M.C. Lyte to speak and encourage at the “Uniquely You Summit” 2012.

M.C. LYTE who first gained fame in the late-1980s becoming the first solo female rapper to release a full album with 1988’s critically acclaimed Lyte as a Rock, will be speaking to the young ladies in middle-high school (ages 11-18) at the Uniquely You Summitt 2012. She will breakdown the evolution of the exploitation of the black woman and her love|hate relationship with the most dominant culture today – Hip Hop.

UNIQUELY YOU SUMMIT, INC. (UYS)– Established in the summer of 2009, UNIQUELY YOU SUMMIT has been organized to provide inadequately served adolescent girls, that wrestle with distinct challenges during their formative years – including preoccupation with their physical growth and sexuality, difficulty perceiving long-range consequences of their actions and diminished self-esteem, in Philadelphia and across the nation with experiential dialogue and outreach that aids in eliminating the perception of isolation. By discovering the universality of their feelings and experiences, the barriers to becoming their best and most unique self are removed.

“The UNIQUELY YOU SUMMIT was developed because I love and care for YOU more than your tender and impressionable heart and mind will ever comprehend. Do YOU know that your dreams were once my dreams? Do YOU know that your obstacles were, indeed, once my obstacles? Are YOU aware that the difficulties, struggles, and hindrances that YOU struggle with most, are the same ones that propel me to my greatest heights? To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment” – (Ralph Waldo Emerson). I believe that. Here at the UNIQUELY YOU SUMMIT for Beautiful, Brilliant and Brave Girls, we believe that. We believe it is the innermost part of what this platform holds high. Today, choose to be the ONLY PERSON God will allow you to be…YOU.” – Shaleah Laché Sutton (UYS FOUNDER & PRESIDENT)

Our Objective – To defy the media’s oppressive, one-dimensional concept of what brown young women and girls should look, act and sound like; what they should value and seek to attain; and what they should believe in and aspire to become.

On Saturday, September 15th & Sunday, September 16th, 2012, UNIQUELY YOU SUMMIT, Incorporated (UYS), will host the 3rd Annual Uniquely YOU Summit for Girls (ages 11-18), on the campus of Philadelphia University along with the Delaware Chapter of the National Alumnae Association of Spelman College.

What they do:

Empowering brown girls where they are; to go places they’ve never been.

The goal of UNIQUELY YOU SUMMIT is to help girls develop the confidence and life skills essential to building a powerful, whole and unique self. We conduct this developmental outreach in the shape of:

1. Self-esteem Clinics

2. Character-Building Workshops

3. Life Skills Seminars

4. Higher Education Initiatives

5. Sexual Accountability, Abstinence, and AIDS/HIV Awareness Conferences

6. An Annual Summit: That serves as a catalyst to inspire riveting conversations among 500-600 girls about sensitive issues that make daily impressions on their lives.

Vision

To let brown girls know that they matter; even though the world has tried to tell them otherwise. To provoke a state of mind where they do not feel inferior to the degree of their melanin, hair type, hair length and texture, or social and familial deficiency, complexity, or intricacy. Rather, continually inspired by brown women that have come before them, who have faced those same challenges.