Saturday, October 31, 2009

California Women's Conference

For the last four years I've attended the California Women's Conference hosted by Maria Shriver. Fortunately, my company pays for the tickets and for my time there. It's a great deal. This year 14,000 people (mostly women) attended.

Hightlights for me this year:

A conversation between Annie Leibowitz and Katie Couric with Annie commenting on her photos shown overhead

Maria Shriver's welcome speech and her openness about her grief over the loss of her mother and uncle just in the last two months

The panel moderated by Maria with two women who lost sons (Elizabeth Edwards and Susan St. James)and one who just lost her husband (Lisa Swayze) -- a very emotional experience for me

Jane Goodall and her eloquence in accepting a well deserved Minerva award for her work to save Africa from polution

And of course Madeleine Albright's famous quote (she said it last year too):
"There should be a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."

Whether I'm still working for this company next year or not, I'll attend again. It's interesting to find out that today's women have some of the same issues we had years ago -- they too have to make choices about careers vs. raising a family or both.

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