Featuring Patti A. Smith, Founder/Executive Director of Living Her Legacy, Women of Fort Collins
Empowering women and girls is multifaceted and can take many forms. Patti Smith has held many roles and worked in a variety of fields throughout her career, but has seen each position as an opportunity to assist and empower others.
Patti Smith is known in the Fort Collins Colorado community for her women’s advocacy work. She has advocated for women and girls through the Zonta Club of Fort Collins. The Zonta Club of Fort Collins supports programs and projects that support women in the Fort Collins area and globally through advocacy, service, and scholarship opportunities. For instance, The Zonta Club provides birthing kits to women in Uganda through a partnership with Think Humanity, a non-profit organization who works in Uganda. Other issues Patti and the members of the Zonta Club work to address include ending violence against women and girls, climate change, and gender equality. The Fort Collins chapter Patti Smith is a part of is a member of Zonta International, an organization that has been advocating for women for over 100 years around the world.
In addition to her work with Zonta International, Patti Smith is the Founder and Executive Director of Living Her Legacy Fort Collins, an art and education project that highlights the contributions of women to the Fort Collins community. The exhibition which is located in Old town Square Fort Collins features portraits of 48 women who have ties to Northern Colorado. The purpose of the exhibit is to not only educate the community about the great contribution of women but to inspire and empower other girls and women. Patti Smith’s vision for this art installation and the work of Living Her Legacy is to inspire “Women and Girls to Create Their Own Legacies.”
Patti Smith’s advocacy for recognition of the accomplishments of women and empowerment of women is inspiring. Even before her work with the Zonta Club of Fort Collins or Living Her Legacy Fort Collins, Patti was actively involved with supporting girls and women. She spent twelve years teaching high school students, many of whom were girls and young women, connecting them to the health profession. Throughout her time in education and in the healthcare arena she interacted and worked with women and girls from various walks of life such as women who had been raised within refugee camps and who had eventually come to the United States with their families. Her love and passion for supporting and empowering young women from underserved populations grew out of these experiences with women and girls from vulnerable populations.
Patti Smith’s work to raise awareness of the contributions women have made and to inspire future generations of girls and women has made a tremendous impact locally and globally. Her work and her accomplishments as a woman and for other women is in itself an inspiration.