WASHINGTON, November 28 /PRNewswire/ --
In six countries across the globe, thousands of established women leaders are being matched with groups of young professionals to engage in career enhancing dialogue. As they walk through neighborhoods and city streets they share challenges and goals for the future and strategies for achieving success.
This series of mentoring walks is a direct and growing outcome of the FORTUNE/US State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership in collaboration with Vital Voices Global Partnership. This annual public-private partnership program brings mid-level international businesswomen to the United States to be paired with high-level women leaders and engage in a three-week mentorship with one of FORTUNE's most powerful women executives. Each year, participants meet with Founder and former CEO of Oxygen Media, Gerry Laybourne, who shares her personal efforts to empower young women professionals through simple mentoring walks in New York City and across the United States.
Vital Voices President, Alyse Nelson Bloom commented: Gerry Laybourne has inspired a multitude of other women by her success and dedication and her example that by investing in a few young women's leadership, you can impact many. Alumnae from the 2006, 2007 and 2008 FORTUNE/State Dept. program have carried home plans to organize the event annually in Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Serbia, Argentina and Peru with plans to further expand the event to Tanzania, Jordan, Russia, Ghana and Egypt.
Each mentoring walk has been tailored to fit the needs of the locale in which it's held. In Nigeria, it will include over 400 women professionals and serve to launch an ongoing mentoring program organized by Idea Builders in partnership with the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy, LYNX Nigeria, ASSEED and MeeMe and supported by ExxonMobil. In Kenya, Zimbabwe, Serbia, Argentina and Peru the mentoring walks will include hundreds of women leaders and serve to promote ongoing one-on-one mentoring partnerships for professionals in the public and private sectors.
To support program alumnae, Vital Voices Global Partnership will have a presence in three locations with support from the ExxonMobil Foundation. This year's events will pilot an ongoing initiative organized by Vital Voices and its partners to extend mentoring walks to its Global Leadership Network of over 5,000 women leaders in Asia, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa.
About Vital Voices Global Partnership
Vital Voices Global Partnership is the preeminent non-governmental organization (NGO) that identifies, trains, and empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the globe, enabling them to create a better world for us all. We provide these women with the capacity, connections, and credibility they need to unlock their leadership potential. Our international staff and team of over 1,000 partners, pro bono experts and leaders, including senior government, corporate and NGO executives, have trained and mentored more than 5,000 emerging women leaders from over 150 countries in Asia, Africa, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East since 1997. These women have returned home to train and mentor more than 100,000 additional women and girls in their communities. They are the Vital Voices of our time. For more information, visit http://www.vitalvoices.org.
About FORTUNE/U.S. State Department Global Women's Mentoring Partnership
The U.S. State Department, FORTUNE Most Powerful Women's Summit and Vital Voices Global Partnership annually engage in a public-private to provide international emerging women leaders in business the opportunity to develop their leadership, management and business skills through the FORTUNE/U.S. State Department Global Women's Mentoring Partnership. This unique program combines the study of U.S. business culture with a working mentorship program that enables emerging women business leaders across the globe to spend a month in the U.S. to enhance their capabilities and propel their careers forward. Top American female executives - Fortune's Most Powerful Women - mentor these emerging leaders to support them in their professional growth.
MEDIA CONTACT: Alyse Nelson Bloom Vital Voices Global Partnership Mobile Tel: +1-202-905-8917 Email: alysebloom@vitalvoices.org
Alyse Nelson Bloom, Vital Voices Global Partnership, Mobile Tel: +1-202-905-8917, alysebloom@vitalvoices.org
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