Les Dames New York has launched Fortify at 45, a fundraising campaign designed to celebrate 45 years of scholarship awards and increase the number and types of scholarships it presents to women pursuing careers in the food, beverage, and hospitality industries. The goal for Fortify at 45 is to raise a minimum of $45,000 by year's end.
The LDNY Scholarship Program was instituted one year after the group’s launch as the founding chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International. With founding principles of philanthropy, advocacy, and education, LDNY’s aim is to raise the image and presence of women in food, wine, and hospitality, as well as build professional relationships for career success. As such, scholarships have played a key role in the organization’s mission, with funds raised each year through event ticket sales and generous individual and corporate sponsor support that benefits the next generation of women leaders.
“Since 1977, LDNY has bestowed over $2 million in funds to over 1,000 women, and there is more work to be done. With the cost of college often cited as the most significant reason students drop out, particularly during the pandemic, we’re recommitted in this milestone year to building a more robust scholarship program that ensures access to education for women pursuing an education in the food, beverage, and hospitality fields,” said Jennifer O’Flanagan, LDNY president, in a statement.
In 2022, while career opportunities expand and evolve in these growing industries, women continue to face many of the same hurdles that existed when LDNY was founded. Creating supportive spaces and alliances remains a constant goal for LDNY, to be a key partner to women pioneering new paths, attaining equal rights, and achieving leadership roles in these fields.
Karen Goodlad, chairperson, Department of Hospitality Management, New York City College of Technology, has seen this positive impact firsthand and said, “The Les Dames d'Escoffier New York scholarship program is intentionally designed to help students with the cost of education but also provides access to women business leaders. It is the formal mentoring component of the program which makes the financial award exponentially more effective. Our students quickly learn that having a supportive network includes peers, mentors, and advocates. This organization provides access to women they would need to work for years in order to meet. City Tech students are fortunate to be recipients of Les Dames scholarships.”
Over 1,000 students, from City Tech and other schools, have benefitted from the program, Amanda Hesser, co-founder of Food52, being one of them. She said, “My scholarship from Les Dames d'Escoffier allowed me to take risks, pursue my dreams, and embrace curiosity early in my career. This set a foundation that I can now see guided my professional life.”
Recent recipient Lia Jones, founder and executive director of Diversity in Food & Beverage, noted that, “having received my scholarship during such unprecedented times, while life was seemingly harder to navigate, I found support through the mentorship that accompanied this opportunity. Les Dames hadn't just given me an opportunity but rather a gift that, in turn, made the weight of the world less cumbersome, and I am forever grateful.”
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