Women’s Conference Creates Virtual Safe Space for Austin-Area Latinas

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By Diana Cañas, MCN Intern

Earlier this month, the sixth annual Women’s Conference, hosted by the General Consulate of Mexico in Austin and Migrant Clinicians Network, was virtual. In total, 68 women gathered together on Zoom to hear from guest speakers, with another almost 600 people watching from Facebook, either live or recorded. 
    

María Limón, a public speaker from Colorado University, Denver’s Center on Domestic Violence

Patricia Lerdo de Tejada, the wife of the Mexican Consul in Austin, Pablo Marentes, provided opening remarks along with MCN’s CEO, Karen Mountain, MBA, MSN, RN. Other speakers included, a public speaker from Colorado University, Denver’s Center on Domestic Violence; Carmen Valdez, PhD, Chief of the Division of Community Engagement and Health Equity and Director of the Community-Driven Initiatives Program in the Department of Population Health, Dell Medical School; Liliana Beverido, Executive Director of AMHIGA Hispana; Ana Castelan, MS, a consultant and facilitator on creativity and innovation; and Eloisa Alvarez and Monica Peña, both from the Economic Growth Business Incubator. During the event, women heard directly from the guest speakers and got to speak about their own personal stories and how they feel in their day-to-day lives. 

Roxana Pineda, MPH, Ventanilla de Salud Austin Coordinator for Migrant Clinicians Network, was the primary organizer of the event, and spoke about mental health resources during the event.
          

Liliana Beverido, Executive Director and Cofounder of Amhiga Hispana

“We were so happy with the participation in the event,” said Pineda. “These women opened up to strangers and showed how there is a need out there for an opportunity for women to express themselves and be heard. The Women’s Conference allowed women to have this safe space and showed how important it is to provide these chances for women.” 

Although the event was very different from last year, since it was fully remote and online, it was still successful, and the women said they benefited from getting to talk with each other. We want to thank all the guest speakers for their time. Thank you to MCN’s team, including Roxana Pineda, Jessica Calderon, Del Garcia, Martha Alvarado, Giovanni Quezada- Lopez, Diana Cañas for planning the event, and to Ana Carrasco in charge of Community Affairs of the Consulate of Mexico in Austin for helping MCN organize it.

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