* The above is content from a letter I sent out to close associates within my network recently. While a bit apprehensive of sharing the same on LinkedIn as it reflects some level of  personal content,  I am sharing it with all of my LinkedIn friends. I do believe that even if a few of you get more engaged in diversity initiatives and doing something today it would be worth the sharing.  Thanks for reading. Anthony A Rose. ——————————————————————————————– My dear fellow champions of women in leadership. We are just 40 days out from BREAK THE CEILING TOUCH THE SKY 2015 – the success and leadership summit for women (and men who support gender diversity)to be held on Sept 29 at Mandarin Orchard, Singapore. When I started on this journey to write the book (Break the ceiling touch the key: success secrets of the world’s most inspirational women) in July 2012 in honor of my Mum, it was just a means of honoring her. Sadly, I knew at the time she had little time left… but little did I know that the book and she would reach back to me after her passing and change my life. You see, till July 2012 I was a “cheerleader”. Yes, I believed in gender diversity. However I did little by means of actively getting involved. It was “nice to have”, a great “soundbite”, great content I wrote for company speeches. But it didn’t really strike home. It did not truly touch me deep within. Then as I interviewed hundreds of women across the world, I changed. I saw the challenges they faced, I lived their anxieties, I understood the solutionsthat were working for them to succeed. I interviewed the 43 most inspirational women I interacted with and completed the book with its royalties from book sales going to SAVE THE CHILDREN. We made our first donation to support25000 tests for maternal anemia for underprivileged women via Save the Children on Jan 9 this year. One USD is CHANGING a woman’s life! Sometimes even SAVING her newly borns life! Three years from the day I started on the book journey, working with women in leadership and helping them succeed has  become a critical part of my life. I have interacted on the book in face to face sessions  with over 5000 women in the last 12 months, and have seen that it is truly helping women everywhere succeed. My journey has not been without challenge. My moment of truth came on June 24th this year at 3.06 pm when I walked away from a million dollar deal to instead focus 100% on my prime intervention for women for 2015 – the BREAK THE CEILING TOUCH THE SKY success and leadership summit. I chose between following my dream to make a difference in the lives of women  in 2015 over  very high financial gain.  Till that point I was in two minds. Once decided, I ploughed investment, personal capacity and time into the summit. the fog had cleared! In a start up year, this is challenging. The universe responded and showed me I was not alone in this journey. Many many people and several great Companies  have come forward to support our mission.  My network of over 25 years of professional relationships based on trust across every corner of the globe supported the dream. There is good everywhere we look.   We are now 40 days out from our Break the Ceiling touch the sky 2015summit. We have put together an excellent program – with 40 great speakers.It is already building up to become Asia’s pre eminent forum for success and leadership for women. But I need your collaboration and engagement to make this a great and sustainable intervention for women year after year. HELP US ACT NOW. I sincerely request you to do just 2 simple things: 1. Send delegates to the summit who will benefit from the learning. especially your women employees. They will  leave inspired to make a huge difference on your brands, businesses and reputations in the period after the summit.  www.houseofroseprofessional.com . (This weekend we determined that we would have close to 400 participants but have paid up for capacity to accommodate even more!) 2. Help get your organizations more involved: via your Company site/ social media/ your own network which then enables even more women to avail of this learning. We want to make the summit accessible to all women professionals! Interested parties write into me for a visual/poster that you can use.[email protected]. My dream is for a world in which equal opportunities exist irrespective of gender and where all of us are accountable not just for our business results but also for our impact on society.  The world has many problems. From the safety, security and comfort of our secure jobs (some of us) we can help influence and shape many solutions together. If you BELIEVE, then ACT! You can reach me 24×7 at +65 83322017. Please do write back with your responses. I would love to hear from you with feedback, questions,  suggestions to bring as many women to the summit as possible or just a”I BELIEVE”. I BELIEVE.  Anthony Rose Chairman and CEO House of Rose Professional: T:+65 83322017 E: [email protected] W: www.houseofroseprofessional.com