PWEN Phoenix Chapter

Our
Story

It all started in Phoenix, Arizona, with a population of 3.6 million women and serves as the home office of the Phenomenal Woman Empowerment Network under the leadership of our recently appointed managing empowerment director Yulanda Gilliam, CEO of Yazzy Girl Kreations and PBY Media. Our visionary founder and chief empowerment officer Sharise L. Erby, MHA is also based in Phoenix, Arizona.

PWEN is not your main stream women's organization, PWEN is where LEADERS come to grow and make an impact. Iron sharpens iron and as leaders we need that place to go to further develop our personal and professional skillsets. We are a collective power of women coming together to strengthen our economic status, leadership, and power.

Why Phoenix, AZ?

Do you know in Arizona if current trends continue, women in Arizona will not see equal pay until the year 2047? Arizona's grade for women's employment & earnings is a "C-" and has dropped since the 2004 Status of Women report. Its grade for women's poverty & opportunity is a "D+" and it too has dropped.

Women who work full-time, year-round have a median annual earnings of $38,000 and Arizona ranks 43rd nationally for the share of women in poverty.

As you can see there is work to be done and PWEN is committed to joining the movement to advance the status of women by doing what we do best.

PWEN has created a platform that allows and encourages women to leverage and expand their sphere of influence through our partner network, in-person and online events.
We have programs specifically created to help women become self-employed or if currently self-employed to scale their businesses by increasing awareness, driving sales, mentoring, and coaching for next level success.
PWEN has the CJG Scholarship Program targeting under-served young women attending college. Our goal is to help these ladies complete their education for we know the sure way out of poverty is through education. Only 28.6% of women in Arizona have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Through the NLEAD Academy we also provide personal and professional ongoing development to increase the skillsets of those women who dare to go to the next level.

Here is another staggering statistic, 34.6% of Native American women 23.1% of Black women and 25.1% of Hispanic women live in poverty compared to 12.5% of White women, 13.7% of Asian women, we have work to do just to close the gap between ourselves and it takes ALL of us to change these statistics.

PWEN is blessed to collaborate with other community organizations, corporations, and individuals to execute our mission. PWEN is a movement and is one of the fastest growing non-profit women's organizations led by women of color in the U.S. and rapidly growing on a global level.

If our mission speaks to your heart and soul, we would love for you to lock arms with PWEN by becoming a PWEN Partner and helps us strengthen the status of women locally, nationally, and globally - one woman at a time!