Great Dames wound up its spring series Monday night with five “Women Firestarters.”
Telling their stories were:
- Miracle Olatunji, teen social entrepreneur
- Tizzy Lockman, community mobilizer & State Senate candidate
- Melissa Govette, women’s advocate at M&T Bank
- Kathy Palokoff, educator, and author of a book on Firestarters that helped inspire the series.
- Karin Copeland, creator of arts and business communities in Philadelphia.
Dr. Maria Hess of Wilmington University moderated the conversation. [Not a valid template]
Panelists discussed both firestarters who ignite success and “Fire Extinguishers” who can dampen dreams.
Extinguishers and firestarters included mothers, fathers, friends and bosses. In one case, an audience member credited a boss who fired her and helped ignite the fire that allowed her to overcome the setback.
Govette credited her husband with sound advice that included not accepting the first initial salary offer.
Olatunji, a senior at the Charter School of Wilmington and according to Technical.ly Delaware recently won the top prize in the World Series of Entrepreneurship in Philadelphia for her venture, OpportuniME. OpportuniME connects high school students to opportunities such as internships and enrichment programs.
Olatunji said she overcame the lack of confidence that often comes in middle school to take leadership positions. It led to the University of Delaware’s Diamond Challenge for young entrepreneurs and her new venture.
With Mothers Day coming on Sunday, it seemed appropriate that the subject of moms came up among panelists and members of the audience.
In many cases, mothers were firestarters or helped make their daughters push forward. In other cases, moms were fire extinguishers.
Earlier in the spring, Biden kicked off he Firestarters series by talking about her social venture that makes comfortable hoodies, with proceeds earmarked for improvement of communities.
In addition to the speakers, Great Dames offers programs and volunteer opportunities.
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