Thanks Giving Session I

Hello,

I wanted to share with you about being thankful, but allow me to tell my story first.

I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. I left New Orleans after losing all I had in Hurricane Katrina, a fierce storm that left the city devastated in August 2005.

I only had two pair of jeans and nothing to look back to in my home city. After going to a few states I started over in San Francisco, Ca. I wanted to look forward to my new future and not back to what I had lost.

I worked for a few months for an international transitional company and realized that was not what I wanted to do with my life. I stopped working and begin to wonder would I do and what was my mission and purpose in life.

I had started empowerment sessions for women in New Orleans and did not want my vision of empowering women to stop or die with the loss of the material things I had in New Orleans.

I had nothing BUT my vision to empower others to live and fulfill on their dreams. I did not want Hurricane Katrina OR my circumstances of losing all I had in New Orleans to stop me.

Keeping that in mind, I asked a hotel in downtown San Francisco to work with me and told the catering manager what I was doing. She agreed to help me with the first event to empower women.

Someone that worked with me, told me they would put up the website. Then I asked people I had met in my new city to attend the first event in San Francisco. I also invited successful women to speak who were committed to helping others enhance and empower their lives.

It was a success!

Thus, Powerful Women International was created and is being formed in cities, states and countries around the world.

One thing that helped me was giving thanks.

Instead of complaining that I ONLY had two pair of jeans after Hurricane Katrina, I was thankful I had those two pair of jeans to put on the next day. I gave thanks for the family members that were still alive after that horrific storm and everything I could think of i.e., friends, shelter, food, etc.

I believe that giving thanks helped me to stay focused on what I had and not what I lost.

Valeri Bocage/CEO
Powerful Women International