Strong Women Series Continues to Empower Women

Three years ago Dr. Rosalind Vaz, a pediatrician, founded the Strong Women lecture series in Newport to empower women through continuing education. Executive Director of the  Marilyn Warren said two news series will be added in light of the program's success.

The series is an eight-month program beginning in September and culminating with a banquet at Ochre Court in May. There are currently 23 women on the program’s roll who meet once a month at different community forums to discuss everything from self-defense to financial planning.

The year's first program in the series was a healthy cooking tutorial, which focused on preparing nutritional meals at home. Since its creation, Warren said the program has witnessed increasing success and has grown and gotten better each year.

The Strong Women series programming is evolving for the upcoming year and the two new series are in development. One will be similar to those of years past with introductory level education on a variety of subjects. The other will focus on entrepreneurship, a subject that has been requested by women in previous sessions, Warren said.

Several women gathered Monday night at thefor one of the last lectures in the series and reflected on the series as a whole.

Library director Regina Slezak led Monday’s meeting. Over the course of two hours attendees learned how to navigate the library website and Slezak fielded a variety of questions, including how to use the online catalog, how to download e-books from the library website, and how to get involved with the other programming that the library both provides and accommodates. There was also a tour of the library facilities.

During her presentation Regina Slezak said that the library is about “growing your entire life and continuing education.”

Participants from all over Aquidneck Island said they heard about series at the community center. The women said that while they learned important lessors from each session's speaker, the camaraderie between each other is another reason to come back each session. 

Along with library skills, a recurring session for the series is a financial planning lesson at .

“People’s Credit Union was great," one Portsmouth attendee said. “They invited us to come back anytime with any questions we might have, whether we were customers or not.”

People’s Credit Union has also committed to providing the refreshments for the banquet at Ochre Court. has also accommodated the Strong Women series with both food and a forum on love and relationships.

Some participants come for one session, but many of the women attend several of the forums and workshops.

There is no age limit or requirement for participation in the series. Each session is open to the public and curriculum for next year’s programs will be available in August. The Strong Women Program is funded by The Miss Swinburne Fund of the Rhode Island Foundation and is partnered with Newport Public Library, People’s Credit Union, Newport Hospital, and