To Support the Next Generation of Women Leaders, Bank of America Sponsors Vital Voices Global Mentoring Walks on International Women's Day

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, thousands of established women leaders from around the world will meet with emerging women leaders to participate in the seventh annual Vital Voices Global Mentoring Walk, part of a global movement to inspire a rising generation through mentorship. Held on International Women's Day, and sponsored globally by Bank of America, the walk will bring together women in over 30 countries, including, for the first time, three major U.S. cities: San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC. The women will discuss their professional challenges and successes to establish mentoring relationships, in which the established leader guides, advises and supports an emerging leader as she develops and grows her career. This year, participants in Washington DC will be joined by actress Sally Field and mentoring walk founder, Geraldine Laybourne in San Francisco.

Mentoring has been proven to be one of the most important steps to establishing a successful career, and the Vital Voices Global Mentoring Walk enables aspiring women professionals to gain the support and guidance that they need to fulfill their goals.. It's a particularly effective support system to help overcome the obstacles to career growth that women commonly face in corporate and professional environments, including the "glass ceiling" effect and more limited networking options. Equipped with a mentor's advice and support, female professionals are better able to navigate professional challenges. As such, mentoring provides a unique opportunity for rising women professionals to accelerate their career advancement—and for established women leaders to share their successes to help future generations of women leaders grow and develop. In fact, research from Catalyst reveals that 65 percent of women who have had a mentor will go on to become mentors themselves, thus paying forward the investment made in them.

"Mentoring for skills building and leadership growth is an integral part of our company culture, particularly for women as they look to advance their careers," said Anne Finucane, Global Strategy and Marketing Officer, Bank of America. "We've doubled-down on this commitment to professional development by using our capabilities and reach to help partners like Vital Voices connect women to the human, financial and social capital needed for success."

Bank of America and Vital Voices will coordinate and organize mentoring walks in three U.S. cities for the first time since the movement began in 2008, as well as leverage its global network of women leaders to host walks in over 40 international locations. Coordinated locally by key members of the Vital Voices global network, each mentoring walk is designed to meet the unique needs of women in their communities and will feature opening and closing remarks from Bank of America and Vital Voices executives and other notable thought leaders. Each walk is tailored to fit the particular needs of each locale but builds on the success of mentoring walks hosted the past six years across Eurasia, Latin America, North Africa, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Launched in 2008, the annual Vital Voices Global Mentoring Walk has reached thousands of women in over 59 international locations. The concept for this signature initiative was derived from American media icon, founder and former CEO of Oxygen Media, Geraldine Laybourne, whose busy schedule prevented her from meeting with the dozens of young women who were eager to learn from her and receive her advice. Instead of rejecting these meeting requests, she offered the young women the opportunity to join her on her morning walk each day in New York City, which quickly became a regular occurrence. This inspired her to launch the Mentoring Walks as a means for emerging women leaders to meet with top women leaders across sectors.

"International Women's Day is the ideal opportunity to demonstrate the power of women's leadership and unite women in support of other women," said Alyse Nelson, president and CEO of Vital Voices. "Thanks to generous support from Bank of America and the dedicated efforts of thousands of women throughout the Vital Voices' global network, this year's Global Mentoring Walk will provide even more aspiring women professionals with the guidance they need to fulfill their goals and positively affect their communities."

The 2014 walks will take place in Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ghana, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, Malaysia, Mexico, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Serbia, South Africa, St. Lucia, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

"The Mentoring Walk makes an impact in so many powerful ways," said Hema Vallabh, a Vital Voices network member who is organizing a mentoring walk in Johannesburg, South Africa. "It provides the platform for powerful, successful women to give back. I was overwhelmed at the positive response I had from senior women who have wanted to give back but did not know how. We're creating a network for both the mentors and mentees to grow and engage in."

An additional sponsor for the global walks is the UK Government's Department for International Development (DfID) through Vital Voices' VVLead Fellowship Program. And in the United States, local sponsors of the walk include ANN INC., Nintendo, Tata Communications (America) Inc., Tata Consultancy Services Limited, and MetLife. These critical partners will provide not only support, but help extend the spirit of mentoring to their own networks.

This is the first year that Bank of America is sponsoring the Vital Voices Global Mentoring Walk, building on its longstanding partnership with Vital Voices. The partnership began in March 2012 with the launch of the Global Ambassadors Program, an initiative that supports women business leaders around the world through intensive one-on-one mentorship and communications, advocacy, and business training. To date, mentoring forums for the Global Ambassadors Program have taken place in Haiti, India, South Africa, Singapore, Brazil, Mexico, and Qatar.

For more information on the Vital Voices Global Mentoring Walk, visit http://www.vitalvoices.org/node/627

For more information on the Global Ambassadors Program, visit: http://globalambassadors.vitalvoices.org/

Vital Voices
Vital Voices Global Partnership is a leading non-governmental organization that identifies, invests in and brings visibility to extraordinary women around the world by unleashing their leadership potential to transform lives and accelerate peace and prosperity in their communities. Founded by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 1997, the organization trains and mentors women leaders as agents of transformative change in economic development, human rights and political participation. The Vital Voices Global Leadership Network includes more than 14,000 leaders representing 144 countries who have trained and mentored 500,000 additional women and girls in their communities. Visit www.vitalvoices.org to learn more.

Bank of America 
Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 50 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 5,100 retail banking offices and approximately 16,300 ATMs and award-winning online banking with 30 million active users and more than 14 million mobile users. Bank of America is among the world's leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations in more than 40 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Reporters May Contact:
Margaux Bergen, Vital Voices, 202 333 1928
[email protected]

Nisha Chhabra, Weber Shandwick, 212 445 8115
[email protected]

SOURCE Vital Voices Global Partnership