International Women's Day: Wednesday, March 8 ~ 5 - 6:30 p.m. @ Santa Maria Public Library

Location: Santa Maria Public Library (421 South McClelland Street) and on Zoom (pre-register here for link).

AAUW Santa Maria, the Santa Maria Public Library, and the Women's March of Santa Maria Valley will host Dr. Golnaz Agahi for her presentation, “Women, Life, Freedom (Zan, Zendegi, Azadi)." Dr. Agahi will speak about her personal story and connect it with women’s rights in Iran and across the world. A question and answer session will follow. 5-6:30pm.

Dr. Golnaz Agahi (D.S.W., L.C.S.W., M.P.H.) will speak about her personal story and connect it with women’s rights in Iran and across the world, including here in the US. A question and answer session will follow. Dr. Agahi was born in Tehran, Iran. Although her family migrated to the US when she was an infant, they returned to Iran in 1979. As a result, she experienced life during the Iranian revolution followed by living through five years of the Iran-Iraq war. She witnessed women’s rights being stripped away slowly from Iranian women under the Islamic government and lived through the fear of being taken to prison for not wearing the proper Islamic garment when walking through the city and/or attending celebrations. Fortunately, she left Iran in 1984 and returned to the US. As a writer, educator, and practitioner of social work for more than 20 years, her focus has been on children and adults addressing co-occurring disorders, crisis intervention, and trauma. She has become a champion and an advocate of girls and women for the freedom to have choices and equalize the playing field professionally or personally to pursue a better life. Dr. Agahi is presently an Associate Professor and Assistant Field Director at UMass Global University, School of Social Work. She currently resides in Southern California with her family.