Celebrating Women, Supporting Women

International Women’s Day held annually on March 8th celebrates and honors women their accomplishments, their work, and brings attention to the issues they’re facing. In Durango one such celebration was a marketplace featuring local women owned businesses at the union social house. You’re watching the Local News Network brought to you by Happy Pappy’s Pizza and Wings, and the law firm of Downs, McDonough, Cowan, and Foley. I’m Wendy Graham Settle.

There’s so many women own businesses in this town that we really wanted to support all of them and bring in more interests for the PWN and for the Women’s Resource Center. And just get both of our names out there. And everyone is invited to this event. Normally we just have women at our events, so we are really excited to open this up to the public and have everybody come and support women owned businesses and the Women’s Resource Center.

The Professional Women’s Network is a nonprofit that creates and puts on events for women in the community. Every March, the Professional Women’s Network hosts a marketplace event in honor of women’s history month. The proceeds of which support the Women’s Resource Center in Durango.

So I think there were about 14 women owned businesses there last night. All the way from a floral business to Neek dance classes to pottery, you name it, they were there. So they just wanted to try a different venue and a different opportunity for other women in the community to kind of highlight their businesses. We were really excited. It was a really good turnout for their first inaugural event. So in that regard, we’re very grateful for them to think about us during, women’s history month. Like I said, it’s just a thing that they’ve done for the last couple years with us.

In previous years, we’ve had this event at in a business downtown on Maine, and we just kind of outgrew the space and all of the proceeds went to the Women’s Resource Center then as well. But it was also a little bit of a marketplace but only with one business. So we just really wanted to expand that.

A portion of Tuesday nights proceeds will be donated to the Women’s Resource Center for its resource and referral programs.

So we advocate for personal empowerment and economic self sufficiency for women and their families. We provide resources and referral, and we’re there in times of crisis to help provide like a roadmap on where to proceed. We offer small business, consults for women wanting to start their own businesses. We actually offer educational scholarships as well for women who are looking for career change of some type. And we do low bono kind of divorce assistance for those who are, like I said having to navigate that messiness. And then we also do some programming for young women in our community as well.

Tuesday evening was a full house with vendors selling everything from dance classes to jewelry, to interior decoration. Throughout the hour long event people wove through the tables, learning about the wears and meeting up with friends.

Amazed by the number of women there very impressed by the diversity of businesses that we have. And I think just, I mean, I’m not shocked by it but just the comradery. Everybody was really super supportive of each other’s businesses. And everybody was very genuinely curious. How they could support other women in the community ’cause when we come together and support our women everybody rises as we all know.

To learn more about the Women’s Resource Center or to find an event, or to offer a suggestion for one, visit wrcdurango.org. To learn more about the professional women’s network, join its next event or join the organization. Visit pwndurango.org. Thanks for watching this edition of the Local News Network, I’m Wendy Graham Settle.

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