CALEXIC — The 2022 Women’s Empowerment Conference was held at San Diego State University’s Imperial Valley (SDSU-IV) on Saturday, April 9, where women from across Imperial County were invited to meet, network, and hone life skills and techniques provided by the organizers, panelists, and keynote. speakers.
The event was organized in partnership with MANA of Imperial Valley, Soroptimist International of El Centro, Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee and SDSU-IV.
The conference featured a panel discussion on the achievements of local women in business, politics, health and advocacy.
Event attendees had the opportunity to connect with like-minded women, receive information about the importance of civic engagement, and gain access to resources to optimize their professional development.
There was a networking session that kicked off the ceremony, followed by a welcome and keynote address by speaker Haydee Rodriguez, National Board Certified Teacher.
While completing the opening formalities, attendees proceeded to various classrooms for designated lecture sessions.
Women Making Cents for financial independence, Women Winning for leadership and political participation, Women Owned for connecting with other female entrepreneurs, and Calming the Mind for mindful living were the conference sessions available.
Each session was repeated twice with different panel experts, which provided a more robust conference dynamic.
After the end of the second session, participants took a break for lunch and then returned for a closing keynote by Aeiramique keynote speaker Glass Blake (Meeka).
The last part of the conference was a resource fair.
Organizers shared how important they felt it was to bring women together to give them the opportunity to recharge, retool, retrain and simply have the opportunity to come together and empower themselves. thanks to the resources and information provided by the panelists. .
“We thought it was important to provide a space to come together, share, learn and grow from each other and allow us to keep moving forward,” said Martha Singh, MANA Fellowships Coordinator.
The event started in 2019 but had been on hiatus since the pandemic.
“For many of us this could be our first workshop, for others this may be an opportunity where they have decided to invest in themselves – to become much more powerful whether in their family life, family or professional,” Singh said.
Singh also explained the importance of such type of conferences.
“A lot of times as women we forget to put ourselves first, whether we have responsibilities to our work or to our families. Often we just don’t take time for ourselves. We wanted to provide a conference, one to celebrate women and their many accomplishments, and second, just an opportunity to listen, grow and really network,” Singh said. “Often, like-minded women who come together strengthen each other to keep moving forward and so we wanted to develop this network of women that we could call on if we ever had a problem or needed resources, information or just a connection. Sometimes we have to be our own cheerleaders.
