PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — New Ventures Maine has announced that its seventh annual ALL for Women: Aroostook Leadership and Learning Conference will be held on Friday, March 16, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Campus Center. This year’s theme is “Women’s Wisdom.”
The ALL for Women Conference began in 2011 as a way to bring women from Aroostook County and across Maine together for discussion panels and sessions that focus on leadership skills, career development and professional and personal empowerment. The number of attendees has grown from 70 in 2011 to 135 in 2017.
“ALL for Women is a great networking opportunity for women and it gives them an environment where they can share ideas and explore potential leadership roles that they might not have considered before,” said Karin Petrin, micro enterprise specialist for New Ventures Maine’s northern region.
In keeping with the theme, the 2018 conference will kick off with a leadership panel focused on women’s wisdom facilitated by WAGM-TV News Anchor Shawn Cunningham. Members of the panel will include Lynn Lombard, former vice president and director of human resources for MMG Insurance; WAGM Reporter Katie Zarrilli; Darelyn Cote, director of TRiO College Access Services; and Rosalind Morgan, owner of RosWerks Design and Photography of Linneus.
The panel will be followed by breakout sessions with speakers that will include Martha Grant, attorney at Aroostook Elder Law, who will discuss estate planning; Cara Miller, owner of Inspired Wellness, who will speak on finding balance between women’s work and home lives; and Rebekah Shaw, of the Hope and Justice Project, whose talk will center on “Violence Against Women: Prevalence, Accountability and Empowerment.”
The daylong event will end with a performance by the Aroostook Band of Micmacs Women’s Drum Group, Mawitan’ej E’pijig.
“We chose sessions that we felt would coincide with current events and topics that are important to women, based on our experiences with working with women through New Ventures Maine,” Petrin said.
New Ventures Maine began in 1978 as the Maine Displaced Homeworkers Program, which focused on helping recently divorced or widowed women homemakers re-enter the workforce.
In 1994, the organization changed its name to Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community and shifted its focus to online and in-person classes on business, financial literacy and leadership. The group then became New Ventures Maine in 2015 as a way to reach out to both women and men in communities throughout Maine and offer courses that aim to help future and current business leaders and employees.
“This conference goes back to our roots because of the emphasis on women, but it covers the four tracks that we cover at New Ventures: assets, business, career and empowerment,” Petrin said. “We have great speakers lined up and we hope that women take pieces of what they learn and grow from the experience.”
Individuals who wish to register for the conference can go online to http://newventuresmaine.org/find-a-center-2/northern/all-for-women/ or contact Petrin at (207) 768-9468 or karin.petrin@maine.edu.
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- Participants of the 2017 ALL For Women Conference enjoy a leadership panel facilitated by WAGM-TV News Anchor Shawn Cunningham at the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Campus Center. The 2018 conference will be held at UMPI on Friday, March 16. (Courtesy of Karin Petrin)
