Iota Phi Lambda Sorority, Inc., founded in 1929 in Chicago, Illinois, is a national business and professional women’s organization which strives to:Unite in sisterhood qualified business and professional women in order to enhance and improve the status of women in our highly complex, competitive business and professional world; Promote increased interest in the broad field of business education among high school and college young women through planned programs and scholarships;Encourage the development of personal goals and leadership potential; and Establish and promote civic and social service activities for youth and adults.

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Early in 1929, Mrs. Lola Mercedes Parker of Chicago, Illinois, was stimulated by the need and a great vision of an organization which would offset the results caused by the Great Depression. Many black women who were working at comparatively new skills in white-collar jobs in the business field were doubly penalized by race and sex. Mrs. Parker called together six friends to discuss a plan for establishing an organization that would add prestige to the field of business and to those women who had chosen business as a career. Such an organization would encourage, inspire, nurture, and give assistance to those people engaged in business vocations. Thus, the first chapter, Alpha, was created, marking the first step in the organization of a national business sorority. Since that time, other professions have been embraced; however, the major emphasis has remained in the broad field of the business arena. There are now more than 50 chapters with membership numbering more than one thousand in cities throughout the US including the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands