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Stephanie Okereke shines @ US female summit

Friday, March 26, 2010

Nigerian-born international actress/film maker; Stephanie Okereke has returned from the US, where she was among the few women chosen from around the globe to feature in the play, Seven, in New York City..

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She also participated in a three-day summit entitled: Women in the World: Stories and Solutions, alongside the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton among other leading female role models and icons. Miss Okereke, was one of the seven acclaimed actors that dramatized the issues highlighted in the play.

Other international female figures that hugged the global stage with Okereke at the event were: Hollywood top actress, Meryl Streep, Marcia Gay Harden, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Archie Panjabi, Julyana Soelistyo and Lauren Vélez. The reading was directed by celebrated Broadway director, Julie Taymor in an evening made possible by HP.

Mrs. Clinton, unarguably one of the most powerful women in the world today, introduced an exclusive one-night reading at the Hudson Theatre of Seven. The documentary play was created for Vital Voices Global Partnership, to honour the courage of brave female activists from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Guatemala, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, and Russia.

According to the sexy actress, who is still basking in the success of the trip: “The play powerfully portrays the transformative ways that seven courageous women have changed their societies for the better – from peace-building, to fighting corruption to combating violence against women. The most powerful thing about Seven, was that it got to the heart of some of the most critical issues facing our world today. It reminded us of the power of the human spirit to rise up when faced with adversity and as we rise...it reminded us that we have a responsibility to bring others along with us”.

The three-day Women in the World summit also brought together an extraordinary group of 300 global leaders from government, media, social activism, business, and the arts. Topics that were discussed included: human trafficking and modern slavery, the rise of rape as a tool of war, the ways new technologies can help empower women financially, and how traditions can be toppled in cultures that devalue women.

Summit participants included: Valerie Jarrett, Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, Fatima Bhutto, Cherie Blair, Luis CdeBaca, Thomas L. Friedman, Edna Adan Ismail, Christine Lagarde, Molly Melching, Somaly Mam, Frances Townsend, and Zainab Salbi. Moderators included: Christiane Amanpour, Mika Brzezinski, Katie Couric and Barbara Walters.