Thursday, October 1, 2026
Local female leaders joined children at Turn of the Corkscrew Books and Wine on Jan. 20 to recognize other strong women who have inspired them.
Raising Voices USA, a Rockville Centre-based network of community members who promote civic engagement, organized the event, inviting speakers like Deputy Mayor Kathy Baxley, Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen, State Assemblywoman Judy Griffin and Liz Dion, a trustee on the Rockville Centre Board of Education.
“You can’t be what you can’t see,” said Raising Voices Co-Founder Emma Travers, noting that the speakers highlighted “how people have blazed trails and done things that other women haven’t before them, and how it’s going to be easier for our girls to do that.”
Baxley, a former teacher, spoke about J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, who influenced her students and her own children to enjoy reading. She added that children at the Jan. 20 event wanted to form a book club, and that she was going to invite them to the mayor’s office to have a Harry Potter book discussion. “It was something spontaneous that turned into something absolutely awesome,” Baxley said.
Dion chose to highlight English novelist Jane Austen, who is one of her favorite authors, and shared with the children how important reading is.
“It was an opportunity to celebrate amazing women that defied expectations and to remind our children that our gender does not define who we are and what we’re capable of doing,” Dion said of the event.
The speakers also read excerpts from Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. Downstairs, Travers said, people wrote postcards to women who she noted have been strong and courageous over the last year, like Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Michelle Obama, Christine Blasey Ford and Aly Raisman.
“It was basically a thank you for speaking out for women,” Baxley said, “… and making a difference in the world.”
