Harlem Teen Girls Team Up With Wall Street Women Executives For BRAG!

    Business Editors

    NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2005--Communication guru Peggy Klaus will lead a "BRAG! Connections Corporate Outreach Program" with 65 high-school juniors from the Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem (founded by Ann and Andrew Tisch) along with about 65 senior Merrill Lynch women and hedge fund executives who are members of a prominent philanthropic group called High Water Women http://www.hedgefundwomen.org.
    The private event will be held on Monday, April 11th, 11:30am-1:30pm in lower Manhattan at the offices of Merrill Lynch, 250 Vesey Street, between West Street and North End Avenue, 3rd floor.
    BRAG! Connections Corporate Outreach is an innovative cross-generational program that pairs aspiring youth with seasoned professionals to teach critical networking and self-promotion job skills to the employees and consumers of the future
    Innovatively expanding the line-up of BRAG! programs into the realm of corporate outreach, BRAG! Connections events are similar to the BRAG! parties and workshops that Klaus initially designed for business professionals. These interactive, meet-and-greet affairs allow participants to network and fearlessly practice tooting their own horns while Klaus reveals key self-promotion techniques interspersed with fun, experiential exercises.
    "It's important for girls to take pride in their accomplishments and to believe in themselves," said Nancy Gleason, Director, Merrill Lynch. "BRAG Connections help girls learn the art of self-promotion, a skill they may not learn at home or school or that may even be discouraged, but that is critical in life."
    Indeed, research confirms that while girls one-up boys in many regards in their educational years, they lose out later in the real world where daring, assertiveness, and the ability to promote oneself count a lot more.
    "While we've come a long way baby, even teens raised on Britney are uncomfortable promoting their accomplishments at school, on the sport field, and ultimately in the workplace," say Klaus, a Fortune 500 communication and leadership coach, and author of BRAG! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It.
    Ann and Andrew Tisch founded the Young Women's Leadership School in 1996, in partnership with New York City's Board of Education. They believed it would offer public school families an appealing alternative to the larger, zoned public schools where girls' voices are often unheard.

    More About Peggy Klaus:
    www.klausact.com
    www.bragbetter.com

    President of Klaus & Associates in Berkeley, CA, Klaus has spent nearly a decade advising some of America's top Fortune 500 executives in the art of self-presentation and promotion. She reaches thousands of professionals a year through speaking, coaching, and workshops on workplace and management communication topics for leading organizations including Levi Strauss, Disney, JP Morgan Chase, Booz Allen Hamilton, American Express and NAFE, among others.
    Klaus has led over 100 BRAG events at a variety of corporations and organizations including SC Johnson, General Mills, Credit Suisse First Boston, Ladies Home Journal, Count Me In, GraceNet, Menttium, and the Harvard Business School Alumni Association
    Also well regarded in higher education, Klaus has lectured on communication to students and educators at the University of California Berkeley's Haas School of Business and School of Public Health & Sciences. Most recently, she has served as a lecturer at Wharton's Executive MBA Program. She has also mentored and presented to teens on communication and leadership issues through the Professional Business Women of California (PBWC) and The CrossRoads Foundation/Backyard Project.

--30--KK/ny*

CONTACT: To arrange press clearance, please contact in advance: Merrill Lynch Media Relations: Selena Morris, 212-449-7283 selena_morris@ml.com or Publicist for Peggy Klaus Jane Rohman, 413-848-1407 jrohman@earthlink.net

KEYWORD: NEW YORK INDUSTRY KEYWORD: BANKING SOURCE: Merrill Lynch

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