Purple, white and orange decorations adorned the University’s Main Mall Wednesday afternoon for the inaugural campuswide Women’s History Month celebration. 

The Division of Campus and Community Engagement hosted “She Starts Here, Then Changes The World” in collaboration with students from the Fearless Leadership Institute and service organization Texas Orange Jackets. Event program coordinator Daniela Pinedo said the organizers sought to celebrate UT women who “pioneered and paved the way” for women’s rights. 

The event, which hosted about 2,000 attendees, featured a variety of speakers, performers, women-owned local businesses and student organizations. 

Speaker Sarah Seraj, co-founder and chief technology officer of empowerment organization A Better Force, joined her sister Saamiya to empower women to advocate for themselves through community building and speak out against injustice. 

“Create a community to support and encourage you,” UT alumna Sarah said. “It’s really hard raising your voice in a world that continually wants to silence it.” 

As the owner and president of the second-oldest feminist bookstore in the nation, Susan Post of Book Woman sat proudly at her table displaying a variety of books written by women authors. They said it was meaningful to be a part of the communitywide celebration. 

“Women’s month is every month at Book Woman,” Post said. “It’s great to see it celebrated and to see the University allow that.” 

The event attracted students from several corners of the University. Public relations junior Maria Sagredo attended in support of her sorority Sigma Lambda Alpha, a Latina multicultural organization that tabled at the celebration. 

“(The event) just shows how our community is very strong and how we support each other, especially throughout a lot of events or a lot of issues that women are dealing with at the moment,” Sagredo said. “It just brings a lot of unity to that.” 

Pinedo said the DCCE will consider plans for a potential event next year. 

Underlining the theme of Women’s History Month, Pinedo said the contributions of women throughout history made the event possible. 

“The reason we’re even able to host an event like this is because of the women that came before us that paved a pathway for women to have rights on campus and just all around the world,” Pinedo said. “She starts here. She started at UT.”