African first ladies joined former U.S. first lady Laura Bush and Cherie Blair, wife of the former U.K. prime minister, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, in New York, at a Pardee RAND Graduate School-organized forum focused on becoming more effective leaders. The conversations centered around ways to use the first ladies' offices to become champions of change on issues such as women's health, girls' education and women's economic empowerment.