NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Hundreds of women from around the world gathered at the United Nations Friday in a push to get more women into business.
By sharing their stories, they also provided leadership lessons to the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Top business leaders took to the stage in a mission to empower, celebrate, and support women in business.
Among the crowd at the women’s summit, high school students from The Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria, where the focus is computer science and technology.
(Credit: CBS2)
Nazaret and Lisette are seniors and want to help young girls in other countries.
“Countries like Columbia, Guatemala, Honduras, Dominican Republic, or even Mexico,” Lisette Tapia told CBS2’s Cindy Hsu.
“We’d like to provide internet access if they don’t have any provide laptops and go over there and teach STEM curriculum and teach coding languages,” Nazaret Cuadros added.
That’s the kind of inspiration Wendy Diamond is spreading; through the creation of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED). She started it five years ago and organized this summit with a strong message for young girls.
“They can do anything they want in this world, don’t limit themselves,” Diamond said.
Ikram Maarouf is also a high school student and this year spoke at the summit. She first attended last year and says it really pushed her into action regarding women’s rights.
“I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone and did things with my friends and families such as attending protests and rallies,” Ikram Maarouf explained.
Maarouf says being exposed to so many women helping each other has opened a whole new world for her.
