FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 22, 2018 • EASTER DINING • THE QUEENS COURIER 63
vschneps@gmail.com
Q , Q
A Week of Celebrations
nd Dynamic
$500 off
DR. ADAM LUBLIN
IS AN ELITE TOP
1% INVISALIGN
DENTAL WORK
THE INVISIBLE WAY TO
PREFERRED
STRAIGHTEN TEETH
PROVIDER
Third Generation Dentist
175-15 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica 718-297-4100 • 718-297-4106
VICTORIA’S
SECRETS
Victoria
SCHNEPS-
YUNIS
tweet me @vschneps
ETS
m
It was my birthday month and
I wrote in my column about
the power of being a Pisces
and those that shared the astrological
sign with me. I didn’t
realize that my dearest friend
Claire Shulman was a Pisces
with her birthday being Feb. 23.
She has every trait of the sign
that covers Feb. 19-March 20.
She is compassionate, adaptable,
accepting, devoted and imaginative.
In her 92nd year, she
works feverishly and devotedly
on her project to rehabilitate
the College Point Boulevard corridor
referred to as the Flushing
Willets Point/Corona LDC.
She’s a role model for all of
us, breaking the glass ceiling by
being the first woman to be the
borough president of Queens.
During her 16 years in office,
she created and influenced significant
projects from the Hall
of Science to Kaufman Astoria
Studios, as well as the Queens
Museum expansion, the moving
and building of the ice rink,
creating a massive swimming
pool in Flushing Meadows-
Corona Park and modernizing
the Queens Hospital, to name
a few. She is Queens’ Robert
Moses, creating projects that
have enhanced millions of people’s
lives.
She is also a mother and wife.
of her three children, one was
involved in the movie industry,
and two are doctors: Ellen
who flew twice in space as an
astronaut/physician, and her son
Larry, a leading cancer expert
who travels the world bringing
hope and his expertise training
doctors in their native countries.
Claire met her late husband
Mel, a psychiatrist, at Queens
Hospital Center where she was a
nurse, and they shared their lives
for over 60 years.
She is a role model for all
women, and when I spoke at
the International Women’s
Conference this past Saturday,
I thought of her as 15 women
spoke about their lives, challenges
and work.
The conference was organized
by the stately, smart, elegant
Dr. Neva Helena Alexander at
Hofstra University. She is a businesswoman
advising companies
nationally and internationally
through her Neva Global
Alliance. She has taught at universities
in Saudi Arabia and
New York. She even finds time
to do a TV show and has written
two books.
The conference she organized,
now in its second year, was
attended by about 200 people, 99
percent women, all interested in
hearing and learning from each
other about how they are navigating
the challenging world of
being a businesswoman, mother,
lover, wife and friend.
It was my privilege to be part
of a panel of three women who
shared their ideas on “Women
Leveraging and Collaborating”
that was moderated by Adrienne
Garland, the founder of She
Leads Media that is focused on
helping women achieve their
goals.
I got to meet extraordinary
women whose lives parallel mine
but I would never have had the
good fortune to know.
Ironically, one of the women,
Carla Hamilton, is the daughter
one of my favorite people — the
one and only legend Bob Catell,
the former CEO of Brooklyn
Union Gas (now National Grid)
and now a force at Stony Brook
University. Carla runs the co-op
MBA program at Hofstra. What
a treat to meet her! Our friendship
has begun.
The third member on the
panel was my friendDr. Cynthia
Ashley, a friend of the powerful
cosmetic innovator, Vera Moore.
Ashley has a multifaceted career
that has led her to run conferences,
and do TV programming
that helps people improve their
lives and businesses, and events
that empower people. She is a
remarkable woman who shared
how her power of prayer has
often helped her get through
challenges in her life.
I appreciated what technique
several women use to help them
navigate the challenges of life and
business — “Be in the moment.”
The keynote speaker, Shivali
Bhammer, a Londoner of
Indian heritage, told us about
her father “introducing” her to
a 10,000-year-old Vedic Hindu
goddess whose name represents
The Goddess Who Is Never
Not Broken. “She stands atop
of a crocodile on a river,” Shivali
explained. “She is beautiful,
fierce, gentle, strong and smiling
and identified as being broken
and incomplete. It reminds us all
that you can be broken but you
have the power, creative will and
ability to keep mending yourself.
And she stands on top of the
crocodile just to scare the hell
out of everyone!” she concluded.
How true these words and
images are!
The day’s many speakers had a
similar theme that was summed
up by the words of my favorite
inspirational singer Helen
Reddy: “I am woman, I am
strong, I am invincible!” Amen.
Thought of the week from Maria Shriver’s book “I’ve Been
Thinking” — “Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear
and the blind can see,” written by Mark Twain.
Family and friends celebrated Claire Shulman’s 92nd birthday
Shown with me at the International Women’s Day conference at Hofstra University are (from left to right): Carla Hamilton
of Hofstra University; Dr. Cynthia Ashley; Adrienne Garland, She Leads Media CEO; Dr. Neva, organizer of the conference;
Vera Moore, founder of Vera Moore Cosmetics; and Silvana Diaz, publisher of El Correo and Noticia LI.
link
