"Jewell Jackson McCabeAugust 2,1945)

New York Businesswoman Jewell Jackson McCabe has pent her entire adult life trying to advance the interests of her race and gender.She is chairperson of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women,a nonprofit group that provides education and mentoring services to underprivileged women,serves as a support system for successful black women,and carries on lobbying and public relations work on women's issues."I consider myself a leader for all women," Jewell the Chicago Tribune,and indeed,her leadership abilities have been formidable.From its modest orgins in New York City,the National Coalition of 100 Black Women has grown into a body of more than 7,000 members with 62 chapters and an annual operating budget of $125,000.She work on behalf of black women has not gone unnoticed.In 1993 she was a finalist for the executive directorship of the NAACP,one of the first black women to be considered for that important post.Ebony magazine has profiled Jewell not only from a professional perspective but also a private one,highlighting her fitness regimen,and her glamorous but busy lifestyle.Jewell has become such a major player on Gotham's exclusive,highly competitive scene that her photograph has begun appearing on the social pages of the New York Times,"John Robinson noted in the Boston Globe."The hallmarks of her style are glamour clout,commitment and unflinching determination to empower women of color and [their] communities."Jewel Jackson was born in Washington,DC in 1945,the daughter of Harold "Hal"B. Jackson and Julia Hawkins Jackson.Hal Jackson was a pioneer in the broadcasting industry whose work in radio and television eventually took the family to New York City.Other members of the extended family were trailblazers as well.Her aunt was the first black graduate of the prestigious Boston Conservatory of Music,and her mother was active in a variety of social organizations.The Jackson household was a prosperous one,but as Jewel,recalled in the Chicago Tribune,she was encouraged to work hard and take nothing for granted.Her father,she stated,once placed a copy of the New York Times in front of her saying,"Until you see black people on the front page of this paper,we will not be free."As a youngster,Jewel was drawn to the performing arts,especially dance.She studied classical ballet and jazz,eventually winning admission to New York City's High School of the Performing Arts.After graduation, she continued her dance studies at Bard College from 1961 until 1963.At age 19 she married Frederick Ward,an advertising copywriter.The marriage ended ended in divorce.She later married Eugene McCabe,president of North General Hospital in New York City.That marriage also ended in divorce.Jewel remained on friendly terms in with both men.Even before she entered the professional arena,she demonstrated her commitment to underprivileged youth.She used her dance skills to participate in an inner city-city program that sought to curb antisocial behavior by exposing teens to culture and the arts.She was also a dance instructor in a program for troubled girls.Jewel Jackson McCabe entered the executive ranks in 1970 when she became director of public affairs for the New York Urban Coalition.The same time she became a member of a small organization founded by her mother,the New York Coalition of 100 black women.The group,with just two dozen members on its first roster,was based on a similarly named men's organization and was dedicated to providing support and encouragement to black females entrepreneurs.The first goal was to find 100 black businesswomen in the New York metropolitan who would be willing to join and help administer the group.That was accomplished by the mid-1970s.Jewell was continuing to further her own professional career.As Cathy Madison observed in the Chicago Tribune,Jewel outgoing personality and intuition made her a natural publicist." In 1973 she became public relations officer for New York City's Special Service for Children and found her promoting exactly the kind of programs she had participated in as a volunteer began early as 1980 when she served deputy grand Marshall of the annual Martin Luther King,Jr.parade in New York City.She also received citations from the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) and Malcolm/King College.Jewel never felt that her accomplishments were extraordinary."I think,quite candidly,being a superwoman is an impossibility for any human "she remarked in Ebony. "I get great enjoyment from diversity. I have a stubbornness.I reject being pigeonholed or boxed into any category.If you,reject,that then you've to be able to move in different sets....That means you've got to work hard because you've got to know a lot of things."In 1978 Jewel assumed the presidency of the organization her mother had started and pleaded to take it to a national level.By 1981 she had organized the National Organized the National National 100 Black Women into chapters in 22 states.From the outset the group had many diverse goals.Its memberships included prominent professionals and community leaders,bound together for mutual support and encouragement.Among those who joined the coalition were such well-known black women as poet Maya Angelou,Spelman College president Johnetta Cole,Arthenia Joyner,the former president of the National Bar Association,and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke,the first black Congresswoman from California.Once established,the group began to work on community issues affecting women.Programs have included mentoring services for disadvantaged minority women,especially teen mothers;co-sponsorship of Time to Read,a middle school literacy program; political activism  on reproductive rights issues and reproductive rights education;and the literacy and life skills development Program,aimed at helping Young adults prepare to enter the working world.Each year the group presents ten Candance (pronounced) "Can-day-say")Awards to black women who have made important strides in the arts,science,technology,and business.The Award is named after the Ethiopian term for "queen,"and recipients have included opera singer Kathleen Battle and philanthropist Camille Cosby.Jewel served as president of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women from 1981 until 1991.She stepped down but remains an important figure in the organization as its chairman of the board.She contended in The Chicago Tribune that her organization is a natural outgrowth of a supportive network among black woman that has existed for generations."We called it a grapevine.It's been going on since slavery,since the days of the Underground Railroad," she said.Nevertheless,she observed in Ebony that the National Coalition of 100 Black women is also a forum for the contemporary black woman who seeks professional and political clout."I think we are different from the women of the '60 she explained."We don't feel guilty about being accomplished.In this country,there are older woman who come to you and say,"You are what we were working so long to create.What you young,women are doing is what we always wanted to do.'Obviously there is an dimension of growth,progress...I think that it is the newness.It's an attitude."In 1993 she was a finalist for the position of executive director of the NAACP.she was interviewed by the NAACP board of directors but was not chosen for the job.Later, to quote Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Claude Lewis,Jewel McCabe "asserted ...that the NAACP male-dominated board was unwilling to consider seriously a female applicant to head the powerful organization."Her outspokenness on the issue was one of a series of complaints of discrimination based on sex leveled at the NAACP in recent years.Jewel weighting in on this issue undoubtedly played a part in the 1995 election of Myrlie Evers Williams as chairwoman of the group's board of directors.Over the years Jewel has held several gubernatorial appointments in the state of New York.Perhaps the most important of these was chairmanship of the $205-million,46-member Jobs Training Partnership Council,a program Training Partnership Council,a program that provides education and skills training to some 50,000 people in New York every year.Jewel has also served on the New York State Council on Fiscal and Economic Priortities,the tax Reform Committee,and the New York State Council on Families,where she was assigned to the Committee on Teen Pregnancy Prevention.In addition to these state affiliations,she has served on the advisory boards of a number of private nonprofit and for-profit corporations,including the Economic club of New York and the National Alliance of Business.She is also president of Jewell Jackson McCabe Associates,a New York City consulting firm that advises on government relations,marketing to minorities,and special issues and events.Jewel also told fortune that she wants to "establish a common ground between the public and private sectors."Her client list includes Panasonic,American Express,the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund,the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies,and the Associated Black Charties.Despite her disclaimers about not being a "superwoman,"she can hardly be described as an ordinary individual.Her working days often begin at 5:30 in the morning and last until midnight.She travels across the nation on behalf of the National Coalition of 100 Black women and is a presence on the New York social scene.She has received two honorary doctorates  and a number of other awards for the accomplishments she has reaped from her "enjoyment of diversity."