Alexandria Johnson Boone, Chairwoman and Founder, Women of Color Foundation We are a women-centric organization focused on leadership, personal and professional development. Our overall mission is to train, educate, motivate, and inspire women and girls of all colors!_____________________________________________________________________________________Based on ongoing discussions with women of color (primarily with African-American, Asian, Hispanic and Native- American women), across the country whose opinions we valued, we learned that all of us felt it was critical for us as women to share our successes, triumphs and yes, our failures with our peers and younger women coming along behind us.Thus, we developed a unique concept and forum to facilitate the collaboration, networking, mentoring, sharing, development and training of women and girls of color. While our personal and professional goals are perhaps the same as other women, our career challenges, family pressures, social obstacles and life stresses, as women of color are very different. 2012 marked our 10th Anniversary and it was commemorated with a year long celebration!Several major programs/activities have been or, are being developed to address these concerns:-The Women of Color Foundation (a 501c3, tax-exempt foundation organized in 2005), to foster networking and to provide personal and professional development, education and training to all women of color. Our predecessor organization was under the umbrella of the women of color events.com, which began hosting the executive retreats described below in 2003.-“Connections, Community and Career: A Personal and Professional Development Retreat for Women of Color,” (an annual 3-day training retreat for executive women and college students of all colors held in Cleveland, Ohio in 2003-2012; Columbus, Ohio in 2006-2012; Cincinnati, Ohio in 2007-2008; and Chicago, Illinois in 2007 and 2009)-Women of Color Leadership Development & Training Institute (an annual 1-day leadership development and training conference targeting a broader cross-section of women and girls of color, held in November each year in Cleveland, Ohio only since 2006)-The ISIS Awards Luncheon (an annual event celebrating Women of Color and honoring: a “Woman of the Year,” a “Professional Woman of the Year,” a “Young Professional Woman of the Year,” and a “Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones Courage Award” during the Institute), held 2006-2012.-The WomenSpeak™ Collaborative (a consortium of local, regional and national organizations focusing on the needs and concerns of, and programs benefiting women and girls of color)-Speaking of Women! (a newsletter, radio and TV show focusing on women and girls of color; the radio and TV show are in the final planning stages and should come on-line in early 2013)-Annual Speaking of Women! A Quarterly Dialogue Series for Women in Leadership (In partnership with American Greetings Corporation), was held on March 15; May 17; September 13; and November 8, 2012; The 2nd Series is set for March 14; June 13; September 12; and November 7, 2013. A special program is planned for December 12.Because of the tremendous response to our programming and the resulting success stories based on participant and sponsoring organizations’ experiences, it is our intention to expand our annual training programs to include women of color in Detroit and Indianapolis by 2014-2015. It is also our vision to host a national training and networking event for women and girls of color to be held in 2016.