SUSAN L. TAYLOR TO KEYNOTE WOMEN'S DAY CONFERENCE ON STATIA

ORANJESTAD, St. Eustatius - Former Essence magazine’s editorin-chief and motivational speaker in the United States and the Caribbean Susan L. Taylor will be the keynote speaker of the upcoming Women’s Day Conference to commemorate World Women’s Day on St. Eustatius. The theme of the event, which is scheduled for March 4 and 5 at Mike E. van Putten Youth Centre, is “Step It Up For Gender Equality.” 

Taylor is well-known for serving Essence from 1981 through 2000. In 2006, she founded the National CARES Mentoring Movement to provide the most vulnerable youth with much-needed mentoring from able and caring adults. The organization’s national volunteer affiliate network connects adults to local youth-serving organizations. 

Statia’s Women’s Day Conference is a collaborative effort between St. Eustatius Business Association STEBA and the tenth European Development Fund’s Programme for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories, together with St. Eustatius Promotion of International Culture and Education (SPICE), the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and St. Eustatius Tourism Development Foundation STDF. 

The Conference will feature local, regional and international speakers, who will share their experience and expertise on a range of topics, such as empowering yourself to be your own Chief Executive Officer, leadership development and refinement, work/life balance, and workplace/business challenges. The main goal of this conference is bringing local and regional women managers, entrepreneurs and business “guru’s” together to share same practices and new ideas. According to organizers, the conference is deemed to be beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses, as women entrepreneurs are among the European Union’s focus groups. 

“The Conference theme “Step it up for gender equality” encourages women to take a greater role in changing the course of their own lives, and in being a force for change in their communities,” said STEBA President Winston Fleming.