Annual event will promote empowerment

By Martin Paredes/south news editor

In celebration of Women’s History Month, South will hold its 15th annual Women’s Symposium 8:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Student Center.

The event will have speakers, vendors, door prizes and food.

Asusena Reséndiz, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, will speak.

Reséndiz is a Texas Tech University graduate and a product of its Upward Bound program that prepares first-generation high school students for college.

She is one of the youngest chamber of commerce CEOs in the nation and was selected as the 2014 United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Master of Nonprofit Administration Fellow, which made her the first Latina recipient of the prestigious scholarship.

Reséndiz also won the 2013 Héroe en La Comunidad (Hero in the Community) from the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation and Captain Morgan as well as the 2012 Latina Style Magazine Honors Latina Chamber Leaders Award.

Throughout her time as chamber president, she has helped launch 15 Hispanic-owned small businesses throughout D/FW and has been instrumental in identifying, positioning and nominating 10 local businesses that would later go on to receive national and state recognition.

Dora Salazar of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce explained her department’s relationship to TCC.

“TCC is one of our community partners,” she said. “We have bilingual development classes of theirs that we work with.”

Senior office assistant for student activities Tristian Evans has seen how successful the symposium has been in previous years.

“Even though it’s on a Saturday and it starts at 8 in the morning, we always have a really good turnout,” he said.

Evans said the vendors at the event have ranged anywhere from jewelry to handmade quilts and that they were generally “female-owned businesses.”

The month’s theme of Leading the Future, Linking the Past really resonated with Evans.

“It’s geared toward women and women empowerment, especially those who are going back to school,” he said.

The symposium is presented by the Women’s History Month Planning Committee and Women in New Roles.

Any proceeds from vendor reservations and donations go to the Wanda Hill Women’s History Month Scholarship.