Promoting the success of women in business has been championed by Diane Gordon, executive vice-president of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, throughout her career.

The direct-talking Bermudian, who is one of the most influential figures in Bermuda's business world, will be leading a panel discussion at the Women's Bermuda Athena International Leadership Awards & Business Summit entitled 'Navigating Success: Keep Rising' to be held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess in September. The event will celebrate 400 years of Bermuda's women and their achievements, as well as their future development.

She also wants to bring together the whole community as 'Bermuda Inc.' and focus on the positive work being done by its constituents, putting aside political and racial differences.

"I think that Keetha Lowe (organiser of the event) should be given kudos for her efforts in actually being able to pull together a very wide-ranging, diverse group of dynamic women, both locally and internationally, to focus on the positives of women in business, the success stories, and the challenges," she said.

"I think, for me, I have always been a supporter of women in business and, in particular, of up-and-coming young women, and also I get very annoyed when you read daily about all of the politics and black and white issues that are constantly brought up. These issues distract from constructive dialogue about women in business."

Mrs. Gordon said there were a lot of issues affecting women in the boardroom that are either disregarded or put to one side because no one wanted to deal with them, but she added that a number of associations had been set up by successful businesswomen, acting as mentors to others, to help tackle these matters.

She said that Ms Lowe had been key to instigating this change locally, reaching out to experienced businesswomen as well as up-and-coming women and combining their ideas and thoughts for the basis of a healthy discussion and to come up with solutions to these daily challenges.

"When she (Ms Lowe) approached me about a year ago, I was delighted to be a part of the conference, not just to get involved in dialogue with the women in attendance, but also to hear from young, up-and-coming, women because times are changing," she said.

"I come from the Baby Boomer generation and I don't see any successor coming to replace my generation. The younger generations must step up and challenge us and our positions."

Mrs. Gordon said the women of today face a tough balancing act, multi-tasking, looking after their families, picking up and spending time with their children, at the same time as striving to be successful in the workplace, as well as maintaining their own health.

She will be joined by an impressive line-up at the event, featuring Marie-Claire Angwa, who works for the United Nations Development Programme Bureau for Development Policy, the Environment and Energy Group and the Global Environment Facility; Pamela Ferreira, barrister and attorney, alderman of the Corporation of Hamilton, and CEO and owner of the MarketPlace Group of Companies; Michelle Khaldun, general manager of the Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation; Dr. Janet Kempe, director of The Reading Clinic; Rochelle Simons, director and licensed facilitator of Connecting You to Success; and Gita Blakeney-Saltus, regional vice-president of Caron Bermuda.

"If you look at some of the women who will be presenting at the conference, many of them have raised families while following their career path and have actively been involved in the community," said Mrs. Gordon.

"It is about giving back and for me it is about supporting women in business and ensuring you have a balance between work and personal life."

At last year's conference, Finance Minister Paula Cox delivered a rousing speech to delegates, with her message about the success of women, outshining the keynote speaker, and the audience was able to see close up a personality they could relate to who described many familiar experiences.

But what Mrs. Gordon is most excited about this year's event is the introduction of the Bermuda Emerging Professionals (BEPRO), set up by the Chamber of Commerce as a separate division to help the Island's budding young professionals to get ahead in business, and in their social life, with a focus on providing them with career development and all inclusive networking opportunities.

"They are definitely distinguishing themselves to be a very strong and talented group of males and females, which is diverse and complementary to each other," she said.

"BEPRO has really stepped in as the up-and-coming business group for Bermuda, including people from the legal profession, recruitment and marketing industry. I am learning new things daily from this group, because you have to learn how to work with them, what makes them tick and how far you can push them, in order to be successful in business in the future.

"I want to encourage young Bermudian females to take part in this event, not only to learn, but to provide input as to how this applies to them."

Much of Mrs. Gordon's work at the Chamber is focused on helping to create a strong economy and build a successful business environment in Bermuda, working with large local and international companies to entrepreneurs and small businesses.

And through her endeavours, she has concentrated her efforts on the bigger picture of 'Bermuda Inc.', with all elements of a collective unit, including women and young people, working together for a common goal to improve the future of the country. Her main belief is that for Bermuda to continue to succeed business must work together as 'Bermuda Inc.'

"You can be somebody who is the administrative assistant or the customer service person at the front desk of an establishment, raising four or five children, working for the PTA and on the board of your local church, as well as fundraising in the community," she said.

"It is about having well-rounded people. We want to support women in business and ensure the success of Bermuda Inc.

"Bermuda is not going to move forward unless we stop dwelling on all the partisan politics and racial issues because the young generation are so tired of it - there are so many other issues out there which are much more important, such as the economy, that we need to be focusing on.

"If we are going to change, it has to start right at the bottom and work our way upwards - there are a lot of talented people out there and we really need to be feeling good about ourselves as a whole and focusing on what we do best."

The Chamber of Commerce and BEPRO are offering special rates for their members to sign up for the conference. For more information contact Fiona Lines at flines@bcc.bm