Helping women to achieve their personal and professional goals and success has been the focus for Rochelle Simons throughout her career.

Ms Simons, who launched her own practice Sound View two years ago to inspire and support women from stay at home mothers to corporate high-flyers, will be talking about 'Unleashing Your Potential' on an empowerment panel at the Women's Bermuda Athena International Leadership Awards & Business Summit entitled 'Navigating Success: Keep Rising' held at the Fairmont Southampton next month.

And she hopes to pass on some of her knowledge and experience to delegates, as well as having the chance to meet with and learn from others at the conference, with high expectations having attended last year's event.

"I attended last year's conference and was really happy for Keetha (Lowe - event organiser) because it showed that she was able to bring together a diverse group of women from Bermuda and across the world in her first initiative of this kind," she said.

"Patricia Harvey, a lawyer, talked about how she supports her clients, Diane Gordon spoke on her work for the Chamber, and the Deputy Premier Paula Cox gave a very rousing speech, while we were also bale to meet with the Women's Leadership Exchange, who were holding a conference on the Island at the same time, which was very constructive and helpful.

"So when Keetha described to me her plans for this year, I thought 'Wow, how fantastic is this going to be?', because we are celebrating history, acknowledging where we are and are encouraging ourselves and others to move forward."

Ms Simons, who worked in the insurance industry for 25 years, said one of the most important parts of the summit will be the opportunity for women to take stock of their lives, see whether they have achieved their goals and to set new aspirations and targets going forward in the future, and she plans to dispense some of that advice in easy-to-follow steps for participants.

"It is important for all of us to take stock of where we are in our careers," she said.

"Have women made strides in Bermuda? Absolutely.

"But the real question is: 'Has this generation of women made the same type of progression as their predecessors considering the opportunities that we have had?'

"There is certainly room for women to progress and there is work for women to do in terms of 'Am I doing what I would really like to do?'"

She is particularly looking forward to hearing from the Bermuda Emerging Professionals (BEPRO), a division of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, who will be in attendance at the event, about their clearly defined ideas and to feed off some of their energy and enthusiasm as the Island's up-and-coming young business people.

"I encourage women across the spectrum of Bermuda to come out - this is not just a business conference, it is a women's conference," she said.

"It is important that women in Bermuda come out and support the event, and share their views and experiences with each other."

Ms Simons attained a Bachelor of Commerce from St. Mary's University in Nova Scotia in 1982 and was set to go into tourism and then banking, before landing a job in captive management later that same year, going on to work for a number of companies, including brokerage firm Johnson & Higgins, prior to the company being bought by Marsh & McLennan.

She took the opportunity to make a change and moved on to Aon Insurance Managers, where she worked for three years, before joining Ace Bermuda Insurance Ltd., an international re/insurance company, as senior vice-president, responsible for the growth and development of one of the insurer's international subsidiaries and overseeing her own team during a six-year tenure.

Her first venture into women's empowerment and leadership came in 2001, when she attended her first women's course, and following the birth of her two daughters, she became much more aware of what she wanted for them and women's perspectives and relationships and how they translate to personal power and success in business and at home.

A defining point for Ms Simons was when she went to South Africa and, on reflection, decided she felt complete with what she had accomplished in her career in industry and now wanted to focus on helping others fulfill their potential via a series of programmes using the poem 'Imagine a Woman' and other books by Patricia Reilly.

She is also a founding member and current vice-president of the Centre for Leadership, a Bermuda-based organisation which develops leadership opportunities for women; board chair of the Women's Resource Centre, a charity which offers counseling, education and advocacy services to women who are victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault; and a eucharistic minister at St. Mark's Anglican Church of Bermuda.