Port of Spain, Trinidad - July 5, 2011 - The Calabash Consortium, Inc. will hold its marquee annual Young Women’s Education & Empowerment Program ("YWEEP") Symposium this month at the Cascadia Hotel and Conference Center. It is tipped to be the young women's empowerment event of the year. Having executed a one-day version of this event in 2010, this year’s symposium will be held over two-days and is free to young women ages 13-25 from throughout Trinidad and Tobago. On Wednesday 20, July and Saturday 23, July young women will be immersed in an empowerment experience focused on unleashing the greatness within them.

The YWEEP is predicated on mobilizing the resources and power of empowered agents, primarily women, to positively change the lives of young women. The YWEEP Symposium 2011 will comprise a composite of high-energy impactful sessions aimed at creating a superlative empowerment experience; providing inspiration, education, exposure and engagement for young women. The objective is to provide a constructive platform through which they can access valuable information and exposure that will inspire and motivate them to be their best by unleashing their greatness. Last year young women left with a different outlook on life, as evidenced in this quote by one the participants:"every moment of that symposium empowered me to come out the hole I was in".

The theme of this year’s symposium is: Cultivating Passion, Power and Potential - Unleashing Greatness! Guided by this, the Calabash Consortium has invited some phenomenal speakers, locally and from the Diaspora, who embodies the theme. Invitees include: the Prim­­­e Minister, the Honourable Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Miss Universe 1998 Wendy Fitzwilliam, MACO Caribbean Living Magazine's Editor in Chief, Ms. Neysha Soodeen, Passions to Profitability Expert, Georgina Terry, Grand Master of Fashion Design, Ms. Meiling Esau, Orator Extraordinaire Debra Jean-Baptiste-Samuels and International Celebrity Publicist Karen Hunter, to name a few.

Programmatically sound in its design and execution, YWEEP was constructed with the local female demographic as its primary target. Some of the landmark sessions of the symposium include:- Girl Talk: Sisters Speak - Secrets of Empowerment - How I became EMPOWERED, Passion, Power and Potential - Unleashing the Greatness Within, Personal Branding, Financial Empowerment - Female Empowerment, Women in Business - From Women Who Mean Business and MYjOURney ™!

Lead sponsors of the YWEEP Symposium 2011 include MACO Magazines and Mapau.

Applications for the YWEEP Symposium 2011 are available on the Calabash Consortium's website http://www.calabashconsortium.org/YWEEP and on Facebook. For sponsorship and information inquires email YWEEP@calabashconsoritium.org.

About the Calabash Consortium, Inc.:

The Calabash Consortium, Inc. is an empowerment collective built on the Calabash Model: the ideology that every entity (human or other) holds a resource to empower another.  Founded in 2009, and registered as a Caribbean and U.S. 501 (c) (3) non–profit organization, we work to empower Caribbean youths to achieve their fullest potential and to motivate people to effect positive change within their communities and globally by leveraging the Calabash Model.