‘HerStory—Her Way;” Local Women Tell Their Stories for Women’s History Month

Dr. Noemi-Custodia-Lora, vice president at Northern Essex Community College and a member of the Leadership Team of the Haverhill Latino Coalition. (Courtesy photograph.)

In honor of Women’s History Month in March, a panel of women, representing government, education and business, will share their experiences.

“HerStory – Her Way,” Celebrating Women in Leadership and Business, takes place Tuesday, March 3, from 8:30-10 a.m., at the UMass Lowell iHub, 2 Merrimack St. The Business Over Breakfast is a three-part series to support business growth in the Merrimack Valley and is presented by the UMass Lowell Innovation Hub, Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce and Small Business Administration of Massachusetts

Panelists include Sen. Diana DiZoglio; Dr. Noemí Custodia-Lora, vice president Northern Essex Community College’s Lawrence campus; and Jane Ciccone, co-founder of Onesto Foods of Newburyport.

The breakfast is free and open to the public. For more information, visit haverhillchamber.com or call 978-373-5663.

DiZoglio is state senator for the First Essex District, which includes cities and towns along the Merrimack River, from Methuen to Newburyport. Before winning her first race for public office as a state representative for the 14th Essex District in 2012, she worked for multiple non-profit, community-based organizations. In this legislative session, she is a member and leader of several committees and serves as chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business.

Custodia-Lora, a native of Puerto Rico and a scientist with a doctorate from Boston University, joined Northern Essex in 2003 as a faculty member of the Natural Sciences Department. In 2011, she was appointed assistant dean of Foundational Studies and Liberal Arts and Sciences. She is a founding member of the ESL Social/Learning Club which is an initiative aimed at attracting more English as a Second Language students into the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Before joining the college, Custodia-Lora was a post-doctoral fellow at Tufts Medical School in Boston. She holds a bachelor’s in biology from the Universidad de Puerto Rico and a doctorate in physiology-endocrinology from Boston University. She was raised in Puerto Rico but both her parents are from the Dominican Republic.

Ciccone, is the co-founder of Onesto Foods, a company that hand-crafts artisan crackers in Newburyport. The crackers are made in small batches, by hand. The company, whose name means “honest” in Italian, uses only non-GMO ingredients to make crackers.

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