The Young Women’s Alliance (YWA) is an organization devoted to the professional and personal development of women leaders in Central Texas. For more than 20 years, YWA has been a staple in the Austin community, driven by our four pillars: lead, educate, network, and serve. YWA hosts a Monthly Speaker Series that is free for members and welcomes community leaders with inspirational stories and accomplishments.

Join us for the March Speaker Series featuring Lynda Rife, President and founder of Rifeline. Lynda founded Rifeline,a public involvement and community relations firm serving organizations that rely on public support to achieve their goals, in 2002. With more than 25 years of experience, she is a seasoned specialist in the areas of public involvement, community affairs, government relations, and grassroots and grass tops political strategy. We will hear from Lynda about her journey as a business owner who built her business from the ground up.

Lynda has mobilized support for transportation, education, and infrastructure projects and has worked to resolve issues between neighbors and project planners as well as homeowners and construction firms. She has facilitated hundreds of meetings and advisory groups, and executed outreach strategies to reach Austin-area neighborhoods, schools, parents, environmental groups, business groups, the healthcare community, bicycle/pedestrian groups, elected officials, religious institutions, and other stakeholder groups. Lynda has worked on several projects involving interactions with regulatory agencies including the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.  Lynda also develops the strategy for issue campaigns for improvements to schools, support of community colleges, construction of libraries, and transportation projects. She had the honor of playing a prominent role in the passage of Central Health’s Proposition 1 that brought the Medical School to UT Austin and kicked off Senator Watson’s 10in10 initiative to transform health care in Central Texas.

Lynda volunteers with Interfaith Action of Central Texas (iACT!), Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH), and the Austin Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, Lynda is the recipient of the Austin Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 Volunteer of the Year award for Regional Infrastructure and the 2017 Volunteer of the Year for Transportation & Mobility. She received her undergraduate degree from Purdue University and has completed coursework at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin.

FREE FOOD, BEVERAGES (ALCOHOLIC and NON-ALCOHOLIC) AND PARKING provided for members. Non-members are only $20.00. Don’t forget to RSVP on the website!