At eight years old, American Patricia Russell-McCloud stood on a stage before 3,000 people and gave a five-page speech from memory.

When she was finished her speech at the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church National Meeting in California, she knew that she wanted to devote her life to public speaking.

Today, Mrs. Russell-McCloud refers to herself as a "high-pitched motivational speaker" and performs before 100,000 people annually.

She is also the author of "A is for Attitude: An Alphabet for Living".

At the beginning of September, she will be in Bermuda as part of the 2009 Women's Summit 'Navigating Success — Keep Rising'.

Her one-woman play 'Keep Rising' is aptly titled, because since her childhood she has risen, and risen again.

"'Keep Rising' is a one-woman production that focuses on the plight of women, the bond between women and the journey of women," she told The Royal Gazette.

She said 'Keep Rising' is largely autobiographical, particularly the bits about childhood.

The play also looks at more adult realities that women face such as the glass ceiling, which Mrs. Russell-McCloud said is more like a "concrete" ceiling for many women.

"You want to be promoted and have the corner office and be value-added for your contributions," she said. "But instead you may end up being an associate or an assistant."

She said the play stresses the need for training and education. It also looks at spiritual growth, love and commitment.

"Women need to be able to accept a compliment graciously," she said. "And good clothes don't cover bad character.

"In life things won't always be smooth. If you fall you have an obligation to get up, because women are trailblazers. They are truth tellers and visionaries."

Mrs. Russell-McCloud, who came from a humble neighbourhood in Indianapolis, Indiana, where her parents worked two jobs to support her and her two older sisters, said she was the first person on her street to go to college.

"I became the neighbourhood champion for achievement," she said. "I decided I wanted to be a lawyer."

As a member of the Council in Legal Education Opportunity she studied at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and earned her juris doctorate degree from Howard University, School of Law in Washington DC.

Mrs. Russell-McCloud became a telecommunications lawyer in the Chief Complaints Branch of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

"As a young lawyer I was very cognisant of the fact that women were not prioritised or moved up the ladder with any speed," she said. "Then one day I looked up and I was chief of an area.

"It had an 11,000 case backlog. That is huge. That is a programme to fail. How do you move that? It had just been sitting there growing like grass."

She and the people who worked with her managed to move the backlog within a year.

"Management were stunned," she said. "They were asking themselves 'What do we do next to stop her?' What I did next was to form my own company Russell-McCloud & Associates."

Today she speaks all over the world, helping women to empower themselves.

"My passion is public speaking," she said. "My desire has always been: 'just give me a mic'."

She said her enthusiasm comes from being able to change lives for the better.

"A woman called me yesterday to book a speech," she said. "She was euphoric to be speaking with me personally. I said why is this so exciting to you?"

It turned out, that Mrs. Russell-McCloud gave the opening address at the woman's college.

"She hadn't wanted to go to that college," said Mrs. Russell-McCloud. "She went because her mother was an alum.

"She said my speech was life changing for her. Now she is a director of a major programme for her city.

"She wants me to come as her keynote speaker."

Mrs. Russell-McCloud said she had had several important mentors in her life, including her mother, Janie Russell.

"She was a true example of can-do with a can-do spirit with a work ethic that was unparralleled," she said. "I think that 'Yes you will' spirit was transferred to me."

Mrs. Russell-McCloud said the first thing women have to do to succeed is to "stop whining".

"Whining will not get you there," she said. "Women tire me with their unwillingness to let go of yesterday's agenda.

"John Legend, an American artist, puts it this way, "the future started yesterday and we are already running late".

"You have got to go forward and get in the fast lane and find your niche. Don't say that 'changes are coming so quickly, or we are in a recession and so on'."

She urged women to get the right training, exposure and experience.

"Women have to expose themselves to a new agenda," she said. "That is not 'woulda, coulda, shoulda'. It is 'Yes, I can and I will do it today'.

"It would be ludicrous to think everywhere you go there is a welcome mat. Automatically, you are not going to become a CEO.

"There is a gender divide in America. In many situations the person who was deserving, does not receive the promotion, the title, the task, the credit because they are female.

"That is a reality. Women get discouraged. They become mumblers, mumbling about how they were not given their just dues.

"Either come out of that framework and go into business for yourself, or work the system."

But she warned that once you learn to play the game, someone will move all the bases.

She is married to E. Earl McCloud Jr., a Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal church. He lives and works in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is based in Maseru, Lesotho.

Mrs. Russell-McCloud spends several months of the year with him in Maseru.

"After having lived there, you will not be the same," she said. "People often mistakenly think that if you go to Cape Town, if you go to Johannesburg or Durban, that they have been to Africa.

"You haven't been to Africa until you have seen the rural, poverty stricken, Sub-Saharan part of Africa.

"You haven't been until you've been past the fast food Africa experience, and lived off the land with the people.

"You won't ever look at discarding things in the same way. You won't ever think and whine about what you don't have."

She said people in the areas her husband ministers to, are dealing with a pandemic of HIV and AIDS.

"It has caused a pandemic of orphans and orphanages because children ten and 11-years-old are seeking to be heads of households, because their parents and grandparents are dead or dying.

"Unemployment, poverty, lack of training and skills all converge to be very threatening to the people's wholistic well-being.

"Our goal is empowerment and self-reliance so the people who we serve will in our absence have skills and have a future focus for themselves and not be dependent on entities, agencies and denominations."

She said she is beginning to talk more and more about her experiences on the African continent in her motivational speeches.

"I don't think American children or their parents know how blessed and benefited we are," she said. "They don't know how we have become a throwaway generation and society.

"I want to juxtapose that life to this one, so there will be more appreciation and more attention given to achievement and overcoming obstacles."

Mrs. Russell-McCloud also has a successful music career and has performed backup vocals for such artists as Barry Manilow and Diana Ross, and has also been choral director for performances by Celine Dion and Michael Bolton. She has conducted music workshops and recordings throughout America.

'Keep Rising' will be performed on September 4 at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel at 7.30 p.m. It is open to the public. Tickets are available at www.premiertickets.bm .

The summit is on from September 4 to 6 at the Fairmont Southampton Princess.

Other speakers include Dr. Cindy Trimm, Jeanette Bayardelle from the movie the 'The Colour Purple', and Neletha Butterfield, Minister of Culture and Social Rehabilitation Director and founder of the Care Learning Centre.

In addition to the one-woman play, the conference will include a parade of nations, a spa event, panel discussion, health screenings, and leadership awards, and more.

For more information about the conference go to www.navigatingsuccess.com or telephone 292-2663or e-mail info@navigatingsuccess.com