POIPU — Seminars on topics ranging from budgeting and building credit to starting a business will soon be available to Kauai residents at the first Financial Empowerment for Women Conference. The conference, which will be 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
POIPU — Seminars on topics ranging from budgeting and building credit to starting a business will soon be available to Kauai residents at the first Financial Empowerment for Women Conference.
The conference, which will be 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Sheraton Poipu, is hosted by the Young Women’s Christian Association of Kauai.
“It’s the first event like this on Kauai,” said YWCA of Kauai board member Kuulei Santos.
The YWCA of Kauai board members and volunteers have been planning the conference since November.
“We wanted to give women the tools to understand money as best as they can and to provide them with a wide array of topics,” Santos said. “People can choose what panels and workshops they want to attend; it depends on what they want to get out if it.”
Other seminar topics include investing, real estate, ways to start a business and to improve interview skills and how to look for a job. Each seminar will feature an expert in the field.
Lunch will include a fashion show, featuring professional, budget- friendly looks from Macy’s.
The conference also gives attendees a chance to hear from two local women whom conference planners believe are role models in the community.
The women, Denise Wardlow and Stephanie Iona, will be the keynote speakers. Both are well known around the island, Santos said.
Wardlow, who is the general manager of The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas, has been in the visitor and tourism industry for 39 years. She has also served on community boards like the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association, the Kauai Bureau and the Kauai Tourism Strategic Plan.
Iona, the director of community affairs and public outreach at Dow AgroSciences Kauai, has worked in the tourism industry for 10 years. She is also the general manager of the Aston Waimea Plantation Cottages and was the first recipient of the Hawaii Hotel Association for Outstanding Employee-Manager of the Year.
“They are great role models who started from ground zero and now have received recognition,” said Randy Francisco, a conference planner volunteer.
Renae Hamilton, executive director of the YWCA of Kauai, said the reason for conference is simple: giving women options.
“The point isn’t to make everyone super wealthy,” she said. “It’s to give women the ability to know what their options are to make the best choices for themselves — that’s what empowerment is.”
Hamilton hopes the conference will make those options more accessible to the women of Kauai.
“I want people to leave with an awareness of the sources they can tap into or with a network that can help them in their next step,” she said. “I want them to know they can be empowered financially.”
There is a $25 registration fee. While there is no deadline to sign up, space is limited.
“It’s filling up fast,” Santos said.
The YWCA of Kauai expects 100 people to register. The group is also providing limited scholarships.
Info: www.ywcakauai.org or 245-5959.
