SIU’ Student Multicultural Resource Center hosted a kickoff luncheon MONDAY at the SIU student center.
Women’s history month is dedicated to celebrating the contributions of women in the past and today.
Renada Greer is the director of the Student Multicultural Resource Center at SIU. This month she wants the center to bring together women - students, staff, and outside resources - to help the women pursue their dreams.
Greer says that’s why they’re hosting today’s kickoff lunch so that women can see and connect with other successful women, "You're going to run into obstacles. There will be challenges, but we made it to the end, and they'll make it to the end as well. So yeah, it's good to just be able to pay that forward, to support them while they pursue their dreams."
They invited today’s guest speaker, Samantha Ramirez-Herrera, to talk about her accomplishments as a woman and an immigrant. Ramirez-Herrera says she came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. She said she had to live in secret because she was undocumented. During that time She launched her company OffThaRecord.com a creative content agency to create social change and started making an impact. Under the DACA rules she was able to expand her passion for creating content serving a higher purpose, "I think what I'm hoping to do here today is to hopefully, like, inspire students and just, like, bring awareness to the hurdles that we go through as immigrants in this country, but also the opportunities that arise in the midst of adversity."
Ramirez-Herrera wants everyone to find their inspiration to push through adversity and make a change, "I feel like all of us have that intuitive ancestral wisdom that is going to be necessary to carry us through. I would say, keep showing up as who you are. Don't let fear shrink you. Don't let fear prevent you from going outside and existing and being who you are."
Greer says they’re here to help other women follow Ramirez-Herrera’s advice, "Hopefully students can take away, you know, just that connection and also that sense of support that they gained throughout this, women's history month."
If you want to see the rest of the events hosted by the multicultural student resource center, go their website: https://smrc.siu.edu/
