Approximately four hundred eager eyes peered onto the stage in the Blackburn Ballroom waiting to learn all they could from keynote speaker, Tatyana Ali and other motivational female figures in the African American community. The event, “Sisters Let’s Talk: Embracing Our Potential for Success, Achieving the Ultimate Score of Excellence” was hosted by the ladies of the Alpha Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated as part of their 20th Annual Woman to Woman conference. The conference began in 1992, “We saw a need in our surrounding communities, our young ladies needed encouragement, more motivation, more knowledge about how to go to school and what career opportunities were available to them upon their high school graduation,” said Public Relations committee member Jazsmin Watson-Booth.
Young women ranging from the ages of fourteen to eighteen years old from High Schools around the Washington, DC area were treated with a banquet followed by words of encouragement to fill their appetite. Participating schools included Cardozo high school, Banneker high school, Seed Public Charter high school, Coolidge high school and more. “I loved it, I got to meet some beautiful people I just love everything about it and it was nice to have African American women that do something in the community and make a difference. That really made a difference it meant a lot to me,” said Seed Public Charter High School Senior Tyesha Newman. The conference ran from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM and touched on a wide range of topics, spanning from ill protrayed images of black women in the media to avoiding HIV / Aids, an epidemic that that plagues the African American community in a large way. The girls also had an opportunity to break out into groups to receive one on one attention regarding such topics.
93.9 WKYS’ Angie Ange says the event was once again successfully carried out by the ladies of Delta Sigma Theta. “This is probably my fourth year working with the Woman to Woman conference. It is always great to see students at Howard bring out the community, giving back to the community having all these young ladies to see not just speakers like Tatyana Ali or myself but also the students to see young black women in college and supporting them and saying hey I’m here for you, I’m your big sister, that is a really big deal and they do it constantly every year,” said Angie Ange. With her non-profit organization, College is Cool Incorporated, Angie Ange is constantly seeking new ways to empower young men and women to go to college.
Keynote speaker Tatyana Ali stressed the importance of confidence in the delivery of her speech, “I wanted to leave them with the understanding that its’ not something you have or don’t have its something you can cultivate in yourself, it’s a worthwhile pursuit,” said Tatyana Ali. In her new role on TV-One’s “Love that Girl”, Tatyana Ali plays an independent young divorcee looking to rise the corporate ladder while seeking love.
