Hispanic Business Women's Alliance - Tickets to The Women’s Conference 2009 Main Event Sell Out in Record Time

A Limited Number of Tickets Still Available for “Night at The Village” Event on October 26 and Afternoon Session Featuring The Minerva Awards Presentation on October 27

LOS ANGELES (July 13, 2009) – Full day passes for The Women’s Conference 2009 main event hosted by California First Lady Maria Shriver and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have sold out in a record-breaking time of less than two hours, after going on sale this morning, breaking last year’s record of three hours.

Taking place on October 26 and 27 at the Long Beach Convention Center, the transformative event will boast a growing roster of more than 80 speakers and participants former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair, Sir Richard Branson, Katie Couric, Elizabeth Edwards, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie B. Jarrett, Caroline Kennedy, Alicia Keys, Ashton Kutcher, Annie Leibovitz, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Kelly Preston, Robin Roberts and Shakira.

“I am honored to again be hosting what has become the nation’s premier forum for women, and I am floored by the support and enthusiasm from our community which leads The Women's Conference to sell out faster and faster each year,” said Shriver. “Demand was so great that when tickets went on-sale this morning, our server crashed from the hundreds of thousands of simultaneous requests. We are so pleased that so many women want to be a part of the conference community, and we try to expand our conference every year to reach more and more women.”

Tickets to the conference’s new event, A Day of Transformation, also sold out in less than three hours. A limited number of tickets are still available for Night at The Village on Monday evening, October 26 and the special presentation of The Minerva Awards during the Afternoon Session of The Women’s Conference main event on October 27. Tickets can be purchased at www.WomensConference.org.

Night at The Village – The Place to Be, will once again transform the Long Beach Convention Center’s exhibit hall into a 160,000 square foot women’s village of inspiring interactive experiences, offering attendees the chance to “Meet, Mix and Mingle with Architects of Change. The Women's Conference created this new event in 2008 as a response to increasing demand and is expanding it this year with 10,000 women expected to attend. Night at The Village will include a main stage program featuring Maria Shriver, Martha Beck, chef Paula Deen, and fitness expert and best-selling author Jillian Michaels; three “stagette” programs featuring Seane Corn, Kathy Ireland, Victoria Jackson, Mario Lopez and many others on topics relating to mind, body and spirit empowerment; book signings by best-selling authors including Candace Bushnell, Kate Gosselin, Caroline Kennedy, Sue Monk Kidd, Mario Lopez, Greg Mortenson, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Maria Shriver and others; live music; and hundreds of vendors with products and services geared to women.

Night at The Village is presented by sponsor Lean Cuisine.

"As the presenting sponsor of Night at The Village, Lean Cuisine is thrilled to have the opportunity to empower and inspire women," said Kristin Gibbs, Marketing Director for Lean Cuisine. "Lean Cuisine shares in the conference's belief that women united by a common purpose have infinite potential to change the world around them. We're looking forward to partnering with The Women's Conference to encourage women to do something good for themselves and for others each and every day.”

The Women's Conference will continue its tradition of honoring the most remarkable women of the year during the 6th annual presentation of The Minerva Awards in a special afternoon main stage session hosted by Maria Shriver and featuring Alicia Keys and Caroline Kennedy. Tickets are still available. Past Minerva Award winners have included Dr. Helene Brown, Betty Chinn, former First Lady Betty Ford, Billie Jean King, The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Dr. Sally Ride, Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Gloria Steinem. The 2009 Minerva Award winners will be officially announced in September.

The Women's Conference unveiled a new website today at www.WomensConference.org, which conference organizers hope will soon become a daily visited “Home for Architects of Change” 365 days a year. The conference will be streaming The Women's Conference 2009 live on the web in an effort to empower a worldwide viewing audience of one million women to be Architects of Change.

The Women’s Conference is supported by generous sponsors that share its mission of empowering, inspiring and educating women. Safeway, a Presenting Sponsor, will feature the best of California's healthy cuisine at The Village, and Target will return as The Minerva Awards Presenting Sponsor. The Conference National Media Partner is Disney ABC Television Group. Wells Fargo and the Women's Self Worth Foundation are the Conference Community Investment Champions. Conference Official Sponsors include Anthem Blue Cross, Apple, BP, Cisco, FedEx, HealthNet, Intuit, Mattel, PG&E, Verizon, and Visa. Virgin America is The Official Airline of The Women's Conference.

Editor's Note: Press Registration is now open at www.WomensConference.org. Press must register for a credential to cover any conference event. Space is limited.

For more information about The Women’s Conference, or for online press registration, visit www.WomensConference.org.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Marissa Moss
(310) 926-7365 / mmoss@griffinschake.com