Yvette Diane Clarke (born November 21, 1964)

Ms. Clarke currently is a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York's 11th congressional district. Clarke won the Democratic Primary on September 12, 2006 defeating David Yassky, Carl Andrews and Chris Owens. In this heavily Democratic District, Clarke won the general election with 89% of the vote and fills the seat vacated by retiring Representative Major Owens, a seat also held by Shirley Chisholm. The district includes much of Central Brooklyn including Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, and Park Slope. She was formerly a member of the New York City Council, representing the 40th council district in Brooklyn.

Early Life and Career

The daughter of successful Jamaican immigrant parents, Clarke has lived all her life in the heart of Flatbush. Upon graduating from Edward R. Murrow High School, Clarke earned a scholarship to Oberlin College in Ohio, where she completed most of her education before transferring to Medgar Evers College. She does not hold a college degree, having not graduated from either university. [1] She was also a recipient of the prestigious APPAH/Sloan Fellowship in Public Policy and Policy Analysis. Before coming to the City Council, Clarke was Director of Business Development for the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation and was the first Director of the Bronx portion of the New York City Empowerment Zone.

Work on New York City Council

Brooklyn's 40th council district elected Clarke to the New York City Council in 2001. She succeeded her mother, former City Council member Una S.T. Clarke, who held the seat for more than a decade. Ms. Clarke instituted an HIV/AIDS Task Force, a Sanitation Task Force, a Youth Task Force and organized an Ad Hoc Clergy Committee.

For a decade, Una Clarke held the seat her daughter now holds and US Congressman Major Owens broke with Democratic Party leadership to support Una's candidacy. Owens was the only elected official from Brooklyn to do so and he continued to campaign for Una despite the fact that he was then recovering from quintuple bypass heart surgery. At Owens' insistence, the 40th district was drawn in such a way as to help assure the election of the Council's first member of Caribbean descent.

Clarke was chair of the Contracts Committee and was also co-chair of the Council's Women's Caucus. She also served on the Education; Fire & Criminal Justice Services; Health; Land Use; Planning, Dispositions & Concessions; and, Rules, Privileges & Elections committees.
As a vocal advocate for the empowerment of women and people of color, Clarke introduced legislation that resulted in the Council's historic Minority & Women-Owned Business Empowerment (MWBE) study that confirmed that women and minority-owned businesses are not awarded their fair share of city contracts and forced New York City to end its system of economic discrimination. As co-chair of the New York Council's Women's Caucus, she was directly responsible for securing $9.5 million in funding for 24 organizations that address the issues of domestic violence prevention, breast cancer awareness, housing advocacy and HIV/AIDS counseling for New York City women.

Councilmember Clarke has used her position in city government to speak out on national issues as well. She co-sponsored City Council resolutions that opposed the war in Iraq, criticized the federal Patriot Act and called for a national moratorium on the death penalty.

She has been a frequent critic of the Bush administration's policies, and has spoken out against budget cuts by Bush and the Republican Congress on the following federal programs: Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Elimination of the Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA), the elimination of nutritional food stamp programs and early education services for low-income children and families.

Election to 11th Congressional District
In 2000, Una Clarke ran a Democratic primary against US Congressman Major Owens, losing to the incumbent. In the 2004 election cycle, Yvette Clarke, with only two and a half years service as an elected official, ran for Owen's seat in the 2004 election cycle, narrowly losing. Yvette Clark ran again in the next cycle.

In May of 2006, another Caribbean-American candidate, Assemblyman N. Nick Perry, withdrew from the race to succeed Congressman Major Owens, leading some observers to contend that Clarke's chances for winning the race would improve now that another candidate from the same community was no longer competing.

On August 24, 2006, Clarke made a public disclosure revealing that her prior claims to have graduated from Oberlin College were false, asserting that her previous erroneous statements were the result of a faulty memory.

Her campaign website for the 2004 elections had made the statement that she was an alumna of Oberlin, a claim that was repeated in her campaign biography submitted for the Campaign Finance Board Voter Guide the following year.

The Campaign Finance Board requires that candidates running for office in New York City sign "sworn statements that the information in their profiles is true to the best of their knowledge."

Aides to Yvette Clarke maintain that she did in fact attend Oberlin, but completed her degree-bearing program at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. Clarke went on to explain the discrepancy by asserting that she did not attain her degree-contrary to her initial belief-and was in contact with school officials who maintained that she had to complete two classes in order to acquire her diploma.

In the days following this revelation it was disclosed that in 1996 the New York State Office of Higher Education-now known as the Higher Education Services Corp.-sought a court injunction forcing Clarke to begin to repay outstanding student loans, $4,268 of which she is still in arrears according to state officials. A spokesman for the Clarke campaign, Stefan Friedman, maintained that Clarke had "redeemed her loan from the Higher Educational Services Corporation in 1996," and that "she has consistently paid down those loans in accordance with an agreed upon payment schedule."

Contemporaneous with this disclosure, Congressman and former mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner endorsed Clarke. Weiner is the most prominent Democratic elected official within New York City to endorse her campaign to date. Recently, she has also been endorsed by Congressman John Murtha, who has gained national attention recently for his calls for American troops to be redeployed outside of Iraq.

Clarke has also recently received the endorsements of SEIU-1199-representing millions of service and healthcare workers in New York-and 32BJ, which represents over 50,000 city building service workers, including doormen, repairmen, concierges, porters, cleaning, and maintenance crews.

On September 7, 2006, The New York Daily News endorsed Yvette Clarke's bid for Congress.
On September 12, 2006, Clarke won the nomination to Congress with 31.20% of the vote. (In multi-candidate congressional elections in New York, a plurality is sufficient to nominate.)

In the general election on November 7, Clarke was elected to the House of Representatives with 89% of the vote against token Republican opposition.

Drew Gilpin Faust

Havard Chooses First Female President

Drew Gilpin Faust, 59, became Harvard's first women presient on Sunday when she was chosen to replace Lawrence Summers. After Faust's appointment, half of the eight Ivy League schools will have women presidents. Faust is a scholar of Southern history and was the dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institue for Advanced Study before her promotion.

For many, this is seen as a huge step in gender equality. Only 20 percent of U.S. colleges and universities are run by women. Having a woman appointed president at one of the best universities in the country is a big step in leveling the playing field. A report by the Christian Science Monitor explores Faust's journey and discusses the struggles women encounter when they try to get jobs such as university president. The discussion centers around how Faust's appointment could effect other women who are looking for positions at the university. An AP report also gives a biographical account of Faust's life and describes the circumstances around the hiring.

The AP gets less involved with the impact on gender equality, though they do touch on these issues some. The focus here is on the historical significance and the personal details. The Christian Science Monitor has a bigger-picture focus on how this hiring will impact women professors and professionals everywhere.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6409561,00.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0212/p01s04-legn.html

Tonya Lewis Lee, Esq. received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in 1988 and her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1991. After practicing law at the firm of Nixon, Hargrave, Devans and Doyle in Washington, D.C., where she primarily serviced Gannett Co., Inc. on corporate and First Amendment issues, she turned to writing and producing for television. Since 1998, she has produced Black History Month interstitials for Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite featuring various celebrities including Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, Whoopi Goldberg and Queen Latifah.

In 2002 she co-authored the book Please Baby Please with her husband Spike Lee and illustrated by Kadir Nelson. She also produced the animated Just for Me interstitial Please Baby Please for Nickelodeon.

Currently she is the Executive Producer of the documentary film, I Sit Where I Want: The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education honoring the fiftieth anniversary of Brown V. Board of Education. She is also an Executive Producer for Miracle's Boys, an episodic series for Noggin/The N, due to air February 2005.

GOTHAM DIARIES is Lee's first foray into novel writing. Hyperion publishes the book in July 2004.

Outspoken on the issues of women and race, Lee has written for GLAMOUR magazine and appeared on LIFETIME television to discuss race issues. She also serves on the boards of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Children for Children Foundation. She is a member of the New York Bar.

Lee lives in New York City with her husband and two children, ages 6 and 9.

Mrs. Spike Lee

1. Indra Nooyi
CEO, PepsiCo (PEP)
2005 rank: 11
Age: 50
Pepsi's brand-new chief (as of Oct. 1) is a powerful force behind the consumer giant's strong profit pipeline and $108 billion stock market valuation. Formerly CFO and president, the Indian-born strategist reached the top even though she never ran a line operation at Pepsi. Nooyi believes in constant reinvention: "The minute you've developed a new business model, it's extinct, because somebody is going to copy it."

Check here the the other 49 women.

CNNMONEY.COM

Elaine R. Jones

In 1993, Elaine R. Jones became the first woman to be appointed President and Director-Counsel, Emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the nation's oldest law firm fighting for equal rights and justice for people of color, women, and the poor. When Ms. Jones took the helm of the Legal Defense Fund in 1993, she became the first woman to head the organization. She brought with her vast experience as a litigator and civil rights activist, as well as a passion for fairness and equality that dates back to her childhood.

Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Ms. Jones learned about the realities of racism and the importance of idealism from her mother, a college-educated school teacher, and her father, a Pullman porter and a member of the nation's first black trade union. From the age of eight, she knew she wanted to be a lawyer and to commit her life to the pursuit of equal justice.

After graduating with honors in political science from Howard University, Ms. Jones joined the Peace Corps and became one of the first African Americans to serve in Turkey. This began a long series of "firsts" in her career. Following her two-year Peace Corps stint, she became the first black woman to graduate from the University of Virginia School of Law, and subsequently the first African American to serve on the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association.

Ms. Jones was invited to join one of Wall Street's most prestigious firms after her
graduation. She turned it down to pursue the goal she had chosen in her youth and instead joined the Legal Defense Fund's staff. With the exception of two years as Special Assistant to the United States Secretary of Transportation, she has remained with LDF ever since.

In her early years at LDF, Ms. Jones continued to blaze trails, becoming one of the first
African American women to defend death row inmates. Only two years out of law school, she was counsel of record in Furman v. Georgia, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that abolished the death penalty in 37 states for 12 years. During this period, she also argued numerous employment discrimination cases, including class actions against some of the nation's largest employers (e.g., Patterson v. American Tobacco Co., Stallworth v. Monsanto, and Swint v. Pullman Standard).

Ms. Jones holds thirteen honorary degrees and the Jefferson Medal of Freedom, the
highest honor awarded by the University of Virginia which does not award honorary
degrees. She also has received the recognition of many organizations, including the
Secretary's Award of the Department of Transportation, first recipient of the Brennan
Award of the DC Bar Association, the Hannah G. Solomon Award of The National Council of Jewish Women, Mickey Leland Public Service Award of the Congressional Black Caucus, Ida B. Wells-Barnett Justice Award of the Metropolitan Bar Association in New York City, Brennan Legacy Award of the Brennan Center, American Lawyer Lifetime Achievement Award, National Newspaper Publishers Association's First Public Service Award, People for the American Way's 2001 Democracy Award and The American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession (Margaret Brent Award). In December 2000, President William Jefferson Clinton presented her with the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award.

After a 32 year tenure with LDF, Ms. Jones stepped down on May 1, 2004.

March 2006
The daughter of a Pullman porter and a college-educated school teacher, Elaine R. Jones learned about the realities of racism and the importance of idealism from her parents.

In 1993, when Ms. Jones became the first woman to be appointed president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), she brought with her vast experience as a litigator and civil rights activist as well as a passion for fairness and equality. The LDF, which is not part of the NAACP, is the nation's oldest law firm fighting for equal rights and justice for people of color, women and the poor.

After graduating with honors in political science from Howard University, Ms. Jones joined the Peace Corps and became one of the first African Americans to serve in Turkey. Following her two-year Peace Corps stint, she became the first African-American woman to enroll in the University of Virginia School of Law and, subsequently, the first to graduate.

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"Your purpose should be to set your own standard, not to catch up or to beat out somebody else."
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Only two years out of law school, Ms. Jones was counsel of record in Furman v. Georgia, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that abolished the death penalty in 37 states for 12 years. As the legislative advocate in LDF's Washington D.C. office, she played a key role in securing passage of legislative milestones such as the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982, Fair Housing Act of 1988, Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988 and Civil Rights Act of 1991.

Ms. Jones' leadership in the struggle for equality has earned her numerous awards and honors. In 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton presented her with the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award. She is included among Ebony magazine's 10 Most Powerful Black Women and 100+ Most Influential Black Americans for the year 2001.

Touting individuality, Ms. Jones offers invaluable advice to today's youth: "If you let someone else set your standard, whether it's physical appearance, academic achievement or economic success, then you will never be content with who you are. Your purpose should be to set your own standard, not to catch up or to beat out somebody else. Once you can really value your individuality, you have all you need."

Sania Mirza - India's teen tennis icon

Sania Mirza, born Nov 15, 1986) tennis sensation from Hyderabad, has had a meteoric rise to # 32 in world rankings, even ranked above the seemingly invincible Serena Williams who trails her at #37. It was the recently held U.S. Open that first caused a stir as she became the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of the prestigious competition. To quote a commentator, it is Sania's "phenomenal achievement" that has made her a role model for all young tennis players in the country.

Her Profile:

Date of birth: Nov 15, 1986

Place of birth: Mumbai, India

Lives in: Hyderabad, India

Height: 5' 7 1/2"

Weight: 59kg

Plays: Right handed

Strength: Double-handed backhand

Plays best on: Hard courts

Coach: C.G.K. Bhupathi

Other interests: Swimming, Music

Her idol: Steffi Graf

Ambition: To be ranked within the Top Twenty in the world

Sania began to play tennis when she was just six years of age. Her father, Imran Mirza was her first coach. It was in the year 2003 that she turned professional. She became the first and only Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam Tournament at the U.S. Open in 2005. She holds the #1 rank in India. She has shown what dedication and hard work can make a person achieve in her career.

Showing the world that she was made of tough stuff, she refused to cow down to some hardcore Muslim clerics who denounced her dresses on court. Unfazed, she firmly announced that her dress had nothing to do with her religion and that she was a devout Muslim who prayed religiously 5 times during the day. She earned more admiration and a bigger fan following after this.

She was awarded the Arjuna award for sports in 2005 after her sensational performance at the U.S. Open. In her career so far, she has defeated two.

More Sania Info.

Source

Indira Gandhi, Political Figure

Born: 19 November 1917
Birthplace: Allahabad, India
Died: 1984 (assassination)
Best Known As: Prime Minister of India, 1966-77 and 1980-84

Name at birth: Indira Priyadarshini

Indira Gandhi was the prime minister of India from 1966-77 and 1980-84 and one of the most famous women in 20th century politics. Her father was Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India's first prime minister (1947-64), and Indira spent her life amid Indian politics. In 1959 she was elected to the presidency of the Indian National Congress, and in 1964 she was elected to the parliament. When Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri died in 1966, Gandhi was chosen as a compromise candidate to replace him. She was elected to the office in 1967 and advanced an ambitious program of modernization. In 1975 she was convicted of violations stemming from the 1971 election and the High Court ordered her to resign. Instead she declared a state of emergency and clamped down on her opposition (the conviction was later overturned). She lost the election of 1977 and was out of office until a comeback in 1980, when she was again elected to be prime minister. In 1984 she used the military to suppress Sikh rebels and ordered an attack on a Sikh shrine in Amritsar; a few months later, Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh conspirators.


She was married to Feroze Gandhi (1942-60) and had two sons. Her son Sanjay Gandhi (1946-80) was a controversial figure in her government before he was killed in an airplane crash, and her son Rajiv Gandhi (1944-91) succeeded her as India's prime minister in 1984. Rajiv was killed in a 1991 bombing.

PRINCESS DIANA
Lady Diana Frances Spencer, Diana Frances Mountbatten-Windsor, née Spencer.

After her marriage to Prince Charles Diana revieved the title Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales. But after her divorce from Charles Diana lost the Royal Highness and became Diana, Princess of Wales. Diana became more then a public icon around the world with millions focused upon her every move in life. The princess was most noted for her charity work and public stance against land mines. Diana was the most photographed person in the world.

In January 1997, Diana toured Angola while she was serving as an International Red Cross VIP volunteer. Diana toured the de-mining projects being run by the HALO Trust and visited landmine survivors in hospitals. Photos of Diana walking though a minefield wearing a ballistic helmet and flak jacket were beamed around the world. Then later that year Diana visited Bosnia with the Landmine Survivors Network. Her visits and opposition to landmines drew worldwide public attention to the cause and brought nations involved in the production of landmines to sign the Ottawa Treaty in 1997 creating an international ban on the use of anti-personnel landmines. However, to this day some nations have still not signed the treaty.

Perhaps the most inspiring work of the Princess Diana was in 1987 when she became the first high-profile person to be photographed knowingly touching a person with the HIV virus.

The life of Princess Diana has been one of controversy and so it also was in her death. It seemed as though the whole world stood still when news of her death became public.

The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain was designed by Kathryn Gustafson. Located in Hyde Park in London, the fountain opened by Queen Elizabeth II, on July 6, 2004.

In 1997, The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was founded

Mother Teresa
The Nobel Peace Prize 1979
Biography
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje*, Macedonia, on August 27, 1910. Her family was of Albanian descent. At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God. She knew she had to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ. At the age of eighteen she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. After a few months' training in Dublin she was sent to India, where on May 24, 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun. From 1931 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, but the suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent walls made such a deep impression on her that in 1948 she received permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Although she had no funds, she depended on Divine Providence, and started an open-air school for slum children. Soon she was joined by voluntary helpers, and financial support was also forthcoming. This made it possible for her to extend the scope of her work.

On October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Holy See to start her own order, "The Missionaries of Charity", whose primary task was to love and care for those persons nobody was prepared to look after. In 1965 the Society became an International Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI.

Today the order comprises Active and Contemplative branches of Sisters and Brothers in many countries. In 1963 both the Contemplative branch of the Sisters and the Active branch of the Brothers was founded. In 1979 the Contemplative branch of the Brothers was added, and in 1984 the Priest branch was established.

The Society of Missionaries has spread all over the world, including the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. They provide effective help to the poorest of the poor in a number of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and they undertake relief work in the wake of natural catastrophes such as floods, epidemics, and famine, and for refugees. The order also has houses in North America, Europe and Australia, where they take care of the shut-ins, alcoholics, homeless, and AIDS sufferers.

The Missionaries of Charity throughout the world are aided and assisted by Co-Workers who became an official International Association on March 29, 1969. By the 1990s there were over one million Co-Workers in more than 40 countries. Along with the Co-Workers, the lay Missionaries of Charity try to follow Mother Teresa's spirit and charism in their families.

Mother Teresa's work has been recognised and acclaimed throughout the world and she has received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971) and the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding (1972). She also received the Balzan Prize (1979) and the Templeton and Magsaysay awards.

From Nobel Lectures, Peace 1971-1980, Editor-in-Charge Tore Frängsmyr, Editor Irwin Abrams, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1997

This autobiography/biography was first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.

Oprah Winfrey's Biography

Through the power of media, Oprah Winfrey has created an unparalleled connection with people around the world. As supervising producer and host of the top-rated, award-winning The Oprah Winfrey Show, she has entertained, enlightened and uplifted millions of viewers for the past two decades. Her accomplishments as a global media leader and philanthropist have established her as one of the most respected and admired public figures today.

Explore Oprah's Biography: Photos, videos and important milestones from Oprah's life

Learn more:
Television Pioneer
Magazine Founder & Editorial Director
Producer/Actress
Online Leader
Philanthropist
Television Programming Creator
Cable Network Co-Founder
Satellite Radio Programmer
Broadway Producer
Honorary Achievements

TELEVISION PIONEER
Oprah began her broadcasting career at WVOL radio in Nashville while still in high school. At the age of 19, she became the youngest person and the first African-American woman to anchor the news at Nashville's WTVF-TV. She then relocated to Baltimore's WJZ-TV to co-anchor the Six O'Clock News and later went on to become co-host of its local talk show, People Are Talking.

In 1984, Oprah moved to Chicago to host WLS-TV's morning talk show, AM Chicago, which became the number one local talk show"”surpassing ratings for Donahue"”just one month after she began. In less than a year, the show expanded to one hour and was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. It entered national syndication in 1986, becoming the highest-rated talk show in television history. In 1988, she established Harpo Studios, a production facility in Chicago, making her the third woman in the American entertainment industry (after Mary Pickford and Lucille Ball) to own her own studio.

The Oprah Winfrey Show has remained the number one talk show for 20 consecutive seasons*. Produced by her own production company, Harpo Productions, Inc., the show is seen by an estimated 48 million viewers a week in the United States** and is broadcast internationally in 126 countries.

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MAGAZINE FOUNDER AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
In April 2000, Oprah and Hearst Magazines introduced O, The Oprah Magazine, a monthly magazine that has become one of today's leading women's lifestyle publications. It is credited as being the most successful magazine launch in recent history and currently has a circulation of 2.3 million readers each month. In April 2002, Oprah launched the first international edition of O, The Oprah Magazine in South Africa, extending her live your best life message to another broad audience.

In 2004, O at Home, a newsstand-only quarterly shelter magazine designed to help readers create a home that reflects their personal style, made its debut.

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PRODUCER/ACTRESS
Through her company's film division, Harpo Films, she has produced projects based on classic and contemporary literature that have garnered the highest industry honors for quality acting and production. Telefilms under the Oprah Winfrey Presents banner have included the award-winning Tuesdays With Morrie, based on the best-selling novel by Mitch Albom and starring Academy Award®-winner Jack Lemmon and Emmy Award®-winner Hank Azaria; David and Lisa, an updated version of a 1962 film, re-written for television by Lloyd Kramer and Theodore Isaac Rubin and starring Academy Award®-winner Sidney Poitier; and Their Eyes Were Watching God, based on the Zora Neale Hurston novel and starring Academy Award®-winner Halle Berry.

In 1998, Harpo Films produced the critically acclaimed Beloved, a Touchstone Pictures feature film based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Toni Morrison, which co-starred Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover and was directed by Jonathan Demme.

Oprah made her acting debut in 1985 as "Sofia" in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple, for which she received both Academy Award® and Golden Globe nominations. She also has been lauded for her performances in the made-for-television movies Before Women Had Wings (1997), There Are No Children Here (1993), and The Women of Brewster Place (1989).

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ONLINE LEADER
Oprah.com is a premiere women's lifestyle website, offering advice on everything from the mind, body and spirit to food, home and relationships. It provides comprehensive resources related to The Oprah Winfrey Show, O, The Oprah Magazine and Oprah & Friends. In addition, the website has unique original content, including Oprah's Book Club, which offers free in-depth reading guides for each book selection, online discussion groups and Q&A sessions with literary experts. Within its first year, Oprah's Book Club quickly became the largest book club in the world, attracting approximately 1 million members. In 2003, Oprah.com also launched Live Your Best Life, an interactive multimedia workshop based on her sold-out national speaking tour that features Oprah's personal life stories and life lessons along with a workbook of thought-provoking exercises.

Oprah.com averages 68 million page views and more than 4 million users per month and receives approximately 20,000 e-mails each week.

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PHILANTHROPIST
Oprah has long believed that education is the door to freedom, offering a chance at a brighter future. Through her private charity, The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, she has awarded hundreds of grants to organizations that support the education and empowerment of women, children and families in the United States and around the world. Amongst her various philanthropic contributions, she has donated millions of dollars toward providing a better education for students who have merit but no means. She also has developed schools to educate thousands of underserved children internationally and created "The Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program," which gives scholarships to students determined to use their education to give back to their communities in the United States and abroad.

In December 2002, The Oprah Winfrey Foundation expanded its global humanitarian efforts with her ChristmasKindness South Africa 2002 initiative that included visits to orphanages and rural schools in South Africa where 50,000 children received gifts of food, clothing, athletic shoes, school supplies, books and toys. Sixty-three rural schools received libraries and teacher education.

During a December 2000 visit with Nelson Mandela, Oprah pledged $10 million to build a school in South Africa. As that commitment broadened, she established The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation, to which she has contributed more than $40 million toward the creation of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls"”South Africa, which opens in January 2007. Located in a 28-building campus in Henley-on-Klip, the Leadership Academy is a state-of-the-art independent school that will engender high standards of academic achievement and service leadership for girls. Its first 152 accepted 7th and 8th grade students, who show outstanding promise despite their impoverished backgrounds and social circumstances, represent all nine South African provinces. By 2011, the Leadership Academy will accommodate approximately 75 learners per grade, for a total of approximately 450 learners, grades 7 through 12. Her vision is that the Leadership Academy will help develop the future women leaders of South Africa.

In a 1997 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah encouraged viewers to use their lives to make a difference in the lives of others, which led to the creation of the public charity Oprah's Angel Network in 1998. To date, Oprah's Angel Network has raised more than $50 million, with 100% of audience donations going to non-profit organizations across the globe. Oprah's Angel Network has helped establish scholarships and schools, support women's shelters and build youth centers and homes"”changing the future for people all over the world.

Oprah's commitment to children also led her to initiate the National Child Protection Act in 1991, when she testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to establish a national database of convicted child abusers. On December 20, 1993, President Clinton signed the national "Oprah Bill" into law.

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TELEVISION PROGRAMMING CREATOR
In September 2002, Harpo Productions, Inc. created Dr. Phil, a syndicated daytime talk show produced by Paramount Domestic Television. Dr. Phil, which had the highest-rated talk show launch since The Oprah Winfrey Show, consistently ranks second among all U.S. talk shows.

Dynamic television personality and best-selling author Rachael Ray announced a partnership with Harpo Productions, Inc., King World Productions, and Scripps Networks to host a daily, one-hour, talk show that will begin airing in September 2006.

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CABLE NETWORK CO-FOUNDER
Oprah is co-founder of Oxygen Media, which operates a 24-hour cable television network for women that launched in 1998 and is currently available in more than 69 million homes across America. In September 2002, she debuted Oprah After The Show, an original series that airs on the Oxygen Network. The spontaneous, unscripted, half-hour show is taped immediately following The Oprah Winfrey Show.

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SATELLITE RADIO PROGRAMMER
Through a recent joint venture, Oprah announced the launch of Oprah & Friends, a new channel on XM Satellite Radio, which launched in September 2006. Oprah & Friends will feature a broad range of original daily programming from Harpo Radio, Inc., including regular segments hosted by popular personalities from The Oprah Winfrey Show and O, The Oprah Magazine and an exclusive 30-minute listener call-in weekly radio show, "Talk to Me" with Oprah Winfrey.

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BROADWAY PRODUCER
Twenty years after she made her movie debut as "Sofia" in The Color Purple, Oprah made her Broadway debut as a producer for the musical The Color Purple, which opened on December 1, 2005, at the Broadway Theatre in New York City.

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HONORARY ACHIEVEMENTS
In recognition of her extraordinary achievements and contributions, Oprah has received numerous honors, including the most prestigious awards and highest industry acknowledgments.


2006
Time Magazine"”100 Most Influential People in the World

The New York Public Library"”Library Lion 2006

2005
National Civil Rights Museum – 2005 National Freedom Award

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People "” Hall of Fame

Time Magazine "” 100 Most Influential People in the World

International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences "” 2005 International Emmy Founders Award

2004
United Nations Association of the United States of America – Global Humanitarian Action Award

National Association of Broadcasters – Distinguished Service Award

Time Magazine – 100 Most Influential People in the World

2003
Association of American Publishers – AAP Honors Award

2002
54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards® – Bob Hope Humanitarian Award

Broadcasting & Cable – Hall of Fame

1999
National Book Foundation – 50th Anniversary Gold Medal

1998
National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences® – Lifetime Achievement Award

The following year, after accepting this pinnacle honor, Oprah removed herself from future Emmy® consideration and the show followed suit in 2000. Oprah and The Oprah Winfrey Show received more than 40 Daytime Emmy Awards®: seven for Outstanding Host; nine for Outstanding Talk Show; more than 20 in the Creative Arts categories; and one for Oprah's work as supervising producer of the ABC After School Special Shades of Single Protein.

Time Magazine – 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century

1997
Newsweek – Most Important Person in Books and Media
TV Guide – Television Performer of the Year

1996 International Radio & Television Society Foundation – Gold Medal Award

George Foster Peabody Awards – 1995 Individual Achievement Award

Aishwarya Rai (born on November 1, 1973), is an Indian actress. She was awarded the Miss World title in 1994. Aishwarya Rai has acted in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and English films. She is currently regarded as one of the biggest names in Bollywood.

Aishwarya Rai was born in Mangalore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, on November 1st, 1973. Her father, a merchant navy officer, relocated the family to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) when Aishwarya was four years old. She excelled at academics as a child and chose science as her area of concentration, hoping for a career in medicine (zoology being her favorite subject at the time). Instead, Ash -- one of her nicknames -- opted for a career in architecture, and passed her college entrance interviews with flying colors.

brains and beauty

Aishwarya entered the world of modeling when she was in the 9th grade, appearing in an ad for Camlin Industries. Initially, she modeled part-time, while focusing on her studies. As more assignments started rolling in, Ash decided to take a break from architecture and concentrate on modeling.

Aishwarya became well known in India after she appeared in a Pepsi commercial. Other high-profile assignments quickly followed, including Palmolive, Casio pagers, Philips, Sheetal diva, and Prudent. What started off as a part-time activity quickly grew into a full-fledged career, as more companies hired the young beauty with the magnificent blue-green (and sometimes blue-gray) eyes.

In 1991, at the age of seventeen, Aishwarya was coaxed into entering the prestigious Ford Supermodel Contest by a friend. To her amazement, she won, and also took the Tulips Miss Super Vivacious prize, which was part of the same contest. Ash was spotted by famous photographer Steven Meisel, and was soon featured in Vogue magazine. Bollywood, the massive Indian film industry, quickly came calling, and she made her first film appearance in Mamagaru that same year.

taking the world be storm

Initially rejecting subsequent film offers, Ash still hoped to finish her studies as an architect, and be with her family. But her career plans were forever altered when she entered the Miss Femina World contest in 1994. The 20-year-old became the first runner-up, and was tipped to take the title at the upcoming Miss World pageant in Sun City, South Africa. She was crowned Miss World in 1994, was named Miss Catwalk, and was selected as having the Most Photogenic Face by the pageant's judges.

Aishwarya's stunning beauty, elegance and charm made her the darling of India. She became even more famous in her native country after winning the Miss World title, and was again approached by big names in India's movie industry to star in films.

queen of bollywood

Although she had little acting experience, she won over the critics and audiences alike in 1997's Iruvar (a.k.a. The Duo). For her role as Aishi in 1997's ...Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya, Aishu (another one of her nicknames) picked up India's Screen Best Female Debut award. In 1998, she took on the dual role of Madhumitha/Vaishnavi in Jeans, which also won the actress critical praise and much male adoration.

Aishwarya was selected as the spokesmodel for Longines watches in 1999, and continued to appear in Indian films. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in 1999's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (a.k.a. Straight from the Heart).

In 2000, she starred as Meenakshi in Kandukondain Kandukondain (a.k.a. I Have Found It). That same year, she appeared in Mohabbatein (a.k.a. Love Stories) and won rave reviews for her performance as Preeti, a rape victim, in Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai. She was selected as Screen Weekly's Best Actress for 2000.

our dream girl

Her acting career has largely overshadowed her modeling work. In 2002, Ash was featured in no less than five Indian films, including 23rd March 1931: Shaheed and Shakti: The Power, where she appeared as the Dream Girl. Bollywood's Dream Girl could soon become the world's Dream Woman, should Aishwarya Rai decide to take on European or American cinema as her next conquest.

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Geetha Viswanathan - Entrepreneurial grit

"Women are the best managers: of their lives, professional careers and businesses," says a proud Geetha Viswanathan. After two decades in the fashion designing industry, today her venture 'Preyasi' boasts of clients in over 48 countries including a high profile clientele in Chennai city.

Geetha, an alumni of ALT Bangalore, runs 'Preyasi', a leading Chennai based fashion house.

Since her childhood, she has nursed a passion to become an entrepreneur. In 1985, she ventured into the business world by selling saris from her residence. Today, Geetha is the proud recipient of the "Best Women Entrepreneur of Tamil Nadu" award (1995). She is also the All India President of the Marketing Organisation of Women Entrepreneurs of India (MOOWES, India). She has trained over 280 women entrepreneurs in diversified fields and has been a great support and guiding force to them in setting up their own ventures.

Recently, Geetha's dream of setting up an educational institution providing quality hands-on knowledge on fashion designing has taken shape in the form of the Srijathi Institute of Fashion Technology (SIFT).

For Geetha, SIFT is way to give something of herself back to life. "I had to go through a lot of tough times before I could establish myself as a woman entrepreneur. SIFT has been set up for budding professionals who have a desire and hunger to do something for their own lives and to the industry," says Geetha.

SIFT, a subsidiary of the fifteen year old design studio - Preyasi, offers specialized training in the field of fashion to a large number of students across the globe. This two-year-old venture has created a lot of young entrepreneurs/fashion professionals who are successful designers today.

"Most of the young professionals today are very innovative. But for a business to grow, you need a lot of things: money, infrastructure, skilled labour, and a thorough knowledge of the needs of the marketplace. At the end of the day, a banker looks at your financial track record and not your ideas!!! Our students are given all the support they require to kick start their ventures. This also serves to encourage local talent and reduce the incidence of body shopping in India. There is a pool of good and quality talent here. Such talent should be encouraged and promoted within the country for any industry to flourish" says Geetha.

So, here's to a woman entrepreneur with substance!

All about Aari

Angela Burt-Murray, 37
Editor in Chief
ESSENCE

Strong women have always loomed large in Ms. Burt-Murray's life, from her grandmother, who owned a hair salon, to her mother, a financial services executive. It's those role models--hardworking African-Americans determined to move themselves and their families forward--whom Ms. Burt-Murray has made it her mission to serve in the pages of Essence.

"I want to shore up our reader in a world where she can still be marginalized in certain ways," says the editor, who is as old as the magazine she grew up with.

Her own life could be a blueprint for success for any demographic group. After college she moved to New York and found a job as an editorial assistant at publisher Van Nostrand Reinhold while taking night courses in journalism at New York University and interning at a community newspaper, The Manhattan Spirit. "I just fell in love with this world," she says.

Over the next 12 years, she moved from independent Honey to Time Inc.'s Teen People. Her performance so impressed her Time Inc. bosses that they gave her the top job at Essence in November 2005. Newsstand sales jumped an impressive 7.8% in the first half of 2006, at a time when most magazines were losing readers. Ad revenues increased 4% to $93 million for the first 11 months of 2006, according to Publishers Information Bureau.

In between a 60-hour work week and raising two young boys, Ms. Burt-Murray also found time to co-author two critically acclaimed books and to outline her next novel. Somehow, she makes it all look easy.

"She's never flustered," says Michelle Ebanks, president of Essence Communications

Vivian Lee, 39
Professor and vice chair of research, department of radiology
New York University School of Medicine

Three weeks after giving birth to her third daughter, Dr. Vivian Lee is strikingly calm as she cradles sleeping Sophie-An. But this isn't just Dr. Lee on maternity leave, removed from the crushing demands of her job. She is always an oasis of calm, although she's a professor, researcher, mom, and M.B.A. student.

"I'm a pretty good multitasker," she acknowledges.

Her colleagues agree. "She is just an incredibly able person, very mellow and matter-of-fact, without a bit of ego," says Dr. Robert Grossman, chairman of the Department of Radiology at NYU.

Dr. Lee, one of the few women in the upper echelons of international radiology research, helped develop several imaging techniques that were later adopted universally. She was awarded two of the National Institutes of Health's highly coveted research grants, totaling nearly $6 million, for her efforts to improve medicine's knowledge of kidney disease, including understanding why kidney transplants sometimes fail.

"If you ask enough questions and design an experiment well, you get answers. If enough people ask the right questions, you can make a huge amount of progress," Dr. Lee says.

A Rhodes scholar who earned her Ph.D. at Oxford and her medical degree at Harvard, this daughter of Chinese immigrants had an idyllic childhood in Oklahoma. Both parents were academics: Her mother was a former dean, her father an electrical engineer. Her younger sister also became a physician.

"It's the classic immigrant story," says Dr. Lee. "Education was a top priority in our house."

Amira Yunis, 36
Executive Vice President
Newmark Knight Frank Retail

Amira Yunis' talent as a saleswoman first surfaced in a sports bar in Queens. She was slinging beer there at night to support her young son when the bar started offering a commission on beer and liquor sales.

"Something just clicked in me," Ms. Yunis says. "I wanted to sell." Using her friendly charm and striking good looks, Ms. Yunis raked in more commissions than anyone else on the waitstaff. Her knack for sales prompted a patron to offer her an office job in property management. She took the position and pursued her real estate license, remembering the $800 broker's fee she forked over for her first apartment in the city.

Ms. Yunis landed her first big office deal, and a $40,000 commission, just seven months after getting her license. That was big money for a woman who grew up as one of the only Latinas in Richfield, Minn. The daughter of South American immigrants had been raised to push herself. After that first deal, the young, single mother poured all of her energy into her new career.

Often the only female broker in the bullpen, Ms. Yunis worked long hours leasing office space and apartments before moving into the retail market. She joined Newmark Knight Frank's retail team in 2000.

Last year, Ms. Yunis brokered a whopping $10 million in business and won the Real Estate Board of New York's Retail Deal of the Year award for putting Trader Joe's into Union Square. She also became the first female principal in Newmark's New York office.

"We expect big things from Amira," says Barry Gosin, chief executive of Newmark. "She's smart, very creative, and she finds different approaches to attack the work."

Safra A. Catz, is the Chief Financial Officer of Oracle Corporation since November 2005. She is also a President of the company since January 2004 and a member of the company's Board of Directors since October 2001. She has been at Oracle Corporation since April 1999.

quote:

Originally posted by Gtman1:
Safra A. Catz, is the Chief Financial Officer of Oracle Corporation since November 2005. She is also a President of the company since January 2004 and a member of the company's Board of Directors since October 2001. She has been at Oracle Corporation since April 1999.

Safra A. Catz, born in Holon, Israel, is the Chief Financial Officer of Oracle Corporation since November 2005. She is also a President of the company since January 2004 and a member of the company's Board of Directors since October 2001. She has been at Oracle Corporation since April 1999.

Prior to joining Oracle, Catz was at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, a global investment bank, where she was a Managing Director from 1997 and had previously held various investment banking positions since 1986.

Catz has a BS from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from Harvard Law School. Catz is married and has two children.

Andrea Jung 1959–

Andrea Jung (Zhōng Bīnxián) (born 1959) is a Chinese American business executive born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her mother is a Shanghai-born chemical engineer-turned concert pianist. Jung's father is a Hong Kong-born partner at an architectural firm. He also taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Andrea Jung was raised in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Andrea Jung is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Avon Products, Inc, promoted to the position in November of 1999. Before her election to the position, she served as President and Chief Operating Officer over all business units of Avon worldwide. She has also held a position as a member of the company's Board of Directors since 1998.

During her tenure as Chairman of the Board and CEO, she has successfully helped define the Avon's company vision as "The Company for Women" and has been involved in a series of image-enhancing programs designed to help revitalize the corporation's reputation as the foremost direct seller of beauty products worldwide.

Ms. Jung first came to Avon in 1994 as the company's president in its Product Marketing Group. She was given a promotion to President, Global Marketing in 1996 and to Executive Vice President/President of Global Marketing and New Business in 1997. Her responsibilities at this time centered primarily around market research, joint ventures and strategic planning.

Previously, she served as Executive Vice President of Neiman Marcus, handling issues with accessories, intimate women's apparel, cosmetics and children's wear. Before that, she served as Senior Vice President, General Merchandising Manager for I Magnin.

Jung is a magna cum laude graduate from Princeton and is fluent in Mandarin. Jung was named one of Forbes 100 Most powerful women in 2004. Her ex-husband, Michael Gould, is the CEO of Bloomingdale's, Inc. (the company where she had her first job).

More about Andrea Jong

Grace Lee Boggs

Grace Lee Boggs (born June 27, 1915) is an author, lifelong anti-racist activist and feminist. She is known for her years of political collaboration with C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya in the 1940s and 1950s. She eventually went off in her own political direction in the 1960s with her husband of some forty years, James Boggs, until his death in 1993.

Born Grace Lee in Providence, Rhode Island, she was the Chinese-American daughter of a restaurant owner. Her mother acted as an early feminist role model. She studied at Barnard College on a scholarship and graduated in 1935 where she was influenced by Kant and especially Hegel. She received her PhD from Bryn Mawr College in 1940 where she wrote her dissertation on George Herbert Mead. Facing significant barriers in the academic world as a woman of color in the 1940s, she took a job at low wages at the University of Chicago Philosophy Library. As a result of their activism on tenants' rights, she joined the far left Workers Party (US), known for its Third Camp position regarding the Soviet Union which it saw as bureaucratic collectivist. At this point, she began the trajectory that would follow her for the rest of her life: a focus on struggles in the African-American community.

She met C.L.R. James during a speaking engagement in Chicago and moved to New York. She met many important activists and cultural figures such as Richard Wright and Katharine Dunham. She also translated into English many of the essays in Karl Marx's Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 for the first time. She soon joined the Johnson-Forest tendency led by C.L.R. James, Raya Dunayevskaya and Lee. They focused more centrally on marginalized groups such as women, people of color and youth as well as breaking with the notion of the vanguard party. While originally operating as a tendency of the Workers Party (US), they briefly rejoined the Socialist Workers Party (United States) before leaving the Trotskyist left entirely. The Johnson-Forest tendency also characterized the USSR as State Capitalist. She wrote for the Johnson-Forest tendency under the party pseudonym Ria Stone. She married African American auto worker and political activist James Boggs in 1953 with whom she politically collaborated for decades and moved to Detroit in the same year. Detroit would be the focus of her activism for the rest of her life.

When C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya split in the mid-1950s into Correspondence Publishing Committee led by James and News and Letters led by Dunayevskaya, Grace Lee Boggs and James Boggs supported Correspondence Publishing Committee which C.L.R. James tried to advise while in exile in Britain.

In 1962, the Boggses broke with C.L.R. James and continued Correspondence Publishing Committee along with Lyman Paine and Freddy Paine, while C.L.R. James' supporters, such as Martin Glaberman, continued on as a new if short-lived organization, Facing Reality. The ideas that formed the basis for the 1962 split can be seen as reflected in James Boggs' book, The American Revolution: Pages from a Black Worker's Notebook. Grace Lee Boggs unsuccessfully attempted to convince Malcolm X to run for the United States Senate in 1964. In later years, the Boggses' politics became much more eclectic and third worldist, praising Castro and Mao. In these years, Boggs wrote a number of books, including Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century with James Boggs and focused on community activism in Detroit where she became a very widely known activist.

She founded Detroit Summer, a multicultural intergenerational youth program, in 1992 and has also been the recipient of numerous awards. As recently as 2005, she continued to write a column for the Michigan Citizen newspaper.

WORKS

Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century. (with James Boggs). (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1974).

Women and the Movement to Build a New America (Detroit: National Organization for an American Revolution, 1977).

Conversations in Maine: Exploring Our Nation's Future (with James Boggs, Freddy Paine and Lyman Paine). (Boston: South End Press, 1978).

Living for Change: An Autobiography (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998).

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 16, 2006 - Intel Corporation today announced that Susan Decker, chief financial officer and executive vice president, finance and administration at Yahoo!, has been elected to serve on Intel's board of directors. The company also announced that John Browne, an Intel director since 1997, is retiring from the board.

"We're extremely pleased to have Susan Decker join the Intel board," said Craig Barrett, Intel chairman. "Susan's extensive business background, leadership and understanding of the technology industry will be valuable assets to Intel.

"At the same time, we want to thank John Browne for his years of service on the Intel board. John has been an important contributor to the board for nearly 10 years. His unique insights and perspectives as one of the most successful international business leaders in the world were always highly valued. At a time when Intel was rapidly expanding its international operations John's counsel was especially important. We wish him well in the future."

Decker is a key participant in determining Yahoo!'s business strategy, has operational responsibilities for Yahoo!'s Marketplaces business unit, and is also responsible for managing and setting all aspects of the company's financial and administrative direction within key functional areas including finance, human resources, legal and investor relations. Prior to joining Yahoo! in 2000, Decker held a number of positions with Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette during her 14-year career with the investment banking firm.

Decker received her bachelor's degree from Tufts University with a double major in computer science and economics. She received a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.

Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

Chang Xiangyu

BEIJING, June 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Chang Xiangyu, the "Queen of Yuju Opera," completed her 81-year life in the early morning of June 1 in Henan Provincial People's Hospital in Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan Province, according to Friday's China Daily.

The death of this great artist brought deep sorrow to opera circles and fans of Yuju Opera, which has millions of followers, mostly in Henan Province, the opera's birth place.

On Thursday morning, several thousand officials, artists and fans gathered at the Zhengzhou Funeral Parlour to pay last respects to the great star, who died of cancer on Tuesday.

"I grew up listening to the singing of Chang, and my creations are derived from the marrow of Yuju Opera," said noted writer Liu Zhenyun, who was born in Henan and now works in Beijing.

Li Runjun, a retired military officer who was born in the same county as Chang, is deeply grieved because Chang will never again grace the stages of China.

"I like Yuju Opera very much and became a fan of Chang when I was a young boy. For 50 years, enjoying Chang's performances has been the greatest joy in my life, wherever I have worked, in Henan or in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province," he said.

People remember and adore Chang not only for her superb Yuju Opera performances, but also for her devotion to the art and her contributions to the country.

Chang was born to a poor farmer's family in Henan's Gongxian County in September, 1923, and her father was a popular Yuju Opera actor in their hometown. He had to leave the stage because of a throat disease after Chang was born.

Chang first learned Yuju Opera from her father and won stage fame at the age of 13, when she acted the part of a lively maid in the "Romance of the West Chamber" (Xixiang Ji). "I liked to watch Yuju Opera when I was very young, but I had to learn to be an actress because of poverty," Chang said in an interview with local media two years ago. "My family was so poor that sometimes we had nothing to eat for one or two days when I was young. And I started to follow my mother to beg in the streets when I was 6."

Chang Xiangyu performs the role of Hua Mulan.

When she was 9 years old, she could have become a child-bride, leaving her own family to live with her future husband's family.

However, they'd seen so many child brides living miserable lives that Chang's father took the little girl to learn opera.

Difficult rise to stardom

In Chang's memory, learning opera was a path full of tears. Beatings were seen as the simplest and fastest way to teach opera skills to a little girl. "Though my father loved me dearly, he was very strict with me, because it was the only way he knew to help me master more skills. I understood him and I tried hard," she said.

Chang's original name was Zhang Miaoling but she was forced to change it to Chang Xiangyu, because the people from her village with the same surname as hers considered it shameful that a girl surnamed Zhang would become an opera actress.

However, those who used to look down upon Chang eventually became jealous of her and made trouble for her after she became popular around her county.

Threats, including a hand-made grenade explosion, forced the Changs to leave their hometown. Later the Changs went to Shaanxi, the neighbouring province to the west.

There were still traps laid for this rising and popular young opera star away from their home town. "I still remember that in Baoji, a city in western Shaanxi Province, I was forced to perform in a local rich despot's home. I was so angry about it that I tried to commit suicide by swallowing a gold ring," Chang said.

Fortunately, Chang did not die. And in this darkest moment in her young stage life, she met Chen Xianzhang, who later became her husband and life-long partner.

Chen was at that time the headmaster of a primary school and was married, but lived an unhappy life with his family. Chen also came from Henan and loved Yuju Opera. He often went to watch Chang's performances and fell in love with her.

"Chen gave me a helping hand when I met with difficulties, and I knew he was a man I could depend on for my whole life," Chang smiled, looking at a picture of Chen, who died in July, 2000.

In 1944, 21-year-old Chang married 27-year-old Chen who had divorced, and later, Chen resigned and concentrated all his attention on helping Chang in her opera career. With Chen's help, Chang enriched Yuju Opera art and expanded its appeal by adapting performance skills and vocal techniques from other local Chinese operas. She created a Yuju school of her own. In 1948, Chang established the Xiangyu Opera Troupe in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province and worked very hard to train young opera students.

Traditional legacy

Yuju Opera, originally called Henan Bangzi, is one of the major local opera forms and has a broad popular base in China.

According to written records, Yuju Opera has a history of over 200 years. At the end of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), it had spread over Henan and after 1949, operas in the Yuju genre could be seen all over the country. By the 1980s, through the efforts of Chang and other Yuju Opera artists, the number of Yuju Opera troupes, actors and actresses and fans topped the list of the 300 types of local opera in the country.

Yuju Opera has various schools and its five noted actresses - Chang Xiangyu, Chen Suzhen, Cui Lantian, Ma Jinfeng and Yan Lipin - represent five major styles.

Chang's style has remained the most popular, distinguished by its beautiful music and loud and sonorous singing, as well as its vigorous movements and exquisite performances. Chang's art is considered the epitome of Yuju Opera.

Her fans have deeply engrained memories of Chang's vivid portrayals of dozens of characters, varying from an ancient woman general to a commoner in a people's commune.

Hua Mulan, one of her most loved operas, depicting a legendary heroine from around 1,500 years ago, was filmed in 1956 and remade as the animated film "Mulan" by the famed Disney Studios in the United States in 1998. Hua Mulan's song, in which she says, "Who says women are not as capable as men?" has been loved and learned by millions of Chinese.

Chang not only performed as a heroine on stage, but also displayed her strong spirit in her daily life.

In 1951, when China became involved in the Korean War, after discussions with her husband and on behalf of her drama troupe, she donated a fighter plane to the Chinese volunteers. Chang collected money for the plane by performing "Hua Mulan" all over the country in more than 180 shows, and after two years, Chang fulfilled her promise.

Jing Hua, one of Chang's colleagues who had worked with her since 1951, said Chang was not rich and that she lived a simple and frugal life. Over the past decades, every time disaster struck the country and the people, Chang would always donate money and give a helping hand. She always considered the people's concerns as her own, Jing said.

Chang's outstanding achievements both in art and daily life are highly appreciated by both the nation and her fans. She was elected a deputy of the National People's Congress from the first until the seventh session, except for the fourth.

Chang passed away leaving two wishes she could never fulfill. One was that her school could be passed down by her own children, but unfortunately that was not to be; and the other, that she would have time to look after her family. "I gave all my life to my career and I owe too much to my husband and children," Chang often said in her last days.

Source

Helen J. Stewart 1854-1926

The First Lady of Las Vegas

Helen Jane Wiser was born on April 16, 1854, in Springfield, Illinois. She married Archibald Stewart in 1872 and moved with him to Lincoln County, Nevada, where he ran a successful shipping business since 1868. He also had a ranch near Pioche, where he raised cattle and vegetables. The move proved difficult for Helen because she was so lonely out in the desert.
Octavius Decatur Gass asked to borrow some money from Archibald to save his ranch. Unable to to pay back the loan a year later, Gass forfeited the ranch to the Stewart family, which renamed it the Las Vegas Ranch.

Life on the ranch

Travelers often stopped to rest at the ranch. A cool creek bubbled from an underground artesian well and giant cottonwood trees provided shady spots where travelers could find relief from the scorching desert sun. Helen Stewart reveled in the company of the travelers since Lincoln County had been so lonely.

But just as life was starting to flow smoothly, Archibald Stewart was killed in a gunfight with Henry "Hank" Parrish, one of the hired hands from a nearby ranch. Helen Stewart was left on her own with four children and another on the way. She had to take care of the farm, the ranch and the orchards. Travelers visited the ranch every day in need of food water and rest. For the next 20 years, Helen ran the ranch.

The Railroad

In 1902, Montana Senator William Clark came to Las Vegas with an idea that would help change the small town into a city. He wanted to build a railroad that would connect Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, a frequently traveled route. Las Vegas was a good half-way point for the train route. All he needed was a reliable source of water to begin construction.

Clark found that Helen Stewart owned the Las Vegas Ranch and the Las Vegas Creek that ran through the ranch. Stewart agreed to sell most of her land and the water rights. The price was $55,000 and did not include the family cemetery or a small part of the water from Las Vegas Creek. Some say that sale created the city of Las Vegas because with the railroad in place, jobs were created, houses were constructed and the population boomed.

Life After the Ranch

Stewart bought up some land near the ranch and built a new house, where she remained for the rest of her life. In 1905, the railroad sold pieces of her land to the public. That created the downtown core of Las Vegas, which includes Stewart Street.

Stewart remained active in the community becoming the first woman elected to the Clark County School Board in 1915, and the first woman to sit on a jury in Las Vegas in 1916. Stewart died in 1926.

Murasaki Shikibu
c. 976-c. 1031
Japanese author

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese writer of the late Heian period. Her book, The Tale of Genji, is the world's first psychological novel and one of the longest and most distinguished masterpieces of Japanese literature.

The exact dates of the life of Lady Murasaki are not known, nor is her name. Shikibu, a title, may refer to her father, who served in the Ministry of Ceremonial, or of Rites (Shikibu Sh). The name Murasaki, literally "Violet," could refer to one of the heroines of The Tale of Genji or to the first element of her maiden name, Fujiwara, one of the greatest names in Japanese history. Murasaki was born into a lesser but distinguished and cultured branch of the Fujiwara family in the last quarter of the 10th century. Her father, Fujiwara Tamatoki, an official and poet, was at one time a provincial governor; his grandfather was a poet.

Murasaki records in her diary her lessons in Chinese with her brother. She was so quick to learn that her father regretted that she was not a boy. Presumably Murasaki was educated in the usual Chinese and Buddhist classics as well as in Japanese literature, though this kind of learning was not stressed for young women in those days. Murasaki was married at about the age of 20, but her husband died soon after, in 1001, leaving her with a daughter. After her husband's death, Murasaki lived in retirement for some years.

In 1004 Murasaki's father was appointed governor of the province of Echizen, 80 miles from the capital, a great distance in the 11th century. Arrangements were made for Murasaki to enter the service of Akiko, the young consort of Emperor Ichijo, as lady-in-waiting. Murasaki's diary, begun in 1008 and continued for 2 years thereafter, recounts her life at court. At the death of Emperor Ichijo in 1011, the Empress, with her suite of ladies, went into retirement. At this time Murasaki's father was appointed governor of the province of Echigo; in 1016 he retired from the world to take holy orders. Little or nothing of Murasaki's life is positively known from the time she entered the service of Empress Akiko. Murasaki is thought to have died about 1031.

Her Writings

Murasaki's knowledge of the great world is amply exhibited in The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari) as well as in her Diary, and it may be assumed that she chronicled something resembling her own life, however idealized. Murasaki may have begun her novel about 1003 and continued writing it, with interruptions, until her death, at which time it might or might not have been finished.

The size and scope of The Tale of Genji are enormous. Divided into 54 books or episodes, the novel is twice as long as War and Peace. The action, covering the better part of a century, with over 400 characters and four generations, is meticulously and consistently elaborated by Murasaki. The hero, Hikaru Genji, the Shining One, pursues love and happiness impelled always by the haunting image of his dead mother, Kiritsubo, the consort of an emperor. Her early death overshadows Genji's youth. By virtue of his exuberant personality Genji becomes supremely popular at court, indulges in a series of amorous encounters, and wins the admiration of his peers when he dances the "Waves of the Blue Sea."

The character of Genji may be based in part on the personality of Fujiwara Korechika (975-1010), a nephew of Fujiwara Michinaga (966-1027), a great statesman and distant relative of Lady Murasaki. Genji, as a result of his numerous love affairs, incurs the jealousy and wrath of powerful rivals who bring about his disgrace and exile. But this ill luck is of short duration, and Genji is pardoned, is recalled to the capital, and regains his prominence. An encounter with the girl Murasaki Ue had led Genji to undertake her education so that she could be molded into the perfect wife. He builds his sumptuous villa in the capital and installs his several wives in their apartments with Murasaki in the place of honor. But excess of passion takes its toll, and Genji suffers emotional agony because of unhappiness in love. Murasaki, his favorite wife, dies childless, leaving Genji in a world of memories.

Soon, Genji too passes from the Realm of Maya, and the center of attention is turned to his descendants, Kaoru, his supposed son, and Niou, his grandson. Both have aspects of Genji's personality but cannot take his place. This portion of the novel, called the "Uji Chapters" because much of the action takes place at the small village of Uji, depicts the confrontation of Kaoru and Niou for the affections of the girl Ukifune. Kaoru, sensitive, retiring, obsessed by the mystery of his paternity, would sacrifice his high position for Ukifune. But she is confused by her feelings for him and for the high-spirited and charming Niou, who in so many ways resembles Genji.

Having yielded to Niou's blandishments, Ukifune can resolve her dilemma only by an attempt at suicide and, when that fails, by retirement from the world to live out her life as a nun. Kaoru is left in grief, bewilderment, and uncertainty, for although he comes to suspect that Ukifune may still be alive, he is never able to learn the truth. Thus, the lengthy novel, which began with the enchanting atmosphere of a fairy tale, ends in the most complex psychological analysis of unhappy people shrouded in blackest gloom.

Somaly Mam

For surviving her childhood as a sex slave, Somaly Mam is a hero. For rescuing thousands of other girls from that same fate, she's a modern-day saint, and she's setting an example for the world. As an orphan in war-torn Cambodia, Mam, now in her late thirties, was sold to a brothel by the family she lived with. She was forced to have sex with as many as six men a day and saw girls get chained, caged and beaten. The defining moment of her life came when she watched an abusive pimp kill her best friend. She looked the dying girl in the eye and decided to risk her life by escaping; if she made it, she'd help others break free too.

In the years since then, South Asia's sex-trafficking industry has only boomed. Girls as young as five are sold by their parents for just a few dollars. Mam's rescue organization, Acting for Women in Distressing Situations (AFESIP, its acronym in French), saves girls, many of whom have HIV, from brothels in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. At her centers, Mam, whose life is under constant threat from the brothel owners, helps the girls heal physically and emotionally. It's heartbreaking work: Often they try to go back to their pimps because freedom is so unfamiliar. "I say to them that I was like them," says Mam, who spent three years convincing one girl to stay. "Me also, I wanted to go back."

"Somaly Mam's story is a model for activism in the global effort to abolish modern-day slavery. She is a clear hero in my eyes," says Ambassador John R. Miller, director of the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Clearly her work has worldwide impact, but Mam is most interested in whichever child needs her this moment. "All I want is to help the victims," says the woman who never knew her own parents"”or even her birth date. "I want to be a true mother for them. A mother who gives them love.""”

http://www.afesip.org/

WOMEN RULE!

I better go hide before them GNI bhais start attacking...

quote:

Originally posted by Rosita:
WOMEN RULE!

I better go hide before them GNI bhais start attacking...

..if yuh do duh ah gon come box yuh good and proppa... stan up and enjoy yuh ohmanhood gurl!

quote:

Originally posted by Dove:

quote:

Originally posted by Rosita:
WOMEN RULE!

I better go hide before them GNI bhais start attacking...

..if yuh do duh ah gon come box yuh good and proppa... stan up and enjoy yuh ohmanhood gurl!

I will help you

Women rule! Yes!

MORE POWER TO WOMEN!

Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori

It's a girl! read lapel buttons all around the room"”but this was no baby shower. It was the Episcopal Church's general convention last June, where delegates cheered the election of Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, 52, as the first female presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church. At the helm of 110 dioceses in 16 countries, Jefferts Schori is the world's most prominent female religious leader. "Until now, this has been an all-boys club," says retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who reportedly exclaimed, "Whoopee!" at the news of her victory.

Jefferts Schori, who is married with a grown daughter, has dedicated her nine-year tenure, which began November 1, to supporting the UN's Millennium Development Goals, including the eradication of extreme poverty. "When people work together for the benefit of others," she says, "they usually set aside their own differences." She will need all her diplomatic skills to handle factions within her church: Three U.S. dioceses that oppose the ordination of women have challenged her authority, and controversy swirls around her support of gay clergy and same-sex unions. "Jesus would sit and eat with anyone," she says, unfazed. "To me that says the church is meant to be inclusive of all humanity."

The Hon. Una S.T. Clarke's - Former NYC Councilmember, 40th District, Brooklyn, New York

The Hon. Una S.T. Clarke, the first Caribbean-born woman elected to the city's legislature, is a proven and dedicated leader whose hard work and tireless advocacy have brought remarkable changes to her community.

Born in the parish of St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, West Indies, Dr. Clarke migrated to the United States as a foreign student in 1958.

She was elected in 1991 and during her 10 years tenure she sponsored more than 300 pieces of legislation on a wide range of issues including child welfare, education, health/mental health, economic development, public safety and transportation.

Her portfolio in the Council included committees on Aging, Youth Services and Economic Development, Health, General Welfare and she also chaired the Council's committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. She was an active member of the Council's Black and Hispanic Caucus.

Dr. Clarke directed millions of dollars for education, health/mental health, economic development to her district, and pursued the implementation of critical projects and programs through her ability to win help and support from labor, government, community and business leaders. An educator by profession, she has leveraged millions of dollars to upgrade schools in her district, and have made them technologically ready for the 21st century with computer labs in every school and a model program for multi-media instruction. Dr. Clarke also fought to expand services for the elderly, rebuild parks and playgrounds and increase quality childcare programs.

Sensitive to the needs of immigrants, Dr. Clarke has led campaigns for citizenship and voter registration to enable her constituents to receive greater rights and benefits. In response to flaws in the new immigration law, Dr. Clarke led a delegation to Washington, D.C., to educate Congress for changes that would make the law more just for all immigrants. In addition, Dr. Clarke is a tireless advocate and supporter of U.S. foreign policy towards the Caribbean, especially on issues of trade.

In 1992, Dr. Clarke served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, and was later appointed as a delegate to the Electoral College, where she cast her vote to elect President Clinton. In 1996, she was one of six New Yorkers appointed to the National Platform Committee of the Democratic Party. She received high accolades from the Democratic Party for her savvy and commitment to issues that are important to her Brooklyn constituents.

Dr. Clarke holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Long Island University and a Masters of Education degree from New York University, with additional post-graduate studies at Teachers College and the School of Business at Columbia University. In 1984, she was the first foreign-born recipient of Columbia's prestigious Revson Fellowship. She has been honored with numerous awards from both community and professional organizations. In 1999 she received the second highest honor that a civilian can receive from the Government of Jamaica. She was awarded the Commander of the Order of Distinction (C.D.), for distinguished service for Jamaicans and Caribbean's nationals in North America. Dr. Clarke is the first Caribbean-born woman to receive the prestigious 2001 Ellis Island Medal of Honor. In November 2005, she received the honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Technology in Jamaica.

Currently, Dr. Clarke serves as the Empire State Development Corporation Director of Economic Development for the borough of Brooklyn.

Dr. Clarke is married to Leslie Clarke Sr. They have two children, New York Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke and television producer Leslie Clarke Jr., and three grandchildren.