I Am Virtuous held its 3rd annual brunch honoring International Women’s Day at the beautiful and newly remodeled DeLuxe Banquet Hall in Burbank, CA. I am Virtuous is a non- profit organization built on teaching self-worth to young women at the community level and providing girls opportunities for success and growth.
Over the past three years, I Am Virtuous has held this brunch to create a space and encourage dialogue between women and men to discuss the many issues facing young women in the 21st century. I Am Virtuous club members from Serrano High School, parents, community members, industry professionals, and educators all gathered to celebrate International Women’s Day, which was on March 8th. There were over 100 people in attendance, including 35 high school students and I Am Virtuous club members. This year, I Am Virtuous also hosted a panel discussion at the brunch themed The Year of the Women.
List of Panelist At I Am Virtuous Brunch
- Regina Wallace-Jones: Head of Security Operations at Facebook; Advisory Board for Women Who Code; patron of Black Girls Code
- Christa Bowers: Confidential Assistant for the Associate Director of National Security programs at the office of Management and Budget, White House
- Juanita Chan: Rialto USD Science Lead; Cohort 10 California Mathematics and Science Partnership Grant Project Director
- Laksmi Lagares: FormerNor Cal Program Director, Junior State of America; CEO of Lagares Consulting
- Jasmine Augilar: Game Designer & Developer at Nix Hydra
- Jendalyn Coulter: I Am Virtuous Co-Founder, Freshman at UCLA, Sociology and Education
- Claire Robbins: I Am Virtuous Fellow, Senior at Serrano High School
“This year, I chose to focus on and spotlight the Year of the Women and create a dialogue around what this means in 2016, and how women everywhere are pushing boundaries and owning their self-worth,” said Melissa McFarland, President of I Am Virtuous.
According to www.internationalwomensday.com, the World Economic Forum predicted in 2014 that it would take until 2095 to achieve global gender parity. Then one year later in 2015, they estimated that a slowdown in the already glacial pace of progress meant the gender gap wouldn’t close entirely until 2133.
Important International Women’s Statistics
- Globally only a 24 per cent of senior management roles are now filled by women.
- Around the world, women are paid less than men, in most countries earning on average 60%-75% of men’s wages.
- Women bear disproportionate caring responsibility for children, the elderly and the sick, spending as much as ten times more time a day on unpaid care work than men.
- Of 585 peace agreements from 1990 to 2010, only 92 contained any reference to women.
- 21% FTSE 100 company directors are female.
DeLuxe was honored to have the I Am Virtuous brunch held at its Banquet Hall with so many intelligent men and women in attendance. It was a very successful event!
