STUDENT LEADERSHIP NETWORK CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY AT ITS ANNUAL (EM)POWER BREAKFAST WITH MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, MARY SCHMIDT CAMPBELL, AND LYNN NOTTAGE HONORING SOME OF THE NETWORK'S LEADING ALUMNAE

NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Student Leadership Network (SL Network) will host its 15^th (Em)Power Breakfast on October 12^th, celebrating 25 years of the organization's students and their accomplishments. The annual gathering of more than 450 guests will celebrate the achievements of students impacted by six The Young Women's Leadership Schools (TYWLS) in New York City and 18 Young Women's Leadership Network (YWLN) schools nationwide. The event also recognizes business and philanthropic leaders for their continued commitment to disrupting the cycle of poverty through equalizing education. 

Deborah Roberts, ABC News Senior National Affairs Correspondent, will serve as Mistress of Ceremony for this year's milestone event as notable friends of the Network will honor three exceptional alumnae who have gone on to do impactful work in their communities and industries nationwide.

• Mayor Eric Adams has dedicated his life to giving back to his city and giving a voice to a diverse coalition of working families in all five boroughs. In 2021, Adams was elected mayor on the agenda of improving public safety, growing the economy, reducing inequality, and building a stronger, healthier city for all New Yorkers. He will be honoring TYWLS alumna Seantell Campbell who was born and raised in East Harlem and attended TYWLS East Harlem 7th to12th grade. In 2020 she Co-Founded The Barrio Fridge on 106th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, The Barrio Fridge is an actual refrigerator on the sidewalk stocked with fresh fruits, vegetables, non-perishable goods, and prepared meals donated from all over for anyone who needs them.
  
  
• Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., is president emerita of Spelman College, a leading women's college dedicated to the education and global leadership of Black women. Before coming to Spelman, she served for over two decades as dean of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She will be honoring TYWLS alumna Jahleese Hadley, who graduated from The Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem in 2006 and went on to get her B.A. in African American Studies from Smith College. Jahleese has spent the last 6 years building the college access program at YWLN affiliate school, The Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington in Wilmington, NC. She was honored to help design the state-of-the-art culinary teaching lab at GLOW that students learn and work in daily.
  
  
• Lynn Nottage is a playwright, screenwriter, and the first woman in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Her recent work includes the libretto for Intimate Apparel the Opera, the book for MJ The Musical, and Clyde's. Other work includes Sweat (Pulitzer Prize, Obie Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Award), Mlima's Tale (Lortel Award Nomination, Outer Critics Circle Nomination), Meet Vera Stark (Drama Desk Nomination, Lilly Award), and Ruined (Pulitzer Prize, Obie Award, Lortel Award). She was also a writer and producer on the first season of the Netflix series,She's Gotta Have It, directed by Spike Lee. She will honor Kara Young, a graduate of The Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem. Kara made her Broadway debut in Lynn Nottage's Clyde's, for which she received a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play and a Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress. She recently received the inaugural Florence Mills Rising Star Award at the first ever Black Women on Broadway ceremony, the Clarence Derwent Award from Actors Equity for promising performance of the season, and a Theater World Award for her debut Broadway performance.

"For 25 years, we have worked towards removing barriers to higher education by helping students gain access to resources and develop leadership skills that help prepare them for success in college and beyond. What started as a trailblazing NYC public all-girls school in 1996 has grown to a network of 24 public all-girls schools, nationwide. Today we impact approximately 20,000 students annually, supporting them to access educational opportunities that help them fulfill their dreams." said Ann Rubenstein Tisch, SL Network Founder and President. "When The Young Women's Leadership School (TYWLS) of East Harlem first opened its doors in 1996, it was groundbreaking in its mission to provide girls from underserved communities with the same college preparatory opportunities and resources as students who attend the city's elite private schools. With the support of programs that inspire and empower the whole girl, TYWLS students and alumnae continue to shine as leaders in their schools, communities, and nationwide."

Nearly 100% of TYWLS students graduate from high school each year, with graduates securing an estimated $1 billion in college scholarships and financial aid since 2001. TYWLS students also graduate from college at nearly four times the rate of their peers.

"We are extremely appreciative of Deborah Roberts, Mayor Eric Adams, Mary Schmidt Campbell, and Lynn Nottage's contributions and their support for educational access, setting an incredible example for our students," added Yolonda Marshall, SL Network's CEO.

The (Em)Power Breakfast is made possible by support from generous donors, including Warburg Pincus, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Estee Lauder Companies, and Proskauer.

Past (Em)Power Honorees have included: Jill Beraud (PepsiCo), Tory Burch (Fashion Designer and Philanthropist), Fabrizio Freda (Estee Lauder Companies), Thelma Golden (The Studio Museum of Harlem), Susan Lyne (Gilt Groupe), Idina Menzel (Tony Award-winning Broadway star), Judith Rodin (The Rockefeller Foundation), Tracee Ellis Ross (Actress and Philanthropist), Yara Shahidi (Actress and Philanthropist), Lesley Stahl (CBS News 60 Minutes Correspondent), and Malala Yousafzai (Nobel Prize winning activist) among others.

Student Leadership Network empowers young people from underserved communities to access educational opportunities that prepare them to lead successful lives. SL Network impacts students across the country with its three pillar programs – The Young Women's Leadership Schools, CollegeBound Initiative, and Young Women's Leadership Network.

The Young Women's Leadership Schools (TYWLS) are six New York City public schools grades 6–12 that promote high-quality student learning opportunities in and out of the classroom. TYWLS provide a single-sex educational choice for students who are often the first in their families to attend college. Students are admitted based on their interest in, and commitment to, obtaining a single-sex college preparatory education. TYWLS are open to students of all academic abilities. The success of the TYWLS model has inspired dozens of single-sex YWLN affiliate schools to open nationwide, including in California, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, and Texas.

SOURCE Student Leadership Network