Diana Ruiz was a mother at 16, struggled with drugs and alcohol and was a victim of domestic violence. Now, in her forties, she is promoting women’s leadership and trying to help young women overcome the obstacles they face.

For women to form a successful professional community they have to move away from the practice of indirect aggression, Ruiz said. It is common for women to sabotage each other professionally and she thinks it is important that women learn to respect each other and build a sense of responsibility towards other women. “In order for women to progress, we need to have allies,” Ruiz said.

Two years ago Ruiz founded the Women’s Global Leadership Initiative (WGLI), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “promote a values-based leadership program that unleashes the power of women to initiate change in their communities.”

Ruiz will be the first speaker, Oct.13, in a WGLI Leadership lecture series in the Bertolini Student Center for the 2010-2011 year. In the series are lectures on emotional intelligence, indirect aggression, communication between generations, effective communication in conflicts, creating an inspired life and building a rewarding career.

Ruiz first got involved in women’s leadership after a trip to Rome where she repeatedly heard about the Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian war. She began investigating the war, interviewing victims and writing research papers. In her studies Ruiz acquired many pictures of women in Croatia affected by the war. After concluding her studies of the war, she saved the pictures promising, “One day I’m going to go there.”

When she returned to Rome with her daughter, Ruiz again heard of war. With the faces of the Croatian women in mind, Ruiz walked into a travel agency and asked about going to Croatia. It would cost her only $159 for the one-hour flight. Ruiz was on that plane the next day, headed to Croatia.

“I felt something when I was there and I was like, okay, something is going to change,” Ruiz said.

After visiting Croatia and the women who wanted to be part of the post-war decision-making that affected their families, Ruiz decided to move there. She lived there for six months listening to women’s stories about how difficult it was for them to contribute to society, how everything was elitist and how there was no professional community for women. The women said they had no way of sharing information. Ruiz coined her time there as “the age of cynicism.”

Ruiz returned to the United States feeling incapable of helping the Croatian women. So, she joined a writing class. The teacher was active in teaching leadership skills to women from countries where women have little power. Her teacher planned a trip to Tanzania and asked Ruiz to go with her.

An opportunity had presented itself for Ruiz to make a difference in women’s lives, she felt she had a responsibility to go. “There’s a difference between being afraid, being paralyzed, and walking through it,” Ruiz said. “I just kind of walked through and said, okay, here I go, God.”

Ruiz ended up teaching leadership to women in the Balkan Region of Europe, and founding the WGLI. After returning to the United States, Ruiz noticed that women here face similar challenges as those in other countries; it just isn’t as obvious, she said.

She found that businesswomen in higher positions from businesses and organizations were extremely willing to mentor other women. “The women who know the ropes…all you have to do is ask,” Ruiz said. WGLI ended up with expert women in fields ranging from gardening to career building. These women formed the basis of the lecture series WGLI now offers.

The goal of the lecture series is to introduce women to the idea of leadership and find out where they could use help. Ruiz hopes feedback from the leadership series translates into women taking advantage of the workshops WGLI provides.

Although WGLI is a nonprofit, the workshops are not free. Costs are divided on the basis of attracting a diverse community of women; 25 percent are offered on full scholarship, 25 percent partial scholarship, 25 percent discounted for nonprofit organizations and students, and 25 percent full price for professionals.

In WGLI’s structure, the professionals mentor those seeking development. This is meant to provide support for women trying to break into the business world. It is a women’s equivalent to the “good-old-boy” structure that helps many men get into business.

“We’ll be known for having a pot of experts, a professional pool of women,” Ruiz said.

Ruiz hopes that in a year WGLI’s organizational structure will be in place, and that SRJC will have a women’s leadership club on campus.