International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day annually celebrating women's social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. In celebration, Women of Toledo (WOT), presented by the Hiltons at Toledo Downtown and Dana, are organizing a luncheon on Wednesday, March 8th, 2023, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The International Women’s Day Luncheon will feature a panel speaker, #EmbraceEquity in the workplace, marketplace, community, and family. The theme for 2023 is #EmbraceEquity with a focus on gender equity needs to be part of every society's DNA. 

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Check out our calendar and save your dates! We have so many wonderful upcoming programs and activities for our Economic Development and Mentorship Program this Winter and Spring. **Stay tuned for our Circle group schedule, Young Women Program, and Advocacy campaigns. If you're interested in partnering, supporting, and/or volunteering please, email us at info@womenoftoledo.org.

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#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration. Today, November 29, 2022, join the movement and give - whether it’s some of your time, a donation, a gift, or the power of your voice in your local community. For #GivingTuesday, Women of Toledo has set a goal to raise $5,000  and we are asking YOU to be part of our Circle of Supporters. Our "Circle of Friends" Supporters help fund ALL of the Women of Toledo unrestricted program budget, including No Women Left Behind needs.

We closed out our program and services for quarter 3 with another record-breaking number. And we successfully recruited and kickoff our Fall Mentoring program with almost 20 mentors who actively serve a diverse group of mentees, entrepreneurs, and youth in our community.

Our team also actively engaged in community outreach with partners and companies in efforts to collaborate or create awareness on issues impacting our local immigrants, Youth & STEM, and gender equity.

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Presented by the Huntington Bank, Women of Toledo, and UToledo Eberly Center for Women to organize the 4th annual Northwest Ohio Women’s Equality Day celebration with a community dialogue on the theme: Stay Furious, Build Power.

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Now is the time to harness our fury into building power with other women and allies so that we can create solutions that work for us and reclaim our rights.

On behalf of our Board of Directors, Partners, and Supporters of Women of Toledo, we would like to thank you for attending and supporting our 2022 Art, Food & Fashion Appreciating Immigrants and Refugees (AFFAIRS) in conjunction with Immigrant Heritage Month. More than 150 people attended the celebration, and by doing so, are empowered on why it is important to preserve our cultural diversity and heritage.

As you know, Women of Toledo was built on bringing all groups of women together to ensure that they has access to the tools that they needed to build the lives that they dreamed of - no matter where they came from or how they ended up in Greater Toledo. We are so happy to be able to see each other in person again while still organize many of our talking circles virtually. Have you gotten involved yet? 

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On behalf of our Board of Directors, Partners, and Supporters of Women of Toledo, we would like to thank you for attending and supporting our 2022 International Women's Day (IWD) as we kick off Women's History Month. A total of 175 people attended the in-person luncheon, while more than 30 people tune on the zoom live stream of the program.

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WE LEARN TO RELEARN SO WE CAN SERVE BETTER: At our Task Team retreat in Feb, supported and facilitated by PI Expert, Sara Best with Real Good Ventures, we discovered that we are an 'Adapting Team'. Therefore, we all work well together when we see value in combining our individual strengths at work to help serve you, others, and our women/young women in our community! 

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The most significant lesson that 2021 has taught our team and the organization, is to have courage. Because of courage, we made it work for our team, the organization, and the community. For much of the world, charting the path during the pandemic and beyond is much harder than we thought. And, yes - we were reminded that adversity always has more to teach us, and with courage, we will continue growing, serving, and connecting in a way that’s effective to our community. 

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Saturday 09.25.2021, we gather for Welcoming Picnic at Swan Creek Preserve Metroparks. At the Welcoming Picnic, communities bring together immigrants, refugees, and long-time residents in a spirit of unity to build strong connections across the community and affirm the benefits of welcoming everyone – including new Americans.

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A total of 124 people attended the gathering and participated in the table discussions. By doing so, we experience and engage with each other in a dialogue that increases our collective awareness of what is happening in women’s lives, discusses solutions and strategies we can create to enhance women’s rights in the United States.

Post-session of Asian Heritage Month. More than 200 people attended the celebration, and by doing so, are empowered on why it is important to preserve our cultural diversity and heritage. 

In the month of March, we served:

• 119 attendees through our weekly circle program and WEE Int Women's Day.

• One-on-one General & Technical Assistance to 8 individuals and able to support these individuals with their needs.

• 7 sessions of one-on-one Mentoring.

Announcing our publication of the Year 2020 Impact Report (Annual Report) on how we stay vigilant to continue serving our community during COVID-19. We are simply grateful to our Circle of Supporters, Partners, and Corporate Sponsors for their continuous effort to support our mission, goals, and objective to help women and young women at educating, engaging, and empowering to keep moving forward. 

Announcing the Northwest Ohio Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program and we would like to invite you to become one of its inaugural mentees. The program is being jointly created by our organization, Women of Toledo, and two Toledo-area Chambers of Commerce: Toledo African American Chamber of Commerce, and the Northwest Ohio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.  Joining forces will allow us to leverage our diverse talents and backgrounds to comprehensively support our entrepreneurs.

2020 has been a year – Covid-19, ups-and-downs in the economy, the unease of political and racial unrest. And in its unique moments, what did 2020 teach us? It was the importance of the humanities – our communities, families, friends, and individuals coming together with empathy, compassion, and courage

Partnering with Social Justice, Human Relations Commission for the City of Toledo, we kick-off What To Do and #MyRightsMyVoice campaigns starting Oct. 19 to Nov. 2. Together, we want to offer these aspirations in mind and showcase how #419Women choosing when it comes to their rights and voices.

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When the U.S. Constitution was written in 1787, women were not given equal standing with men. Do you know? One of the most fundamental rights in the United States—the right to vote—was only granted to women after a hard-fought campaign that lasted more than 70 years. Interested in learning more? We did the research and gather resources from Drexel University, Women100 campaign, our friends at National Organization Women (NOW) and Library of Congress. Click below to read Historical Context on Suffrage and Women’s Equality Day. Post-session here.

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As an organization that advocates for diversity & inclusion and inequality, now more than ever we need to be vigilant at supporting our black female community. Since economic advancement and marketplace inequality is part of the critical work of our organization, it is important that we support Black Women-Owned Businesses today, tomorrow, and every day after that, to promote long-term economic change.

419HerHub can connect you to women’s groups and organizations, local women's authors, as well as women-owned businesses through our directory listings. We want to continue to educate, engage, and empower our community in any capacity we can. With this one-stop online resources platform, we believe it will enhance our community by helping women find the right opportunities, networks, and resources for personal & professional connection and growth. 

Despite this setback, we are still committed to serving our community, especially our female community members, so that you can continue thrive in any aspect of your professional and personal lives. For more than 5 years, WOT has focused on our mission to help you keep moving forward. This enduring mission guides us as we closely monitor, assess and respond to covid-19. In response to the current situation, we’ve implemented our continuity plan to engage our female community.  We are proud to launch a new virtual learning and connecting space under our Women’s Connection and Educational Initiative Programs. 

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The first quarter of the year is always an exciting time for our team here at Women of Toledo. This is the season that our program task team shares our 2020 program schedule and begin conversations with our Program's Partners, Ambassadors & Supporters. We stay focused on our mission and engage in dialogues with many, many, many local businesses, especially women-owned businesses, for partnerships.

During various conversations with stakeholders and partners on what the organization would like to do in 2020, I have been asked this question - 'What does WOT want to be?'  Because of my curiosity, wanting to learn and understand better - I asked , " Elaborate'. What the organization wants to do is not nearly as important as what the organization wants to be. And the longer I reflected on this question and statement.... the more significant that it became.

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Our local Young Women of Toledo will be celebrating the #dayofthegirl this Saturday, 10.12.19, 10:30am at the Phoenicia, University of Toledo - Student Union. YWOT Big Idea: GIRLFORCE Unstoppable and Unscripted highlights the experiences of 4 local activists making a difference at home and abroad promoting diversity and inclusion.

We will never stop building and assessing the needs of the community and working to listen to their needs and wants, and build something they will love. We didn't realize how important it is to keep-up with needs of the ecosystem that continues to evolve and change. We stay strong on data & impact measurements, as we believe what gets measured, will get managed. 

We began our advocacy and created awareness on how important it was for our constituents to take action. We went a step further and consulted our friends at Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE) to draft a well-researched letter in support of Women of Toledo’s call to Toledo City Council to pass the Pay Equity Act.

Pay Equity Act:This important piece of legislation will help to close the pay gap that exists and persists as a result of potential employers asking job candidates about their previous salary history. Every person deserves to be offered compensation based on their skills and abilities, not what their previous employer paid them. The ordinance will help to close the pay gap that exists due to this discriminatory business practices.

Our Momentum Circle is a focus peer-networking group for a diverse women-owned businesses, entrepreneurs and start-ups to connect, and grow their businesses.Women are increasingly harnessing their entrepreneurial spirit, and it is critical to encourage and support this behavior with focus to eliminate obstacles and facilitate growth of their businesses.

The future is exciting. Let's build a gender-balanced world. Balance is not a women's issue, it's a business issue. This Year’s Theme: The race is on for a gender-balanced boardroom, a gender-balanced government, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance of employees, more gender-balance in wealth and gender-balanced sports coverage. Collective action and shared responsibility for driving a gender-balanced world is key.

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At first, I was embarrassed by my life situation. I could not keep a job, a car, or maintain friendships. I am young single mom, a minority, who grew up in a low-income neighborhood that is visible to others.

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WHY choose to volunteer with Women of Toledo? With the organization, you will also experience & learn how to work with others from different cultures, languages, age groups, and embrace others' differences. You will learn to connect with one another.

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 We have created spaces where girls, young women and women of many generations can interact and support each other. Creating intergenerational spaces, based on non-hierarchical and anti-oppression frameworks, allows for the emergence of transformational leadership that draws on the contributions of all generations.

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Our blog post aims to highlights our women community stories, storytellers, and advocacy efforts that consistent with our #pressforprogress campaign goals. We invite you to read and comments as we continue our efforts and pledged for #PressForProgress.

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Our mission is to promote diversity & inclusion for women in the Toledo area.  We strive for diversity on our Board, Community Partners, Circle of Supporters and are proud to have immigrants represented across our organization that are making an impact in Toledo.  As part of National Immigrant Heritage Month, we wanted to share with you some statistics about immigrants in Toledo.

Join us as we #PressforProgress 

WOMEN ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT (WEE) POWER HOUR LUNCHEON.

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Catchup on our Archives here! 

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MENTOR believes that Black lives matter, Black mentors matter, and Black mentees matter. During February, we join those across the country in recognizing Black History Month by celebrating the historic contributions of Black Americans, centering Black voices, and amplifying opportunities for greater equality and inclusion within the mentoring field. Meet our February Featured Mentors and Speakers! They are Leaders, Change-Makers, Champions of People, Influencers, Social Entrepreneurs, and more. Extraordinary women giving their time & talents to mentor others while paving their way to be one of our very own Black History in the Making!

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It’s National Mentoring Month! Each year, since its launch in 2002, National Mentoring Month has enjoyed the strong support of the president and the United States Congress. Read President Biden's proclaiming January 2023 as National Mentoring Month. National Mentoring Month is led by the National Mentoring Partnership and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. And other prominent individuals who have participated in this campaign include Maya Angelou, former President Bill Clinton, Clint Eastwood, Quincy Jones, Cal Ripken Jr., Bill Russell, and Usher.

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! As I sipped my cup of coffee on Thanksgiving morning, I was debating if I should click send our normal 4th Thursday #419newsletter campaign or take a leap of faith, and draft something new. Well, if this message is in your inbox, the guess is my intuition at overcoming the fear wins the challenge. It has been a while since I just wrote something 'from Nina's heart'. I hope your time reading my reflection on thanksgiving day is worth your while. Much appreciation to you all.

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We are excited to announce Nina’s sabbatical this Fall, starting September 12 till December 31, 2022, to begin her journey as a global humanitarian, perhaps completing her ‘unfinished’ research and publication, while serving as a Mentor to Global Leaders in Eastern Europe. The Governing Board, Stakeholders, and our team at Women of Toledo are in supporting and sharing the excitement with Nina.

The young women learned how to build their own chairs teaching them the significance of bringing your own seat to the table. Seeing the hard work of these young women, we are simply grateful for the partnership with the Imagination Station to display the chairs and portraits of our fearless builders. The exhibition is now open and we welcome you to stop by the Imagination Station to view the chairs and read their stories. 

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We are kicking off June with an awareness advocacy campaign for Immigrant Heritage & PRIDE Month. Immigrant Heritage Month: At Women of Toledo, we take pride in the diversity of women and youth we serve and continue to find ways to elevate and highlight and celebrate their cultural heritage.

The program also features the debut of the Northwest Ohio Women’s Business Council (WBC), the passage by Toledo City Council of a local Cities for CEDAW Ordinance, an exhibition of historical women entrepreneurs and special guest and keynote speaker, Dr. Soon-Young Yoon, the United Nations representative of the International Alliance of Women and author of the book Citizen of the World: Soon-Young and the UN.

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March 21 program also includes the announcement of Women of Toledo’s Economic Development new initiative, the Northwest Ohio Women's Business Council (WBC), and remarks from the Citizen of the World, Soon-Young, the U.N. Cities of CEDAW

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February is PACKED with programs for everyone. We kick off our Mentorship program on Thursday, 01.27.22 with 22 participants that interested in either serving as Mentors or participating as Mentees. 

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 New Partner: In October we also established a new partnership with TolHouse. HerHub members now have an exclusive membership pricing to "The Room Where it Happens". TolHouse enthusiastically welcomes members of HerHub to join their ecosystem of entrepreneurs, business people, and creative minds. 

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We are excited to welcome all these current & new mentors to our mentorship circle this Fall. They will be serving our Young Women and Women that are part of our Young Women Genius program (9th to 12th graders), Discovery (college and up), and M.oM (virtual) Mentorship session. Thank you for your time and talent to serve with us either in-person or virtual session this Fall!

On Thursday, August 26, women across the United States will be celebrating Women's Equality Day. This day was designated to commemorate the 1920 adoption of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing American women the right to vote. We celebrate women's progress while recognizing that more work still needs to be done.

6 -months Deliverables, Impact, and Outcomes for the organization with total served from Jan to June 2021 = 578 participants. We organized two in-person community cultural heritage advocacy campaigns including celebrations! 

All month long, you will find a blend of posts celebrating the achievements and contributions of amazing women in history and women in the Greater Toledo Area who are committed to making history. At WOT, our goals are always to nurture and support learning from the past and reflecting on the present to create a more equitable future.

HerHub prides itself on the diversity of membership within our support network, and continues to find ways not only to elevate, highlight and celebrate minority businesses but also decrease the network gap that exists among women of color businesses owners through events like this one! 

The City of Toledo's Human Relations Commission and the University of Toledo will be co-hosting the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration on Monday, January 18th. Join us for a special virtual celebration featuring keynote speaker and author, Austin Channing Brown in celebration of Blackness and recognize the possibility of racial justice in organizations and communities. 

During the crisis, we pivoted and adapted to technology. In 2020, we organized a series of #419Women digital campaigns about Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and Women’s Voters, featuring more than 58 local women stories that inspired others to take action. How have the challenges of 2020 altered the future of our organization? Answering that question requires that we first acknowledge some difficult truths that we have encountered during the pandemic.