Foreign The crown act we hope will create a respectful and open workplace for natural hair Thank you wow that was so powerful good evening narrow beauty standards in America continue to perpetuate unfair scrutiny Injustice and discrimination in workplaces and schools against black women men and children for wearing hairstyles inherent to Black identity race-based hair discrimination unfairly affects women in the workplace and girls
In schools the groundbreaking 2019 Dove Crown research study a quantitative study with 2 000 black and white women illuminated the impact of race-based hair discrimination in the workplace black women are 80 percent more likely to change their natural hair to meet social norms or expectations of work the issue of workplace hair discrimination
Is still prevalent with even the most recent study conducted in this year in 2023 reflecting that black women are 1.5 times more likely to be sent home from work because of her hair Dove Crown 2023 workplace research study illuminated this information for us I am Kimberly Jeffries Leonard and in
Light of these statistics I am honored to welcome a distinguished panel of extraordinary leaders who collectively lead organizations that touch approximately 2 million women from ages 21 to over a hundred years of age we know that black Sisterhood organizations are some of the largest organizations that have a history and a
Legacy of driving change in this country and tonight we have the opportunity to have four of the largest black women’s Civic and social organizations represented here to discuss their role in the crown movement and the movement’s impact on their members first I’m honored to bring to the stage
Elsie cook Holmes who is the national president and CEO of Delta Sigma Theta sorority Incorporated Delta Sigma Theta sorority Incorporated is a private not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to provide assistance and support through establish programs in local communities throughout the world this organization is The Sisterhood of predominantly black college educated
Women founded in 1913 today Delta Sigma Theta has over 300 Infamous Theta has over 350 000 members and over a thousand Collegiate and alumna chapters located in the United States the Arabian Gulf the Bahamas Bermuda Canada Germany Jamaica Japan the Republic of Korea and the Virgin Islands it’s president and
CEO Elsie cook homes is a native of Jackson Tennessee she is a strategic thought leader whose professional career and Civic engagement have been distinguished by her background of public service and Community involvement Madam president is currently principal owner of cook homes LLC a firm offering executive leadership and career coaching and Human Resources
Consulting her career in Corporate America spans over 30 years she was employed by Texas Instruments and Anderson Consulting and in PepsiCo at PepsiCo she held numerous Technical and management positions in pepsico’s information technology and the human resources department most recently serving as human resources leader for the corporate human resources and Global
Financial shared services organization as we said she is the national president and chair of the board of directors of Delta Sigma Theta sorority Incorporated within Delta Sigma Theta she has held numerous leadership positions on Delta’s local Regional and National levels including First National first vice president National second vice president
Which is the highest office for a Collegiate member National secretary at Eastern Regional director she is a member of the Delta research and Educational Foundation board of directors D4 women in action board of directors she also hers membership on the boards of directors of wings Inc formerly the YWCA of Dallas and the
Worthing Foundation she participates in a number of other community activities including membership in the links Incorporated the NAACP and the National Council of negro women she is a recipient of numerous Awards and recognition for her commitment to leadership and community service Elsie is a graduate of the
University of Memphis with a Bachelor of Science and Engineering technology computer systems degree she received her MBA from Columbia University Elsie is married to Clarence H Holmes Jr and she resides in Plano Texas and loves traveling to connect with her extended family six God children sorors and Friends welcome Madam president next we
Have Dr Stacy NC Grant International president of Zeta Phi Beta sorority Incorporated Zeta Phi Beta sorority Incorporated was founded in 1920 on the campus of Howard University as a headquartered in Washington D.C the sororities International programs such as Z hope Zetas helping other people Excel through mind body and spirit serve to empower
People from all walks of life as the sorority moves towards its Centennial it retains its original zest for excellence it espouses the highest academic ideals and that has resulted in its members serving in groundbreaking roles in all fields of endeavors Zeta has initiated a diverse membership of more than 125
000 college-educated women with over 875 chapters in North America Europe Asia the Caribbean Africa and the Middle East now Madam president Dr Stacy NC Grant is an award-winning International speaker Master facilitator media producer and celebrity host in July 2020 Dr Grant was elected as the 26th International president of Zeta Phi Beta sorority
Incorporated she is also the founder of Destiny designers University the only training and development platform for faithreneurs faith-based entrepreneurs and faith-based professionals who grow their wealth generating generating practices around an affinity to God and faith and Dr Grant boldly stands at the intersection of Faith a profitable business Enterprise
She is also the chief Brilliance officer of CNG Enterprises unlimited LLC and mwbe business that specializes in meeting facilitation and professional development training for government and corporate clients Dr Grant is the facilitator for the JFK International Airport Redevelopment Community advisory Council a 19 billion dollar Redevelopment project
She is a member of the Queen’s New York district attorney African-American advisory Council and the New York City city council speakers representative on the Metropolitan Museum of Art Board of Trustees she is also a past president of the Saint John University black Alumni Association a member of the links
Incorporated and an associate member of Jack and Jill of America Queen Incorporated in Queen’s chapter she currently resides in Queens New York with her husband Andrew and their two sons Josiah and Jeremy with God as her guide our Global Community will be better for her service to humanity
Welcome Madam president thank you so much it’s an honor to be here and we have next Rashida s Liberty who is the international Grand bass list of Sigma gamma rho sorority Incorporated Sigma gamma wrote sorority Incorporated is a National Collegiate sorority Incorporated in 1922. over the years
Sigma gamma rho has served as home for thousands of Collegiate and professional women looking for a place to share inspiring life experiences learn new things conquer life challenges thrive in society and uplift the communities through Sisterhood scholarship and service the dynamic women of Sigma gamma rho have built and sustained a
Well-known and highly respected reputation for leading positive change the sorority currently has more than 500 chapters in the United States the U.S Virgin Islands the Bahamas Bermuda Canada Germany South Korea and the United Arab Emirates Madam president Rashida s Liberty was elected the 25th International Grand basilisk of Sigma
Gamma rho sorority Incorporated during the 58th by any obulay on July 31st 2020. in her role Miss Liberty a 28-year member of the renowned renowned sorority led the organization to celebrate its 100th year in 2022. Ms Liberty provides leadership to over 100 000 inducted members and serves as the chairman of
The board of directors composed of 38 National and Regional officers who manage the sororities 500 chapters in the United States and in several countries she joined Sigma gamma rho sorority in 1994 at Marquette University in Milwaukee Wisconsin a proven and dedicated Mentor she propelled both the growth and The Branding of Sigma gamma
Rho serving in several leadership roles including International first vice president southeastern regional director and its International editor-in-chief she is lauded by her sorority for her stewardship of the organization’s mission of enhancing the quality of life for women and their families in the U.S and globally Miss Liberty is also
Celebrated for her negotiations strength and prowess which has brought over half a million dollars of committed funds towards programming efforts for her sorority today she has introduced new partners to the organization such as Google Goldman Sachs U.S army Netflix and the own next work she has also propelled their social action efforts
Forward with forms at the White House and critical Partners including when we all vote on your vote and the collective she also launched a professional professional development arm for the sorority named the sigma flame Institute and has also hosted the first day of the Hill event with members of Congress
Focusing attention on the Safety and Security of women and youth Miss Liberty’s accomplishment earned her assisting distinctions and honors including being named an NAACP image award judge and a HomeTown Hero by qriket Wireless Miss Liberty also serves as the principal inclusion diversity and equity for Amazon web services she is a
Recognized corporate leader with 30 years of experience and delivering results for Fortune 100 companies most recently she became a certified NFL agent to provide a Gateway and support for football players entering the draft and those looking to expand their legacy post career she is a member of numerous organizations including top ladies of
Distinction Jack and Jill of America the NAACP Finance executive networking group Alum among others she currently serves as the chair of the National panholytic Council of presidents she has been deemed to a corporate inspiration featured on empowered black women and well-being Roundtable of the American Heart Association Essence live the Ricky
Smiley Morning Show and The Sybil Wilkes show along with the black News Channel Miss Liberty is married to Gregory Liberty and they have two children Laila and Malik and last but not least I am pleased to represent my sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority Incorporated the oldest Greek letter organization established by African-American college
Women an international service organization founded on the campus of Howard University in 1908. Alpha Kappa Alpha is comprised of more than 355 000 initiated members in graduate and undergraduate chapters located in 12 countries including the United States Bahamas Bermuda Canada Dubai Germany Japan Liberia Nigeria South Korea South
Africa and the U.S Virgin Islands and I’m pleased to be here for our International president dinette Anthony Reed addition to what you’ve heard their respective organizational programmatic initiative these ladies have been on the front lines of the crown movement since its Inception because of their unique roles in their
Professional and volunteer lives I have only one question for this Crown conversation how has the crown movement impacted you as a leader and how has the movement impacted your membership let’s start with Delta Sigma Theta president Elsie so much uh president Kimberly um I will have to say uh Delta has been
An integral part of the crown act since the very beginning and as such I personally have supported the crown act since its very beginning when I think about the importance of it the importance of making sure that we can wear our hair however we want to wear our hair
Um it it also crosses over into my professional life as well with respect to making sure that those uh who are in Corporate America when I was in Corporate America feel included and are not put in a box and labeled for the way they wear their hair and uh being able
To coach uh Executives now to really do uh the same in terms of also standing up for their rights you know in their various places of work but one of our members ajua asamoa was certainly the founder of the crown act and she has been an integral part to make sure that
It continues to be championed that the bills continue to get introduced across the country and they continue to be passed Delta was proud to be the first organization not just the first sorority but the first organization period to get behind the crown act and be part of this
Coalition that has truly expanded and it has expanded and it is a delight to be in another Coalition with my D9 sisters my fellow presidents but also uh so many other organizations that are now part of this Coalition but as mentioned ajoa truly is a champion uh the very first uh
State to pass the crown Act was the state of New York it was introduced in California first but it was first passed in New York and another member of Delta Sigma Theta who is assembly speaker at the time Tremaine Wright was the sponsor along with um a great deal of partnership with ajua
To make sure that that bill was passed and we have long supported it we have marketing efforts if you will led by Kelly Richardson Lawson another member of Delta Sigma Theta but we continue to be proud to lend our way because it’s so critical to our members I do want to
Just mention one additional thing with respect to the one of the latest states that has passed the crown act and that is in the state of Texas and uh it is my place of residence and it was something that we as Deltas lobbied for we advocated for doing our recent uh red
And white day at the state capitol and that bill was sent championed by a Retta Bowers and a state representative who’s also a member of Delta along with ajua so we were very very excited about the passing but we continue again to advocate for this as we do so many
Um so many other efforts with respect to social justice and the crown act really is about just that having our rights social justice and so really it’s part of Delta’s DNA to be on the front lines of social justice and social action initiatives so we continue to do just
That our members coming many Hues we get a chance to wear our hair whatever way we want to wear it uh it in any specific time we uh are able to set examples and support our youth in the youth groups that we have uh in our Delta Academy our
Delta gyms as well as Delta as well as our embody group um which is our male group and the other two are female groups to make sure that our youth are proud to show up uh and be able to wear their hair in the fashion
That they uh are able to do so so we do have to keep being on the front lines of uh getting these bills passed in every state so we’ve got a lot of work done but we know we have a lot more work to do and Delta is certainly ready to do it
That you you mentioned um Audra you know I think that she’s the one that has brought us all to the table I remember when I first became president of another organization she said to me I got something you need to get behind and I’m like okay let’s talk about that and
That was actually one of the very first things that we got behind too so Madam president Stacy let’s talk a little bit about what you all have been doing with the Zeta 5 Beta sorority Incorporated and how it’s impacted you and your membership absolutely and so we are excited as well
To be at the Forefront of this Crown accent this Inception with members advocating for our right to be able to express our Beauty in the way that we feel we can and not have someone dictate how that interrupts our ability or their claim to interrupt our ability to do the
Professional jobs that we have across the country so it was interesting when the crown act started and the word needed to get out a lot of our members who stay engaged as we are also predicated on making sure we’re speaking out against the social ills and
Challenges of the day and this was one that resonated with all of our members I am wearing natural hairstyles for a reason because we understood Not only was it the political part of being unified in our voices to be able to have the crown Act passed across the country
It was also some of the other underlying effects of making a choice because of your health and and making that decision based on the fact that not only do you want to be professional and have the opportunity to choose your hairstyle but also the opportunity to make decisions
Based on what’s best for you and your body as some of our members went deeper into impacts and implication with how we process our hair so it wasn’t a judgment on those who chose to but making sure that we were educating our members on what was happening with the bills so
That we could rally the support I’m a native New Yorker and and no Tremaine very well well so we were all involved in making sure we pushed New York to be the first state to be able to pass the crown act and across the country as we
See we are increasing our support and the information with studies that we see you’ve mentioned before that was done by Dove so we understand what is happening to our sisters on their in their places of employment and how they have to deal with a lot of trauma when it comes to
Their representation at the table because they choose a natural style so this conversation was also an opportunity for our members to host forums we had a series of Engagement where we would bring in Specialists and we would bring in Advocates to talk about the importance of supporting the
Crown act it is unfortunate that we had to take it to policy that it wouldn’t be just natural that we could show up as any other culture in the way in which we choose to show up but because we did have to create the policy our United voices were stronger together so working
With our legislators who were elected to government on the local state levels on National level serving in Congress in the House of Representatives at the time being able to supply our members with those table talk conversations at the beauty parlor in our churches in our local organization so that we could
Generate information around educating our constituents on how they could be supportive so whether it was a campaign on social media whether it was emails being sent out we were making sure that our membership was aware of the importance of passing the crown act and encouraging our members to do what we
Normally do with our Zetas helping other people Excel choosing workshops and Community engagement activities that would rally the support create the excitement around the crown Act and the partnership that we have with our other sister presidents but understanding that our voice can’t be silenced our choices cannot be removed and together as we
Stand unified we see the success we still have a far way to go but we see the success in how we’ve been able to move the successful successful passing of the crown act in multiple States additionally we were the first organization to create youth auxiliaries and as my sister president shared we
Wanted our young people to share their input on being able to have their natural styles and to be able to express themselves so allowing for our teenage youth group our Junior High School youth group and even our younger babies between six and eight to do colorful presentations on how they see themselves
That positive self-image and being able to drive that conversation home with the data and the statistics from all of the surveys and increasing our voices in a collective manner to make sure that we have a normalized conversation about the crown Act and the importance for black
Women to be able to dictate their own Destinies and their own representation thank you so much Madam president you know it is it is so important that as you rally and you rally your members You’re Building we’re building an opportunity for generational empowerment and when we talk about um looking at race-based discrimination
When you bring the young people in you’re allowing young girls younger young boys you know a younger generation to see these things are okay so thank you for what you all have done and what you’re doing there I appreciate we’re so appreciative of this work uh Madam
President Rashida tell us a little bit about how this has impacted you and your members of Sigma gamma morale I would say it’s a very direct impact so the crown act when this initiative became um top of Mind algebra was a pro-star organization and said we need you behind
It there was no doubt that Simi gamero was going to be on board it has really taken me and I always have to say from a personal aspect um I’m the first national president of our organization that has ever worn locks like natural hair and if I and I
Also I often use this to tell my story a bit because I come out of the finance industry always worked in Fortune 100 and I shared with my membership personally what this is meant to me because I came from a time when we had to wear dark suits skirts and stockings
And fourth in these in these public uh County firms and then to be able to really be able to express myself so I really use this as an opportunity to share the how do we live the crown at now that it’s come about and so I I
Purposely made sure I kind of curled my locks a little bit for this call today because I wanted to show that beauty of the crown and also show from a leadership perspective I don’t have to be in a place where I’m compromised where I have to wear straight hair press
And curl wigs braids Etc I can actually wear my natural hair and style it accordingly this will be a change Dynamic I can’t tell you how many of our members have come to me and said I just I’m so proud of you for doing that I’m
So proud of you role modeling that and I’m not gonna say it was easy Even in our Sisterhood to do it there was still some lack of acceptance from the brainwashing we have received across this country that we have to look a certain way wear our hair a certain way
Dress a certain way in order to be accepted and so I’m hoping I’m breaking that very barrier personally now just to talk about Sydney gamble roll there’s a couple things that I want to address we have been behind a program called Swim 1922 in partnership with USA swimming we
Know that one of the biggest inhibitors for women getting in the pool or even exposing their children to water is because we’re like what are we going to do with our hair after we get out of the pool and so we have really been talking with them about how do we create those
Specialized swim caps how do we create and work with work in partnership with people who design specific shampoos and things like that so our hair doesn’t have that breakage and that we we can feel comfortable getting in and out of the pool without losing some of the
Natural things that come with our DNA right to have that dryness there’s also some effort behind um natural hair seminars so at our national conventions and at our regional conventions for our youth Affiliates as well as our members we have invited in people such as Carol’s daughter who’s
Also a member of our great sorority um to brought her in to actually explain how do you Style and what should you use what products should you use to really drive your natural hair because it’s a hard it’s hard to take on natural hair it’s really difficult because you have
To figure out what products and what mix and things like that so what we’re doing from a particular General perspective is really teaching how to live now that we have this acceptance that is going on across our country and I have to just thank um president Elsie cook Holmes Really
Bringing up the state of Texas because we have so many things in our state that don’t go sometimes the way we want them to go but this is one thing that has went the right way in the state of Texas and specifically in the county that I live in as well Harris County
Municipality has really adopted um the crown act so we will continue to do the great work we appreciate uh the very first t-shirts that were sent out to the National president to really display our locks and our hair and the wear on that day and here we are years
Fast forward where you have the national presidents of these great organizations speaking about how we feel confident how we feel empowered and how we can engage in an authentic manner with our organizations and the rest of the world foreign Madam president the fact that that you
Have made this bold step which like you said shouldn’t even have been a bold step to be able to wear your hair in this way and not feel as though you have to be discriminated against in your workplace in our in our in your personal
Life thank you for that and and the and your your work around the swimming piece um that is a huge barrier and the fact that you’re working um with a company to to to develop caps for our people for our children for our uh community opens up a whole new world
Um and and then the sky becomes the limit um you know you have probably opened up the world for the next Olympic champion um for or just people who want to be able to get in the pool and enjoy so you all are just just so inspiring not only
What you’re doing programmatically to to change the culture to change the mindset that but what you’re doing to help to end race-based hair discrimination through your advocacy efforts and so I’m honored to sit here with you it does feel like we you know we come a mighty long way
I remember when we started this and and here we are with these states you know we celebrated Texas I love looking at the pictures uh of the pack being passed there I mean that was phenomenal um but but you’re right we have a mighty
Long way to go and so what we need to do is to ensure that um people who are listening hear you because they see you and and I thank you for what you’re doing please listeners join us and and and help us to uh continue this Crown movement sign the
Petition Crown day is coming on July the 3rd uh flood your feed with your beautiful photos and your your affirmations around the crown movement and help us in race-based hair discrimination Madam presidents I can’t thank you enough for being here tonight and telling the world what you’ve done personally and what you’re doing
Organizationally to address this issue so thank you for again for for coming thank you thank you foreign
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