SPEAK UP FOR A CHANGE
Presents
The 2024 Women's Leadership Forum Gala
March 16, 2024 - 7 pm - 12 am
Virginia Beach, Virginia
ABOUT
The Women's Leadership Forum Gala is an event that celebrates and promotes women's leadership and achievements. It brings together influential women from various fields, including business, politics, academia, and the arts, to inspire and empower others through their stories and accomplishments.
The gala features keynote speeches from influential women leaders, panel discussions on topics related to women's leadership, and recognition of outstanding women in various fields.
Our goal is to provide a platform for women to share their experiences, insights, and strategies for success in leadership positions. It aims to foster a supportive and inclusive environment where women can connect with like-minded individuals, build valuable relationships, and gain inspiration and motivation to pursue their goals.
2024 THEME
Drop your message for a change
PURPOSE
The purpose of this gala is to raise the necessary funding to continue our mission both in the US and Africa. Our goal is to raise $300,000 US dollars to fight hunger, homelessness and domestic violence and facilitate the diverse initiatives envisioned for our fiscal year 2024-2025 budget cycle.
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By advertising in our magazine, you showcase your commitment to gender equality and leadership development. Your message reaches a diverse audience of influencers, decision-makers, and advocates who are passionate about creating a more inclusive and equitable world.
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VENUE
Grand Affairs
2036 Pleasure House Rd,
Virginia Beach, VA 23455
COUNTDOWN
days
hours
minutes
seconds
GUESTS OF HONOR
Kings
Senators
Mayors
City Council Men and Women
Organizers
Emcee and Photographer
Guests
SPEAKERS
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
HRM OBA PROF. SAKA ADELOLA ADISA MATEMILOLA PhD CANTAB,FNSE OLUYALO OTILETA VII
THE PARAMOUNT RULER OF THE ANCIENT OWU KINGDOM, OKE AGO OWU, ABEOKUTA.
His Royal Majesty, Kabiesi Oba Saka Adelola Ayokanmi Matemilola
His Royal Majesty, Kabiesi Oba Saka Adelola Ayokanmi Matemilola, OLUYALO - Otileta IV. FNSE holds B.Sc. (1st Class honours) and M.Sc. Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from University of Ibadan, as well as a Ph.D. from University of Cambridge, UK. Saka has been active in both the practice and academic sectors of the Petroleum Industry, over the past 20 years. He is the Chief Petroleum Engineer at FIRST Exploration and Petroleum Development Company, Lagos. He has been a visiting scholar at the Institute of Petroleum Studies, University of Port Harcourt since 2009 where he coordinates PhD degree programme, Undertake research work and supervise post-graduate students, Develop and teach courses in Advanced Petroleum Engineering. He had once served as Coach and Consultant for Reservoir Engineering at Shell Petroleum industry in Port-Harcourt in 2009 -2011 having studied as a Reservoir Engineer at the Shell International Exploration and Production BV, Rijswijk, the Netherlands.He was involved in the establishment of the Centre of Excellence in Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering, University of Benin in 2011 and has since been a visiting lecturer at the institute. Saka has also rolled as a visiting Associate Professor at African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, since 2013 and more recently, an adjunct faculty at the Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Ibadan.
This indeed describes Dr. Matemilola; he is a senior consultant reservoir engineer with an established track record of effectively leading and working as part of productive multi-disciplinary teams, in successful delivering major Oil & Gas projects – vast experience in integrated oil & gas development; subsurface resource evaluation; well, reservoir and facilities management; technical assurance; project value assurance; portfolio strategy & management.
Saka’s interests and experience spans hydrocarbon resource evaluation, petroleum fields development studies and management, as well as strategic planning. He regularly delivers training courses on specialised topics in Oil & Gas, including at Society of Petroleum Engineering Conferences. Saka has published widely on Oil & Gas subjects, as well as in the field of Applied Mechanics where he originally started his career. He is a visiting scholar to Centre of Excellence in Geosciences & Petroleum Engineering, University of Benin.
He is the Regional Resource Volume Coordinator, Sub-Saharan Africa for Shell Upstream International on Hydrocarbon Resource Volume Management from January 2012 to date having worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, and University of Cambridge UK. He has authored (including co-author) a total of 13 technical papers in international academic journals or conference proceedings. He is happily married with Children..
Adzowavi Sakponou Adenka
Founder and President, Speak Up for a Change
Adzowavi Sakponou Adenka
A man can be a father when the baby is born on the day of delivery, but a woman starts calling herself a mother right from the day of conception so say a major maxim. The story of humans, therefore, especially those that came to this world and made that remarkable impact on the sounds of time are encapsulated right from the time of their conception. This can be said of this distinguished personality of the person of Adzowavi Sakponou Adenka, a woman of substance who was born on 2nd August 1976 in Togo, a West African country. However, her parents who are late now were originally from the Benin Republic. Her father was from Oueme while her Mum was from Savalou.Growing up was interesting as she grew up in many towns in the country of Togo. First, she started her early life in a small town called Togoville, the then village where the name of the country was gotten from. At age 2, she was released to live with one of her paternal aunts who lived in another village. At age 15, she had a child, something that was a bit strange then, because she was the youngest teenager that had a baby in that village at that particular time. Eventually, she went on to have four other children making five in all that include 2 girls and 3 boys.
Though it was a bit difficult raising kids at that age, she navigated her way through the tick and thins, today her first child and daughter is married too to a military officer and he is serving in Japan with their two children Yannis and Kenzo. Her second daughter, Adetade is going up for her Masters's program in the medical field. Next in line is Adekambi a male who is in the Military, an Airforce personnel to be precise. Next is Adeboute who is still in high school but preparing for an advanced program in Technoloy and lastly, Adesina who is presently in middle school. Adenka was married for 18 years but is now divorced since 2018 due to some pertinent factors and domestic abuse stood tall among the reasons for the divorce.
It was this issue of domestic violence that eventually spurred me to found an organization known as “Speak up for a Change” a nongovernmental organization with a principal mission to empower women and children who are for the most part vulnerable to abuse and societal degradation.
I equally established another organization known as “Bring Them out of Hiding” LLC, based in Virginia, Virginia, United States of America. Today, Adzowavi is a certified advocate for women and children and also a certified nutritionist and fitness coach. It is instructive that experiences in the real difficult world prepared her to engage in what she is involved in today. For a long time, she worked with children in schools, and also for another very long time she worked as a beautician who braids hair for women. Her interaction and engagement with the women and children on a daily basis coupled with her own personal experiences at home vis a vis the domestic abuse she consistently faced in her marriage really made her know what women and children go through, thus, making her champion their course when the opportunity presented itself.
It is quite interesting to note that she is a survivor of multiple strokes, ovarian cancer, and colon inflammation. Having gone through these multiple experiences that life pushed along her way, she kept on discovering her true self as she doggedly fought her way through. Though providence was kind to her and in appreciating what the almighty has done, she too decided to give to her society.
Sharing her experiences, she decided to speak out to a much larger society through NGO projects. She wants people to know that, despite all their troubles and travails, if they can garner enough strength by way of counselling, having a support system that helps and empowers, and having mentors who would nurture them based on their own experiences, they can navigate their way through the vicissitude of life, because, in her words “when life throws a bacon at you, throw back a wheat flour, with that combination, sure and the synergy will work out”. That is the main reason Adzowavi founded the other NGO, Speak Up for a Change.
Starting this in the United States, her main thrust is Africa, the land of her birth. She realized that this decadence could be reduced if the women and children are empowered educationally, hence, the resolve to come to Togo with the organization, Speak Up for a Change. For some time now, the organization has been involved in building schools in Togo and contributing to women's emancipation. Recently too, having lived in Nigeria before, precisely Abeokuta, the capital city of Ogun state, before, as she puts it that Abeokuta is her second home, she decided, therefore, to extend this gesture to that city so that the world could hear from her and her organization more.
Interestingly, some of the little things she has been doing in lifting and championing the course of women around the world has earned her accolades and awards. Among the numerous awards is the Triumphant Woman Award in 2017, She also received the Domestic Survivor Award in 2018, not leaving out the Inspirational Black Woman Award, in 2019 in Quebec, Canada.
Adzowavi Sakponu Adenka is also a certified leadership trainer through the John Maxwell team and is the author of three books that include, “Including the Heart of a Warrior”. Her second book is, “The Rays of Love” which she wrote when she was going through a moment of Bell’s palsy disease which she survived. Surprisingly, at this agonizing moment, she could only see with one eye and could hardly see without the other eye being bandaged. while her current book is titled “Generational Survivals”. It is an anthology of what black women go through in the race of life, their experiences in the face of hardship, travails, and abuse. It is a collection of shared experiences.
Part of the role that the Speaker for Change organization is to feed the homeless in their own little way every month. They move to selected locations around Virginia, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach. Also, at every resumption time for schools, the organization ensures that randomly picked kids from schools have the necessary kits they need to stay in school. She revealed that she has partners who believe in this course and are there to support this project which is very dear to her because she was not privileged to have access to all these. As a matter of fact, when she had her first baby at age 15, she was almost turned or rather she was actually leaving as a housemaid. She would go through starvation, and be punished, while her baby would be crying on the floor with no mats, no clothes, and any other convenience of livelihood.
It was in this situation that one night while she rested her baby in her bosom she cried out to the heavens and prayed to the almighty God that if HE could take her out of that situation and be better placed in life, she would not let anyone down, she would take care of people that come her way in her own little capacity. She confessed that since then she started seeing a different version of herself right from when the baby was four months old as she started going back to school. Tricky though, but she trudges along with support from the community and especially her aunt’s husband who is late now. Adzowavi said that he would babysit her little girl at home and would only go to his farm once she came back from school.
However, it was still difficult as many people still looked down on her as an outcast. Many times, there was no food to eat, yet she still kept moving because of her instinct to her that her journey is still far far ahead. In her words, Adzowavi said, “No, this is not me, this scorn is not going to define my life, I was raped by a man, and I got pregnant, had a baby, am never going to be a wife to that rapist”. “
Am an advocate against anyone that gives their son or daughter away at an early age, because, I lacked the fatherly and motherly love and care”. This is why she made the Speak Up for a Change Foundation a focal instrument to speak out and re-orientate parents and would-be parents on why they need to take up the responsibility of their kids once they have them. She would always advise folks on the need to be ready and prepared before they got themselves pregnant and have babies as the responsibility involved is more than just copulating and giving birth to children that they will not cater for. She is so passionate about this because she passed through this phase in her life.
Instructively, the biography is not ending here, it is a voyage that is still navigating the high sea of accomplishment. Doggedly, she would coast shore together with those who believe in this vision of helping others.
So, readers can take a quo from this that ‘it is not always the door that provides us the way out all the time, the walls too sometimes have openings in them that lead to freedom. The ability to discern when and how the walls open up to provide freedom lies in us trusting the almighty God and believing that success can be achieved if we truly will it.
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SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES
Platinum Sponsor
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- 10 Seats at Dinner Table
Gold Sponsor
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- Homepage Promo
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- Promo Items in Swag Bags
- Half-page Ad in Program
- Audience Your Majesty’s CT
- 6 Seats at Dinner Table
Silver Sponsor
- Premium Expo Table
- Logo: Event Page
- Signage
- Advertising(A/V)
- Homepage Promo
- Email Promo
- Verbal Recognition at Event
- 2 Social Media Mentions
- Promo Items in Swag Bags
- Half-page Ad in Program
- 5 Seats at Dinner Table
Bronze Sponsor
- Premium Expo Table
- Logo: Event Page
- Signage
- Advertising(A/V)
- Homepage Promo
- Email Promo
- 2 Social Media Mentions
- Promo Items in Swag Bags
- 4 Seats at Dinner Table
Vendors
Elevate your brand's visibility and network with influential leaders by securing a vendor table at The 2024 Women's Leadership Forum Gala. Showcase your products or services to a dynamic audience passionate about women's empowerment and leadership. Don't miss this opportunity to make meaningful connections and align your brand with the forefront of progress. Reserve your table today!
SUPPORT OUR 1000 MENSTRUAL PADS PROJECT
Dear Esteemed Guests of The 2024 Women's Leadership Forum Gala,
As we gather to celebrate the remarkable achievements of women in leadership, let us also join hands in supporting a cause that empowers young girls and fosters their education. We invite each one of you to contribute to our "1000 Menstrual Pads Project" by donating just one pad for a girl in need.
Your small gesture can make a significant impact on the lives of young girls, ensuring they have access to menstrual hygiene products and can continue their education without interruption. Let us stand together in solidarity, bridging the gap and promoting equality for all.
Thank you for being part of this incredible evening and for making a difference in the lives of future leaders.
Sincerely,
Speak Up For A Change
HOTEL
Speak Up For A Change has teamed up with Holiday Inn Newport News-Hampton to streamline hotel reservations for attendees of The 2024 Women's Leadership Forum Gala. This partnership ensures hassle-free accommodation booking, providing guests with convenience and comfort throughout the event. Together, we're dedicated to enhancing the overall experience and supporting the empowerment of women leaders.
Hilton Garden Inn Virginia Beach Town Center
- 252 Town Center Dr, Virginia Beach, VA 23462
CONTACT US
Benin Participants
To all those from Benin who wish to take part in this event on March 16, 2024, please contact our country representative of SUFAC BENIN, Mr. Joseph Emmanuel GAGNON and Ms. Sodjihoun Ayoko, one of the figures of this meeting of the Ewe-Waci community of Benin, Togo and Ghana residing in the United States of America
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