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Photos: Sam C. Long 

When WIE founder, Dee Poku-Spalding, spoke to us about diversity in the workplace during our interview with her weeks before The Other Festival (the festival she created that featured an all female line-up of professionals in business and arts, and the first of its kind in NYC) I assumed by diversity she meant women.  Women in the workplace, women entrepreneurs; women in a ‘man’s world.’However the diversity I saw at The Other Festival extended way beyond gender. 

It was refreshing to be in a room full of women of varying races, religions, textures and fashions and it got me thinking how Anglo life in New York can be.Don’t get me wrong, I have travelled to many places, speak different languages and  have relatives who don’t speak any English at all.  But life in America can be quite ‘white.’ I was encouraged to see so many women from different cultures, communities and professions celebrate what being a woman truly is; the embodiment of power and beauty in whatever field you work and whomever you choose to be.  And it perhaps gave me a glimpse into the scope of Dee’s larger vision of just what ‘other’ and ‘diversity’ mean as well.  Here are some snaps from the event at Spring Studios. unspecifiedModel Naomi Campbell talks with Marie Claire EIC, Anne Fulenwider, on her new retropective "Naomi Campbell." unspecified-22Moderator Heather Hartnett with panelists Fran Hauser, Lauren Maillian and Jody Levy on 'Finding Your Dream Investor.'unspecified-19

unspecified-11Designer and artist Wonder Lee sells her fashion outside of the exhibition hall in a room with other female vendors.Meditating before the event with Yoga instructor Elena Brower By Honey.