The 25th Annual Dia de la Mujer (DDLM) took place Saturday, April 7, 2018 at the Kellogg Center which is located on the campus of Michigan State University. The Keynote Speaker was the Peggy Robles-Alvarado who comes by way of the Bronx in New York. Anything I choose to write here would be understating the struggles and bruises she endured growing up. It could never tell the true tale of her thoughts, feelings and emotions of the many lows in her life as well as the many successes she achieved. Peggy gave a riveting talk on what life was like as a teen mom labeled many names as you could imagine. Incorporating poetry along with a forceful tone of positivity and high self esteem, she managed to lift a room full of about 550 people high enough to almost look down at the clouds. Peggy Robles-Alvarado today is a tenured New York City educator with graduate degrees in elementary and bilingual education. She is the author of 4 books and has many of her poetry works included elsewhere. But clearly her passion lies in writing her story, inspiring others to tell their story and most importantly empowering everyone to have their story heard.
DDLM was Blessed to have Maria Zavala who is the founder of DDLM. She presented the Maria Zavala Award to Leslie D. Gonzales who is an Associate Professor at Michigan State University. Quoted from the Official DDLM Program “Leslie is deeply committed to ensuring that minoritized and marginalized students have access to higher education”.
The history of DDLM goes back to Maria Zavala. As a Chicana student and activist had the vision to want to establish an event that celebrates Latinas for their roles in the community. Whether it be at school, home or professionally, she wanted one day where the accomplishments of women were recognized. At one time in the early days of DDLM, there were over 1000 participants according to some of the early goers. Its a more manageable 500-550 people each and every year who attend workshops, enjoy networking, a meal and entertainment. The vendors seem to be adding more and more value to the conference each year.
The Office of Cultural and Academic Transitions (OCAT) is the office in which the Dia de la Mujer Conference operates from. It is considered the largest Latina conference of its kind in the Midwest. If you would like more information on how to help with the planning, become apart of their mailing list, become a vendor or sponsor at this event in 2019, please contact DDLM Coordinator Michael A. Suarez at suarezmi@msu.edu or call the office at 517-353-7745.
For more information on Peggy Robles-Alvarado please go to her website : http://robleswrites.com/
For a description of her books and to purchase them: http://robleswrites.com/books.html
