March 26, 2018

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Happy Women’s History Month! At WIN Network: Detroit, we spend our time working with and for women, and we encounter inspiring women every day. To celebrate the end of Women’s History Month, some WIN Network: Detroit team members reflect on a woman in their lives or in history that has inspired them in their careers:

Linda Reyes, Community Health Worker

Angela G. Reyes

The woman that inspires me is: Angela Guadalupe Reyes, Executive Director at Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation

Angela Guadalupe Reyes is the director at a non-profit organization in Southwest Detroit. She is an advocate for youth and for Southwest Detroit. I met her when she worked in the Youth Department at Latino Family Services, INC. She is a true inspiration to all and will go above and beyond. She has inspired me to become a Community Health Worker and a leader in my community and motivates me to do the work I do today.

Courtney Latimer, Program Manager

The woman that inspires me is: Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States

Michelle Obama

A quote by Michelle Obama that I love: “With every word you speak, with every choice you make, with the way you carry yourself each day, you are rewriting the story of our communities”.

Michelle Obama and this quote in particular really exemplifies how I feel about the work we do at WIN Network: Detroit. I never wanted to do something that could just make me money. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to better my community so that my children and my nieces and nephews could have something to inherit. I wanted to be able to contribute to the betterment of the place that made me the person that I am today, in a way that will change the narrative of my community forever. It feels good to be able to show women who are from where I’m from that they don’t have to be statistics, and that they can change the game! Because of Michele Obama, holding the platform that she has so gracefully, accomplishing what she has, I can look into the faces of my babies and tell them, with confidence, that if they work hard, they can indeed be WHATEVER they want to be in life. That feels amazing!

Nada Dickinson, Community Health Worker

The woman that inspires me is: Oprah Winfrey, media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

A quote by Oprah Winfrey that I love: “I choose to rise up out of that storm and see that in moments of desperation, fear, and helplessness, each of us can be a rainbow of hope, doing what we can to extend ourselves in kindness and grace to one another. And I know for sure that there I no them – there’s only us.”

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah embodies all that I would like to accomplish one day. She started off in broadcasting as a news anchor, having the number 1 talk show in the world then became a successful actress, and the CEO of her network, and became one of the first African American women billionaires. Above all of her great accomplishments, Oprah is an outstanding philanthropist, she gives so unselfishly. She is a woman that has done it all and accomplished all, but she still take times to give back and that is why I feel we are here on this earth, to help each other. There is no better joy than providing a helping hand to someone in need. That is why I love working at WIN Network: Detroit, It’s such a rewarding job to actually see the fruits of your labor blossom into success for the women we serve.