Legendary “Sweet Potato Queen” Jill Conner Browne is the featured speaker at the Women Entrepreneurs Day Awards Luncheon 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Jackson State University Student Center, Ballroom A.
Also attending are Peggy Calhoun, president, Hinds County Board of Supervisors, and Dr. Juanita Sims Doty, chair of the Juanita Sims Doty Foundation, among other notable women of achievement.
Browne, born in Tupelo and reared in Jackson, is the New York Times bestselling author of nine Sweet Potato Queens books of sassy, down-to-earth (and downright bawdy!) essays appealing to women. The queens originated with the annual Hal ‘n’ Mal’s St. Paddy’s Day Parade in Jackson, MS.
The luncheon is a highlight of the three-day annual gathering of the 2014 Global Entrepreneurship Week Conference, which started Monday.
Titled “Unleashing the Entrepreneur Within,” the conference will also on Wednesday feature a continental breakfast starting at 8:30 a.m., all-day exhibitors and vendors, as well as panel discussions.
Students may attend the luncheon free if they register on the third floor of the College of Business building beforehand, said Dr. Mary M. White, interim vice president of institutional advancement and chair of JSU’s Department of Entrepreneurship and Professional Development.
Registration is $50 for non-students ($75 at the door). To attend the awards luncheon only is $25.
Wednesday’s panel discussions feature Rosalind Rawls, executive director of the Mississippi Commission on the Status of Women; Dr. DeJohnette King, Advanced Environmental Consultants Inc.; Angela Jenkins, AJA Management & Technical Services Inc.; Dr. Helen Hamilton, Consultant Centro of Mississippi, LLC; Dr. Johithan Hatcher, Mississippi Development Authority; Sydney Brown, JSU Small Business Development Center; Lee Allen Jr., CEO, Diversified Business Network, Denver, Colo.; Deidre Floyd, Mississippi Development Authority; Jack Thomas, Jackson Municipal Airport Authority; Carolyn Bell, Mississippi Department of Transportation; Larry Davis, Systems Consultants Associates.
For more information about the conference, call 601-979-2541 or visit https://www.jsums.edu/entrepreneurship/2014-entrepreneurs-conference/