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Women's group honors 100 powerful Filipinas in America


A hundred Filipino women will be recognized on Friday in Washington, DC for their role in "changing the face of power" in the United States. An impressive list of nominees includes an Olympic gold-medalist, an A-list Hollywood celebrity fashion designer, a top chef at the White House, and a professional boxer. The Filipina Women's Network (FWN) held a nationwide search for the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the US and received 202 nominees until the July 17 deadline. The Top 100 will be recognized during an awards gala at the 5th annual Filipina Summit on October 25-27 at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, DC. The event is a fitting celebration of Filipino Heritage Month in October. FWN is also pushing for “Pinay Power 2012," aimed to double the number of Filipina leaders in America five years from now. "Pinay Power 2012 is a dream with a meaningful purpose - double the number of Filipina women leaders by 2012. To achieve this goal, we launched the nationwide search to identify the Top 100 Filipina women who are shaping our community's influence in American society today and how they are impacting our future," FWN explained in its website. Several Filipina pioneers, government leaders, policy makers, and innovators shall be acknowledged for their contribution in spreading the community’s influence abroad. This year, a special category named after Subic rape victim “Nicole" was also created to recognize the Filipino women “whose words, actions, and activism, inspire others to act and revolutionize our society's way of understanding traditional beliefs and customs." Among the nominees are Vicky Manalo Draves, the first woman to earn gold medals in both the platform and springboard diving events in Olympic history; Monique Lhuillier, a well-known luxury bridal gown designer; Cristeta Pasia Comerford, executive chef at the White House; Ana “The Hurricane" Julaton, one of America’s most promising boxers, Charmaine Clamor, founder of Jazz Phil-USA (Hollywood, California), and Lea Salonga for her remarkable performances on Broadway. (For the complete list of nominees click this link: http://www.ffwn.org/InfluentialNominees.htm) The 5th Filipina Summit offers a series of forums and panel discussions about significant issues affecting the Filipino women in America. There will also be a “Kwentuhan" portion in which the honorees will share ways of developing “personal community legacy." - Mark J. Ubalde, GMANews.TV

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