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Ashley Judd to headline YWCA Career Women of Achievement luncheon on May 9 in Cincinnati


Actress, humanitarian, author and renown women’s advocate Ashley Judd is the keynote speaker for the May 9 YWCA Career Women of Achievement Luncheon to be held at Cincinnati’s Duke Energy Convention Center.

This year marks the 39th anniversary of the YWCA’s recognition of outstanding businesswomen in Greater Cincinnati through the annual luncheon and awards program. The event is now the largest luncheon held at Duke Energy Convention Center and throughout the Midwest, drawing more than 2,100 attendees. 
 
While Ashley Judd has reached the heights of Hollywood stardom, she is considered to be one of the world’s brightest lights on poverty, justice and equality. She has traveled the world to perform international public health work on dozens of issues such as maternal health, child survival, human rights, family planning, STD and HIV prevention and malaria prevention and treatment.

Ashley Judd

She has experienced firsthand the connection between poverty, illness and gender inequality and how that sets up the pain and degradation of sex and labor slavery. In fact, she testified before the General Assembly of the United Nations on the international slave trade where she said, “The more we hear their stories, the more motivated we are to heal them and the social systems that victimized them in the first place. I believe with all my soul that the art of compassionate witnessing is at the core of global change and peace building.”
 
As a feminist and social justice humanitarian Judd has been working internationally with NGO’S, grass roots organizations, governments, and supranational bodies since 2004. She currently serves as Global Goodwill Ambassador for UNFPA, is the Global Ambassador for Population Services International as well as Polaris Project. Judd serves on the advisory boards of the International Center for Research on Women, Apne Aap Worldwide, and Demand Abolition. She is also chairperson of the Women’s Media Center Speech Project: Curbing Abuse, Expanding Freedom, and on the boards of Population Services International (PSI) and Global Ambassador for YouthAIDS.
 
An avid University of Kentucky sports fan, she graduated from UK in 2010 and went on to earn a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Her paper, Gender Violence, Law and Social Justice won the Dean’s Scholar Award at Harvard Law School. She is also author of the New York Times bestseller, All That Is Bitter and Sweet detailing her visits to grassroots programs in 13 countries.
 
As part of the #MeToo movement, Judd was featured on the cover of Time Magazine’s 2017 Person of the Year issue honoring “The Silence Breakers,” the thousands of people across the world who have come forward with their experiences of sexual harassment and assault.
 
“We are honored to host a keynote speaker of Ashley Judd’s international caliber,” said luncheon co-chairs Christi Cornette, chief culture officer, Cincinnati Bell Inc. and Susan B. Zaunbrecher, corporate department chair, Dinsmore & Shohl LLP. Both are former Career Women of Achievement honorees.  They believe, “Ashley Judd perfectly represents the YWCA’s three pillars of empowerment and economic advancement, health and safety, and racial justice and inclusion.”
 
Tickets to the YWCA Career Women of Achievement Luncheon are $85 for an individual ticket and $1,500 for a table of 10. Visit ywcacincinnati.org/careerwomen.  The 2018 Career Women of Achievement honorees will be announced in March.
 
The year 2018 will represent YWCA Greater Cincinnati’s 150th anniversary of serving the most vulnerable in our community.
 


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2 Comments

  1. Dick Ansun says:

    You forgot thieve; not a good role model.

  2. Alison Barrett says:

    Really. People will actually pay to see this woman? I fiound her speech at the Woman’s March to be quite appalling. Her nastiness, her foul mouth, definitely do not represent me or any woman I know. She needs help. Could you have not found someone a bit more stable to speak at this function?

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