Thanks to YOU, Our Champagne and Chocolate Women's Event on June 10th was a Great Success!

Ryanne Olsen (standing), addresses the crowd .

Thank you to everyone who came out, and especially to our keynote speaker, Ryanne Olsen of Emerge Massachusetts, as well as to our own Carolyn Dykema, State Rep and Holliston Resident.

We had great weather and an amazing crowd. It was a wonderful afternoon with great women. Approximately 40 women from Holliston and surrounding towns gathered at the home of Ellen George in Holliston. The group enjoyed a sunny afternoon of champagne, chocolate desserts and a spirited discussion about women in politics, 

State Rep and Holliston resident Carolyn Dykema

State Representative Carolyn Dykema opened the discussion by talking about her experience running for office and the importance of women in behind-the-scenes roles of campaigning, as well as being the candidate. 

Rep. Dykema introduced guest speaker Ryanne Olsen, Executive Director of Emerge MA. She spoke about the role of Emerge, training Democratic women to run for office. She also encouraged attendees to get involved. Her suggestions included: run for office; support women running for office (volunteer and/or donate); get involved at all levels of politics, especially local levels; encourage friends to be involved, join progressive groups.

Emerge works to tackle the problems exhibited by the under-representation of women in government. The premier training program for Democratic women, Emerge inspires women to run for office and helps them network and hone their skills to win, to increase the number of Democratic women in public office.  

According to Olsen, the number of Massachusetts women inspired to run for office has increased so much since November that Emerge has doubled the number of students they accepted into their 2017 class!

For more information about Emerge, visit the website: www.emergema.org.  To learn more about the Holliston Democratic Town Committee contact Lisa Kaplan at 508-208-5491 or hollistondems@verizon.net