(Em)Power Breakfast Celebrates Alumni Leaders Shaping SL Network’s Next Chapter
Nearly 400 champions, supporters, and student ambassadors joined us on October 19th to celebrate Student Leadership Network’s impact on advancing educational equity. For the first time in the event’s history, the (Em)Power Breakfast honored three alumni across both of our girls’ education and college access programs who are creating change in their communities.
Together, we continued to write the next chapter of Student Leadership Network’s journey. Our Founder and President Ann Tisch kicked off the event, welcoming longtime supporters, advocates, and new friends in the room to the SL Network family. In her remarks, Yolonda Marshall, SL Network’s CEO, shared about the organization’s growth and our collective excitement for the future: “We now have a school in every borough across New York City, have replicated our model nationally in 17 girls’ schools across the country, and our college access program is operating in both our girl’s schools and 27 co-ed schools across NY and growing!”
Highlights from the event above, including Honorees, Presenters, and Speakers
To help us celebrate, Victoria Saha, on-air anchor and reporter in Las Vegas and an alumna of SL Network’s The Young Women’s Leadership Schools (TYWLS) of Astoria, served as the morning’s host and introduced our distinguished presenters and honorees. She reflected upon the TYWLS community seeing and encouraging her passions.
“This is a network that will always be a part of you and will shape who you become. For our scholars who are with us today, I want you to know that I see you, I see myself in you and one day you can also stand where I am today.”
Meet Our Honorees
Three exceptional Student Leadership Network alumni have gone on to do impactful work in law, technology, and education to benefit their communities. SL Network awarded the alumni a monetary gift to continue their creative and community pursuits.
Talia Scott, a 2015 alumna of TYWLS East Harlem and a JD/MBA candidate at New York University, is increasing representation in the legal field. In a sector where only 2% of U.S. lawyers are Black women, Talia founded Legally BLK Fund, a nonprofit whose mission is to create resources, financial support, and community for other aspiring Black women lawyers during the pre-law and law school application process. The David Prize recently recognized her as one of five visionary changemakers in New York. Talia received her (Em)Power Breakfast honors from Crystal McCrary McGuire, lawyer and New York Times bestselling author.
Cori Grainger is a 2016 alumna of Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women (BLSYW), an affiliate school of our Young Women’s Leadership Network. She is a program manager at Google, increasing the pipeline of diverse tech talent with research and mentoring opportunities for people from historically marginalized communities. She is also working on a personal project to create safe social media spaces for youth to help reduce gun violence in Baltimore. Kayla Conti, head of Black Media Communications at Google, presented Cori’s honors and applauded her passion for making the technology sector more diverse and inclusive.
Manny Salazar is giving back to his community through education and building lasting relationships with students and families. In the NYC public school system, where male students of color make up 43% of all students, only 8% of the entire teacher workforce is made up of Black, Latino, and Asian men. A 2018 graduate of our CollegeBound Initiative (CBI) program at Mott Hall High School, Manny is an AP high school teacher at LION Charter School in the Bronx. He recalls his CBI director of college counseling guiding him and his family, often in Spanish, so that the whole family could navigate the college process together and envision different paths to success. David C. Banks, Chancellor of New York City Public Schools, introduced Manny and saluted him for being a role model for both students and the teaching profession.
2023 (Em)Power Breakfast Showcase: Writing the Next Chapter
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined and helped us write the chapter of advancing equity in education! Your support equips our students with the tools and resources they deserve to reach their full potential.
Special thanks to all of our sponsors, especially our lead sponsors: The Estée Lauder Companies, The Tisch Families, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Richard Cohen & Patricia Duff, Clive Davis, Gruber Family Foundation, Proskauer, Lisa & Jonathan Pruzan, Robin & Jack Ross, and Warburg Pincus.
The (Em)Power Breakfast raised over $1.1 million to support and expand our program models across the country. See if your gift can be matched by your employer through the Double the Donation tool on our giving page. If you have not yet given, please consider making a gift for us to continue to do this important work.
Enjoy more highlights from the event in the slideshow below:
