<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5596235225389079453</id><updated>2009-03-01T18:59:57.974-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Empowering Inspirational Sessions</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://powerfulwomeninternational.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5596235225389079453/posts/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://powerfulwomeninternational.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Valeri Bocage</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01248864817616900511</uri><email>valeri@powerfulwomenintl.com</email></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>1</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5596235225389079453.post-3054508909356498381</id><published>2007-11-21T19:32:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-04-06T11:19:12.618-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='women'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='empowerment'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='teens'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='women clothes'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='organizations'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='powerful women'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='inspirational'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='international'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='family'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='national'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='men'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Katrina'/><title type='text'>Thanks Giving Session I</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;Hello,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;I wanted to share with you about being thankful, but allow me to tell my story first. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;I was born and &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;raised&lt;/span&gt; in New Orleans, &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"&gt;Louisiana&lt;/span&gt;. I left New Orleans after losing all I had in Hurricane Katrina, a &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"&gt;fierce&lt;/span&gt; storm that left the city devastated in August 2005. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;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. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;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. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;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. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;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. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;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. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;Someone that worked with me, told me they would put up the website. Then &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;I asked people I had met in my new city to attend the first event in San Francisco. I also invited successful &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;women to speak who were committed to helping others enhance and empower their lives. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;It was a success!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;Thus, Powerful Women International was created and is being &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;formed in cities, states and countries around the world. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;One thing that helped me was giving thanks. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;Instead of complaining that I ONLY had&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt; 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&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt; family &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"&gt;members&lt;/span&gt; that were still alive after that horrific storm and everything I could think of i.e., friends, shelter, food, etc.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;I believe that giving thanks helped me to stay focused on &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;what I had and not what I lost.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;Valeri&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"&gt;Bocage&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;/CEO&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;Powerful Women International&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6600cc;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5596235225389079453-3054508909356498381?l=powerfulwomeninternational.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://powerfulwomeninternational.blogspot.com/feeds/3054508909356498381/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5596235225389079453&amp;postID=3054508909356498381' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5596235225389079453/posts/default/3054508909356498381'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5596235225389079453/posts/default/3054508909356498381'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://powerfulwomeninternational.blogspot.com/2007/11/thanks-giving-session-i.html' title='Thanks Giving Session I'/><author><name>Valeri Bocage</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01248864817616900511</uri><email>valeri@powerfulwomenintl.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='17138056443660018391'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></entry></feed>