Latino Teachers Association conference presents windows of opportunity for women, girls 

When Iliana Wollney, of Bay Shore, was growing up in Ecuador, she was expected to get married and be a stay-at-home mom. 

Wanting a different path, she immigrated to the United States in 2001 and became a life insurance agent with New York Life, later co-founding the Long Island Ecuadorian Latin American Business Chamber of Commerce. 

Believing you can do anything, she said, is just one piece of advice she shared with more than 300 girls who attended the Long Island Latino Teachers Association's annual Women's Conference on Friday at Stony Brook University.

The half-day event featured 38 female professionals from different backgrounds who shared their personal and professional stories about overcoming barriers such as language, immigration status and poverty.

Panels were conducted in English and Spanish.

Kelly Urena, second vice president of LILTA, said it is important for students to have representation in all fields, especially for those who doubt their ability to attend college. 

"For some first-generation students, they might not even think that it's a possibility," she said. 

LILTA is a nonprofit organization with the mission to increase graduation rates and higher-education rates, especially for Latino students, who have some of the highest dropout rates in the country. The charity also hosted an annual men's conference in February, two conferences on the East End this winter, and plans to host a smaller-scale conference at Adelphi University in October. 

Panelist Ana Maria Carabello Gonzalez, of Port Jefferson, said she wishes she had something like this when she was growing up in Puerto Rico, when she first dreamed of working in radio. 

"I'm here because I didn't see myself represented when I was in high school," said Carabello Gonzalez, now the program director of WPTY and WBON and operations manager of WLIM Spanish news / talk. "It's very important to feel like there's somebody else that has done it; it gives you kind of a blueprint that 'If she did it, I can do it too.'"

The scholars began their day in the Student Activities Center with breakfast, a welcome introduction from LILTA and Stony Brook, as well as student performances and a guided Zumba workout. 

The group then split into six meeting rooms with one moderator and six professionals of diverse career sets, such as medicine, business, military, law enforcement, broadcasting and politics. Students were encouraged to ask questions and hold open discussions in the one-hour panels, as well as to connect and exchange information with the professionals.

In one English-speaking panel, Officer Shakira Richardson shared her experience as a Black woman in the Suffolk County Police Department, admitting that she has been discriminated against when attending 911 calls.

"Just because you are a minority does not mean that you don't belong there," she said.

Karla Valverde, 15, of Patchogue-Medford High School, said she related to a panelist who was raised by a single mother who emigrated from Colombia. 

"Her story hit very much like home," said Valverde, who also is raised by a single mother.

The sophomore said she dreams of attending Stony Brook, receiving her bachelor's and master's degrees, and becoming a neonatal intensive care unit nurse. She was grateful for the opportunity to be in the place of her dreams and to be surrounded by successful Latinas, she said.

"I wouldn't ever believe that I could be here," Valverde said. "Hearing all of these women's journeys and their struggles, how now they are someone's role model and how I can look up to them, it's a really big inspiration to me."