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WIE Symposium 2011: My New 'C' Word

Posted: 09/17/2011 8:02 pm

All my life I have had a love of "c" words: cashmere, comfort, city, creativity, champagne. This remains true, although now I find myself gravitating toward words like connect, collaborate and community. I love these words because what I know for sure is that we can't do it alone. Whatever that "thing" is that we feel compelled to do -- that thing that allows purpose to crystallize -- we need each other to truly get it done.

It is with these things in mind that I prepare for the 2nd Annual WIE Symposium, a two-day event that I am honored to co-host with Arianna Huffington and Sarah Brown to support the White Ribbon Alliance. It's an opportunity to bring together empowered women from all walks of life to pass on the kernels of wisdom that have helped them navigate their path to a place of success and impact. The WIE Symposium is a germination period -- seeds will be planted with the potential to bear powerful fruit. It is an opportunity for women to rally around the causes they care most about, regardless of whether that cause is maternal health, education, sex trafficking, culture preservation, health care, environment, nutrition or any other number of extremely important issues.

The real challenge is making a commitment to do something and finding support along the way. My friend and fellow WIE Panelist, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, fiercely believes that women must get off the sidelines; that "more women need to embrace the fact that their voice matters and that they can make a difference." I couldn't agree more.

We know that the women who attend this event are going to leave renewed and motivated. We know that women are going to want to take action, to come together and create change. We also know that they need a community of support. And we are prepared to help.

Arianna and I are going to create an online community for women to take action and commit to moving forward with the causes they care about. It will be a place of collaboration, support, accountability, conversation and encouragement. It will be a home for inspired connections and innovative solutions.

So, women of the WIE, I look forward to sharing this experience with you. Together, we are going to create something beautiful.

 

Follow Donna Karan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@urban_zen

All my life I have had a love of "c" words: cashmere, comfort, city, creativity, champagne. This remains true, although now I find myself gravitating toward words like connect, collaborate and communi...
All my life I have had a love of "c" words: cashmere, comfort, city, creativity, champagne. This remains true, although now I find myself gravitating toward words like connect, collaborate and communi...
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
WilliamL
08:35 PM on 09/19/2011
The C word sd. be Combat.

Woman in Combat
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12:11 PM on 09/19/2011
Shows me where my mind is, sometimes.
11:20 PM on 09/18/2011
i always thought God created man first , and then corrected his mistake , and thus women came into being .
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
WilliamL
08:34 PM on 09/19/2011
"Man" was androgynous acrording to the Torah.

Comprissed of male and female.
11:13 PM on 09/18/2011
caring . considerate ,compassionate ,consoling creative in charity . all adds up to Christ to me ... thank God.
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11:30 AM on 09/18/2011
All of those wonderful ideas are lost on me as you continue to support the brutal exploitation of innocent animals through the fur trade.
10:08 AM on 09/18/2011
I am sure this conference will create greater awareness of the all-nourishing power of women. The greatest connection, compassion, coherence, comfort, and infinite creative potential exists within the unified field of Natural Law—the transcendental, silent depths of everyone!
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Siren Song
I used to be Snow White but I drifted - Mae West
01:21 AM on 09/18/2011
Perhaps you might consider adding another "c" word to your vocabulary: compassion.

Animals used for fur coats suffer terribly, on fur farms and caught in straps. I urge you to stop using real fur in your designs. Women do not need to wear real fur to keep warm, and you clearly do not need the income from these sales. Please follow the lead of Stella McCartney, Ralph Lauren, and others who eschew real fur in favor of faux.
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ArChiMi
Skeptic
02:49 AM on 09/18/2011
Fanned...
09:41 PM on 09/18/2011
Totally AGREE!!!!!!
01:06 AM on 09/18/2011
It is a shame that you had to adopt WIE when WIE already stands for a truly great organization - Women in Engineering - representing women struggling to break into a field long dominated by men. Moreover women applying their talents to come up with real enginnering solutions to real problems - as opposed to a talk fest. Whoever came up with WIE could simply have used that well-known tool Google to check before you settled on WIE as the name for your symposium.
11:29 PM on 09/17/2011
Wars have always been created and fought by men like myself. I know. I served in Vietnam in 1969 as a combat medic. Why were not women drafted equally to serve, suffer and die like men did there and always have in all other conflicts? Why is there still a Department of Defense and yet no Department of Peace? War is the Cosmic and Spiritual equivalent of violent rape. Till women have a bond with their male children that they truly make them understand there are no more man made illusions called wars, thus no more need for soldiers, we shall continue towards the destruction of our race and planet Earth. May this effort of yours help in this endeavor for global harmony.

Peace

Robert Allen Schledwitz
Newburyport, MA
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06:44 AM on 09/18/2011
I've heard it said that the opposite of war is not peace. It's creation.
The gender that has the maximum ability to create on the deepest level is woman.
All else in your post, rings true for me and it's necessary for more people to come to that realization...and Mothers would be the best place to receive that info early on..
07:06 AM on 09/18/2011
I agree with you totally. Mothers must teach their boys that all realities begin with ideas. Creation as you call it. Planting a garden of your own or stealing from someone else's begins with a thought, then a plan, then an impulse to get started, then action. "Let us all go about and cultivate our own gardens and we shall have the best of all possible worlds." - Candide
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Morrisfactor
Just a little bent
07:21 PM on 09/18/2011
foxisms-

'The gender that has the maximum ability to create on the deepest level is woman."

I admit I'm not clear what the deepest level is, but assume you mean women giving birth? But is that really creating something, or just letting it happen, just letting "nature take her course", since it requires no thought, planning, designing, engineering, etc, to produce offspring.

Now, look at what men have accomplished over thousands of years: Agriculture, roads, plumbing, houses, cities, art, religion, weapons, literature, medicine, astronomy, etc. All of these fields required concepts, design, work, and installation of civilization as we know it today.

Has it all been good? No, it seems that for every step man takes forward, he slides back some. But today the average citizen in the western world lives like the king of an ancient dominion.
Emereaux
Cerca trova
12:30 PM on 09/18/2011
Spoken from true experience. I couldn't agree more.

Peace
garystartswithg
el sueno de la razon produce republicans
11:15 PM on 09/17/2011
I don't think most people realize what Donna Karan has done both in and outside of the world of fashion. She has raised some of the next generations most talented designers and is a constant humanitarian.
nmcginni
No pledges, except the Pledge of Allegiance
10:29 PM on 09/17/2011
The idea can become universal. A 'C' campaign would be good for Congress.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Jeanne Ball
Teacher of meditation, David Lynch Foundation
09:37 PM on 09/17/2011
Great to hear about women coming together to lead society. My women's group always starts their meeting with a group meditation. It is a powerful way to increase our harmony and togetherness before we focus on our initiatives.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
WilliamL
09:26 PM on 09/17/2011
Invite female soldiers-officers and enlisted- and let them speak of empowerment, personal sacrafice, and social change.

Seriously. Not inviting them is insulting. After years of yellow ribbons and support the troops, they sd. be included.

How many women have died in combat securing the ability of all of us, women as well, to have it all ?

Must invite soldiers.
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StrawHat
Eat veggies, don't vote for them
08:01 PM on 09/17/2011
Creative collaboration for good causes? C'mon, let's get cracking.