Online Community Offers Women Support and Inspiration

Women in Houston now have access to a new career resource – a Web site with open forums and social networking that can make it easier to achieve career goals.

The www.WomenAchieve.org site, sponsored by Women Employed – a women’s advocacy organization – and American InterContinental University (AIU), can be a useful resource for women who want to return to school or make a career change.

The site also offers inspiring stories of women who overcame significant challenges to achieve their dream careers. Few women have faced as many challenges as Arleen Flint, a 44-year-old Houston single mother of three who was forced to live out of her car after Hurricane Ike.

Flint had an exceptionally difficult childhood. With parents who were forced to drop out of school at remarkably young ages in order to support Flint and her seven siblings, she had few people to inspire her to pursue her educational goals. She dropped out of high school after she was sexually assaulted during her junior year, an event so traumatic that it caused her to fear crowds and delayed her return to school. Flint knew she wanted to pursue a higher education but found it difficult to fit in and had difficulty with large class sizes. Despite these setbacks, she vowed she would continue with her education after her children had all graduated high school.

Decades later, Flint enrolled at AIU Houston to pursue an associates degree in business. In September 2008, after Hurricane Ike ravaged Houston, she was left without a place to live. Flint came to the AIU campus for refuge only to find it had been devastated by the storm. She lived out of her 1988 Volvo for a week, slept at the bus station and after brief stays with multiple friends, she reached out to a fellow church member who connected her with an affordable co-op rental in Houston.

While these experiences would have left most women disheartened, Flint feels fortunate to have found a support system through AIU. Thanks in part to the education she’s received, she hopes to one day make her dream of opening a home for foster children and other displaced people a reality. As a college graduate, she will be able to provide a better life for herself, her children and the people she hopes to one day help.

Flint, who graduated in June 2009, is immensely proud to be the first college graduate in her family, and feels she could not have achieved her goals without AIU. The passionate teachers, friendly environment, supportive administration and invaluable friendships have encouraged Flint’s entrepreneurial spirit.

The WomenAchieve.org site was inspired by stories like Flint’s, and the online community is designed to help women facing their own difficult situations. The site serves as a support network and go-to resource.

“WomenAchieve empowers women and gives them a voice in a forum where their achievements are celebrated,” says Flint. “As a woman who is seeking to advance my career, I’m grateful that such a resource exists, as it has provided me with inspirational stories and many of the tools I’ll need to achieve my career goals and overcome any future challenges.”