I am Every Woman meeting draws crowd
Women arrived dressed in white at the University of Memphis on Saturday. The women were of different races and stages of life but many laughed and cheered as they listened to stories of empowerment.
The third annual I am Every Woman Leadership Conference sponsored by Buckner Brooks and Heights Entertainment registered about 500 women for the Memphis event.
Executive Producer Phylliss Johnson travels to different cities for the conference. This is its second year in Memphis.
“(Each city) is similar,” Johnson said. “Each year, I try to feature a couple of locals. There’s a lot of really cool people here in Memphis I could feature.”
This year’s speakers were Keshia Knight Pulliam Amy Speropoulos, Jasmine Guy and Linn Sitler .
Knight Pulliam, who acted as young Rudy Huxtable in “The Cosby Show” spoke about the value of hard work.
“We’re always real real quick to show our highlight reel, but there is growth in the journey,” she said.”We have to share our journey.”
She encouraged women to move past adversity and find value in more than what they do.
“I really enjoyed what I did, but I did not let that denote my worth,” she said. “Failure happens. Success does not mean that you have not stumbled. It does not mean that you have not failed. It means that you had to get up.”
She said she treasured her time as an actress, but she did not get handed those opportunities.
She said she was taught about hard work by her family.
“Every day is about being a better version of myself each day,” she said. “You can’t live your life in anticipation of what’s coming. You have to live your life in this moment.”
She went to college and took a break from her acting carer and said she planned to pursue higher education.
She encouraged women to pursue their passions.
“Just because you’re good at one thing doesn’t mean that’s the only thing you have to do,” she said.
Speropoulos spoke about motherhood, her faith and recovery from her addiction with alcohol.
In March she celebrated four years of sobriety.
“It took me to a place where I didn’t recognize myself,” Speropoulos said. “I was ashamed to admit it because I feared it would be seen as a weakness.”
Speoropoulos, a television reporter for ABC in Memphis, encouraged women to seek accountability for their struggles.
“The reality is, it’s tough for women because we are balancing things,” she said. “We don’t take time for ourselves, but we should because we are the glue in our family.”
Guy, who is a singer, actress and dancer, spoke about how she struggled with self-image during part of her career.
“You’re doing that to get better,” she said about her dancing, “but you can’t go too far. There’s a psychological transformation when you go out into the world.”
She encouraged women to embrace who they are with strength.
Sitler, Memphis and Shelby County Film commissioner, spoke about experiences that shaped her ambition.
She shared about her initiative and drive after struggling with self-esteem in her childhood.
“Work is your investment,” she said as she shared experiences from her film career.
She had planned to take her current job in Memphis for a year, but she kept getting film opportunities in the city.
Each woman who spoke received a standing ovation and several women described the day as “inspiring.”
“It’s been a brilliant day for women to come out and do something they don’t normally do,” said Marcia Bowden, an organizer of the event.
“Memphis is a city where we do new things all the time, and this shows women are on the front line of doing new thing and that we can do it together.”