Hello, My name is Anika Oplanic and I am the President of ALANA, our multicultural women’s club on campus.

ALANA is an organization that promotes building community between women of color on campus, as well as educating students about topics like feminism, womanism, heritage months, important court cases, and the importance of self-development through leadership building.

The annual Phenomenal Women’s Dinner, a night of honoring all ALANA has accomplished this year, as well as the accomplishments of women within our community. It will be Thursday, April 13th, from 5:30-8:00pm, with doors opening at 5:00.

During the dinner, we will be exploring the theme of “The Beauty of Our Community.” We will be hosting local business owners, including Melanin Beauty Bar, The Unspoken V, Thy Sacred Lyfe, and Healing Roots by Mia Simone. This will give students and community members the opportunity to support Black woman-owned businesses from right here in La Crosse

Additionally, we will be having UW’s own Prenicia Clifton as our keynote speaker. She is the UW System Youth Protection Director, an accomplished opera singer (The first African American person to sing in a Chinese opera house completely in Mandarin), and the founder of Seein’ is Believin’ – a foundation that specializes in advocating for youth mental wellness. She will be telling her story as to how she’s gotten to where she is today, and will be doing a workshop to help students to connect with themselves.

Furthermore, we will be honoring 2 of our own UWL staff as our Phenomenal Women Honorees of the night (as well as 2 other women from Wisconsin). These women have all done amazing things for their community, and they deserved to be recognized for it.