In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Gye Name Empowerment Project (GNEP) will host their 5th Annual Sista-2-Sista Youth Summit Saturday, March 31, 2012 from 9:00am – 6:30pm at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY. The Sista-2-Sista Youth Summit is a vibrant interactive day that is comprised of dynamic workshops, educational activities, live entertainment and engaging conversations. This year’s keynote speaker is the world renowned Susan L. Taylor, who is a global icon, editor, author, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Essence Magazine and Founder of National CARES Mentoring Movement. In addition, S2S honorees, panelists and performers include: Black Girls Rock!, Michaela Angela Davis, Toni Blackman, Queen Godis and Girls for Gender Equity.
The Sista-2-Sista Youth Summit is a full day of engaging activities and conversations, and it enhances the personal development, social awareness, self-love and sisterhood of young and older woman of Pan-African decent. This year’s Sista-2-Sista Youth Summit, titled “Celebrating The Sista Within”, will open with a West African Dance Class, followed by a series of interactive workshops each facilitated by a dynamic team of one adult and one young woman. The workshops include powerful topics such as: Forgiveness: Access to Freedom; Aliveness: Creating a Life Worth Living and Get Fly!: Presentation as Power.
In addition to teen girls being invited to participate, their mothers, teachers, aunts, mentors and other influential women in their lives are also encouraged to attend the Woman-2-Woman educational workshops. Workshops will take place simultaneously and the day will culminate with an acknowledgement ceremony led by rites of passage expert Monica C. Dennis of S.O.W Leadership Development Institute. The closing awards ceremony will honor Girls for Gender Equity, Michaela Angela Davis and announce the winner of the Andrea D. Brown Book Scholarship to a high achieving high school female senior attending college during the Fall of 2012. Confirmed musical guests include mentees from Black Girls Rock!, Rhyme Like A Girl (RLAG) and Queen Godis. 
Sista-2-Sista Youth Summit is a grassroots conference developed by GNEP founder Akua Soadwa and with the help of community supporters and individual volunteers it has blossomed into a full day summit and awards ceremony. It began as a vision during Soadwa’s undergraduate years at Mount Holyoke and since its inception in 2007 it has received extensive recognition hailing a large variety of prominent figures such as Beverly Bond, Marsha Ambrosius, Lauren Lake, Sonia Alleyne, D. Woods, Kay Foxx, Sil Lai Abrams and many more.
“This year’s summit reflects the tremendous growth of the Gye Nyame Empowerment Project and the continual impact we’ve had on New York area high school girls,” said 30-year old GNEP Founder Akua Soadwa. “We are thrilled to continue our strong tradition of empowering girls and women of Pan-African descent who will in turn empower others.”
The Sista-2-Sista Youth Summit is open to the public, free of charge to high school students and $35 (early-bird rate) for adult attendees. Pre-registration is required for all participants and is now open. The Summit will be held at St. Francis College located at 180 Remsen Street in downtown Brooklyn, NY. The day will begin promptly at 9:00am and conclude at 6:30pm. Breakfast, lunch, snacks and giveaways will be provided. For more information, or to register for the Sista-2-Sista Youth Summit, please email S2Syouthsummit@gmail.com or visit www.EmpowerMeGNEP.org/s2s.
