Bold Women. Change History.

Bold Women. Change History.

Inspired by the ambitious, innovative spirit of Colorado, where voters were the first in the nation to eliminate gender discrimination at the ballot box, the Bold Women. Change History. Series features authors, scholars and history makers who illustrate the innovations that happen when women have a seat at the table. Lead by the Center for Colorado Women’s History, Bold Women. Change History. generates new knowledge and understandings of women’s role in history by sharing their stories and sparking adventurous dialogue that builds pathways to new understandings.

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Bold Women. Change History. Speaker Information

Select speakers will offer to sign their books after their lecture! Get yours ahead of time on the History Colorado Bookshop→

Denver Big Read presents: 

Natalie Diaz

Poet. Linguist. MacArthur Genius. 

Wednesday, April 24, 2024 | 7:00 p.m.
History Colorado Center | In-Person
Member: $30 | Non-Member: $35

Join us for the keynote presentation of The Word’s city-wide celebration of Natalie Diaz's stunning work about love, family, desire, grief, displacement, fighting cultural erasure, and insisting upon a future: Postcolonial Love Poem. 

Described as an anthem of desire against erasure, Postcolonial Love Poem is Diaz's second collection of poems and raises important questions about the wounds inflicted by America onto Indigenous peoples. Through her powerful poetics, the Pulitzer Prize winning Diaz unravels notions of American goodness, creates something more powerful than hope, and chooses love from the matrix of options available.

This presentation is a collaboration between Bold Women. Change History. and The Word, A Storytelling Sanctuary, hosts of this year’s NEA Big Read in Denver.

About the Speaker

Natalie Diaz is the author of Postcolonial Love Poem and When My Brother Was an Aztec, and winner of the 2013 American Book Award. She has received many honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a USA fellowship, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, and a Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Artist Fellowship. She is Mojave and an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Tribe. Diaz is the Maxine and Jonathan Marshall Chair in Modern and Contemporary Poetry at Arizona State University.

About Denver NEA Big Read

The Word, in partnership with Denver Arts & Venues, Denver Public Library, and History Colorado, invites you to join us for #DenverReads this fall! As part of the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read program, we’ll be hosting a citywide discussion based on Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz, a collection of poems about love, family, desire, grief, displacement, fighting cultural erasure, and insisting upon a future.

“The choice of Postcolonial Love Poem addresses a timely need for the Denver-metro community. Denver is among the fastest growing metro-areas in the country, and this growth has affected its varied populations unevenly, creating fissures around topics of legacy, ownership, and trust.”

- Viniyanka Prasad, Co-Executive Director & Founder of The Word

Information about lead-up Big Read events can be found via The Word: https://www.thewordfordiversity.org/neabigread

NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. Thank you to our partners: The Word, A Storytelling Sanctuary, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Arts Midwest, History Colorado, Denver Arts & Venues, Denver Public Library, Graywolf Press, Libro.fm

 


Health and Land Intersect: One North Denver Community's Response

Health Equity. Community Activism. Neighborhoods.

Thursday, May 23, 2024 | 6:00 PM
The Center for Colorado Women’s History | In-Person
Member: $10 | Non-Member: $15

Join The Center for Colorado Women's History, High Country News, and the Globeville Elyria-Swansea (GES) Coalition for a conversation on how land and health intersect and shape each other in north Denver. Across the West, highways and rail lines have long divided communities of color, taking land away from long-time residents and threatening the health of those who remain. But residents have been fighting back. 

As a follow-up to High Country News' feature on the paradox of green space in north Denver, GES Coalition Director Nola Miguel and longtime resident and head of the GES Tree Planting Project, Yadira Sanchez, will speak about their family histories in the neighborhood, as well as their current efforts to reclaim land, increase green space and improve health conditions in GES.

High Country News contributing editor Raksha Vasudevan will moderate the 45-minute conversation, which will be presented in both English and Spanish. The conversation will be followed by a Q&A.

About the Speakers

Yadira Sanchez

Yadira Sanchez has lived in Elyria Swansea for 23 years. She is an entrepreneur and community leader committed to improving the natural environment and the lives of her family and neighbors. She’s currently leading a tree-planting effort to help purify the air and beautify the neighborhood. She’s also worked as a resource specialist helping her neighbors get rental assistance through the GES Coalition and the Left Behind Workers Fund. She also led the “Ditch the Ditch” effort with United North Denver to stop the I70 expansion through the neighborhood; and worked on the opposition to the 2E Bond, “No more bull.” She’s served on many community boards and committees, including acting as the current board co-chair of Tierra Colectiva Community Land Trust. 

Yadira has been featured in articles and documentaries such as Human Element’s “Air,” which studied air pollutants and their impact on health conditions such as asthma that she and her three children–all raised in Elyria Swansea–suffer from. She’s owned her business for 8 years while supporting her families’ business throughout her life.     

Nola Miguel, (she/her/ella), MSW, is the Executive Director of the Globeville Elyria Swansea (GES) Coalition and Tierra Colectiva Community Land Trust (CLT) in Denver, CO. Tierra Colectiva CLT does restorative development that supports GES neighbors to stabilize through home ownership and reclaims land for community ownership. Previously Nola has been a Community Organizer and School-Community Liaison and was the Chief of Staff for a Denver City Councilwoman. As a bilingual community leader, Nola is a strong believer in collective work; and that those most impacted by issues have the solutions that will guide us to an equitable future.  

Raksha Vasudevan

Raksha Vasudevan is a contributing editor at High Country News, where she writes and edits stories about environmental justice and housing. She has also reported on these issues for The Guardian, VICE, Outside, and more. Born in India and raised in Canada, she has called Denver home since 2016.


Stacy A. Bohlen  

Leader. Health Equity Advocate. Truth Speaker.  

Thursday, May 30 2024 | 7:00 p.m.
History Colorado Center | In-Person
Member: $10 | Non-Member: $15 

Join us for a catalyzing conversation about the health outcomes of historical trauma. Stacy A. Bohlen, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and the CEO of the National Indian Health Board, will take an historical look at how the legacies of colonization have led to health disparities in Tribal communities that persist today. Bohlen will discuss how the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age influence their health, as well as how policies such as the Indian Removal Act and Federal Indian Boarding Schools separated American Indians and Alaskan Natives from cultural practices that traditionally made them less vulnerable to disease. Bohlen will also discuss examples of resilience and creativity among American Indian and Alaskan Native communities to improve their physical and mental health. 

About the Speaker

Stacy A. Bohlen (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Indian Health Board (NIHB) and is a citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Stacy is a nationally recognized leader in advancing American Indian and Alaska Native health and public health and has served with NIHB for 19 years.

Ms. Bohlen has been a policy, appropriations and budget professional for more than 35 years. She began her career as a Legislative Assistant to a Michigan State Senator, then serving in Washington, DC Legislative Assistant to her home Congressman, who was an Appropriations Committee Chairman.

Ms. Bohlen joined NIHB as the Director of Government relations and became its CEO a year later. Some of her notable achievements include leading the successful effort to win the permanent reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service, numerous reauthorizations of the Special Diabetes Program for Indians and advocating for billions in Tribal health funding during the pandemic.

She has also led NIHB to create a national, Tribal presence and leadership in public health. During the Pandemic, she transformed NIHB into a national TRIBAL COVID response entity – a successful effort made possible only because of the brilliant work and dedication of the NIHB Team.

Prior to joining NIHB, she was the Director of Federal Relations for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, the Education Officer for a graduate medical education consortium in New York City, Deputy Director of the American Osteopathic Association’s Washington, DC Office. She was born and raised in Michigan.

 


Banking for Activism with The Pledgettes

Educate. Embolden. Invest.

Thursday, June 20th, 2024 | 4:00 - 5:30 pm
Center for Colorado Women’s History | In-Person 
Member: $10 | Non-Member: $15

Join The Pledgettes at the Center for Colorado Women’s History for a workshop all about intentional banking through the lens of gender. Facilitated by The Pledgettes’ founder Jenn Uhen, participants will learn more about the history of the gender wealth gap, community banking, and the impact that can be had when women make informed financial choices.

Participants will be invited to learn from one another and share in one-on-one and small group discussions about their own money experiences using prompts such as ‘What is your first money memory?’. In discussion with one another and Jenn, visitors will gain confidence in financial literacy and free and low-cost action steps to take towards empowered banking.

The Pledgettes is a financial community that emboldens women to align their money to their values to create more powerful financial lives. The Pledgettes believe that when more women take individual action or make money moves, our collective impact grows, leading to healthier, wealthier communities.


Danielle Shoots 

Wealth Equity Champion. TEDx Speaker. Investor. 

Thursday, June 27 2024 | 7:00 p.m.
History Colorado Center | In-Person
Member: $10 | Non-Member: $15 

Join us for a conversation about women’s economic justice with Danielle Shoots, a venture investor focused on BIPOC Founders and a champion for investments as a tool for economic equity. Shoots will discuss the history of our financial and economic systems and how they have perpetuated wealth disparities that disproportionately impact women and People of Color. She will also talk about how the US government must reverse these gaps and the bold actions that can be taken to quickly address gender and racial wealth disparities and promote economic equity.  

About the Speaker

Danielle Shoots is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Domestic Emerging Market Investments (DEMI). Ms. Shoots is a seasoned finance and operations executive. She has held Chief Financial Officer positions in public, private, fortunate 50 and philanthropic sectors where she was responsible for billions in operations, capital, and investment portfolios. Ms. Shoots oversaw strategic financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions and investment endowments.  Ms. Shoots’ respected financial career has been rooted in a deep understanding of consumer and behavioral economics. Her investment approach has been no different. She believes if you study the people that drive the economics of companies, products, investments, and the country, you can create companies that are financially profitable and sustainable. 

Ms. Shoots’ passion for people and leadership, distinguished business acumen and tenacious work ethic have garnered her numerous accolades, including inclusion on the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business from the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce, Woman of the Year by the National Diversity Council, The 2020 Emerging Leader in Philanthropy from ABFE, and a recipient of the 2017 Denver Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 award. Ms. Shoots is an engaged community member and serves as a mayoral & city council appointed board member for Denver Health and Hospital Authority, a governor appointed board member for CollegeInvest, a trustee for the Women’s Foundation, and the Chief Economic Equity Advisor to State Senator, James Coleman and State Representative, Leslie Harod.

 

 

About Women's History Symposium

Learn more about the Women's History Symposium, lead by the Center for Colorado Women’s History