, and feminine power.

For generations, she has reminded us that like water, women possess the strength to adapt, the courage to persevere, and the ability to create life wherever they flow.

On September 12th, we will celebrate fifteen years of the Women of Color Empowerment Institute, we honor those who embody that same spirit—leaders whose purpose creates ripples far beyond themselves. Every wave begins with a single drop… and every movement begins with one courageous woman. Take a moment now to register for the Gala at NationalWomenofColor.com. 🧜🏽‍♀️ &Progress

What a beautiful afternoon at the NSU Art Museum!We had the privilege of experiencing the extraordinary work of internat...
07/27/2026

What a beautiful afternoon at the NSU Art Museum!

We had the privilege of experiencing the extraordinary work of internationally recognized Haitian artist Frantz Zephirin, whose vibrant creations reflect culture, history, resilience, spirituality, and the limitless possibilities of the human spirit.

More than an art exhibit, it was an inspiring journey that sparked meaningful conversations, broadened perspectives, and reminded us of the power of creativity to connect us across cultures and generations.

The Women of Color Empowerment Institute, Inc. continues to create exceptional experiences that bring leaders together through authentic connection. We are grateful to have shared this unforgettable afternoon with such an amazing community.

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401 NW 7th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL
33311

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