Historic United State of Women Summit
By Jerin Arifa
On June 14, the White House organized the first-ever United State of Women Summit with 5,000 women, girls and men across the United States and around the globe. Leaders spanning government, corporate and nonprofit sectors convened to celebrate women’s achievements, while highlighting the work still necessary to achieve gender parity. Speakers included President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Warren Buffet. One common theme among the presentations was entrepreneurship’s potential to empower women in every sector. The daylong summit and adjoining events throughout the week also tackled the challenges preventing women’s success, including the lack of representation in STEM and dearth of support for women entrepreneurs.
“Dream like a kid!,” encouraged 11-year-old entrepreneur Mikaila Ulmer, who founded Me And The Bees Lemonade at age four! She was advising women on how to become successful entrepreneurs like herself, during the adjoining United State of Women: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs Summit. Hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the convening provided tips from successful entrepreneurs like Ulmer, whose products are in Whole Foods stores across the country.
Jerin Arifa has been an activist since childhood, when she created a literacy program for homeless kids in Bangladesh. In America, Arifa co-created the sexual assault and domestic violence policy for the largest urban public university in the nation. Outside of her feminist job as the Development Officer for the YWCA of the City of New York, Arifa mentors millennials across the country as the Founder and President of the National Organization for Women (NOW) first-ever, virtual chapter called Young Feminists and Allies.
