Press Release

As Haiti and Haitian families across the diaspora face a moment of profound uncertainty, hundreds of Haitian women will gather in Washington, D.C. to connect, heal, organize, access resources, and discuss how to shape what comes next.

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WASHINGTON, D.C., -  The Haitian Ladies Network® (HLN) will bring Haitian women together from across generations, professions, cities, and borders for its annual Haitian Ladies Weekend: Igniting Our Power 2026 Conference, October 2 through 4, 2026, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

This year’s gathering comes at a consequential moment for Haiti and Haitian communities across the United States and the global diaspora. The recent violence in Kenscoff, including the killing, injury, abduction, and displacement of civilians, has left families grieving and communities searching for safety. At the same time, the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti has created new uncertainty for Haitian families across the United States.

Haitian women are carrying these realities into their homes, workplaces, communities, and families. HLN believes this is precisely when women need to come together. Haitian Ladies Weekend 2026 will create space for women to connect, breathe, learn, organize, access trusted resources, build relationships, and think together about what comes next.

The guiding North Star for the weekend is Rasin Nou se Fòs Nou, Our Roots Are Our Strength. Our roots live in our history, culture, families, communities, faith traditions, language, creativity, and in the women who came before us. They also live in the women beside us and in the generations coming after us. This weekend is a return to those roots for strength, connection, and direction. “Haitian women have always known how to carry one another through difficult seasons,” said the HLN Board of Directors. “This year, we are creating space for women to come together with honesty and care. We will honor what we have inherited, make room for what we are carrying today, and build relationships and strategies for what comes next.”

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A WEEKEND BUILT FOR THIS MOMENT

Haitian Ladies Weekend 2026 will bring together women for programming centered on connection, culture, wellness, learning, entrepreneurship, storytelling, leadership, and community. Women will have opportunities to:

• Connect with Haitian women across generations, professions, and communities.
• Meet women traveling from Haiti, the United States, Canada, France, Italy, and other parts of the diaspora.
• Access practical resources and conversations relevant to Haitian women and families.
• Explore the stories of Haitian women whose leadership helped shape our history.
• Celebrate Haitian culture through music, food, literature, language, and creative expression.
• Make space for wellness, reflection, healing, and meaningful conversation.
• Support Haitian entrepreneurs, authors, artists, and businesses.
• Build relationships between established leaders and the next generation.
• Exchange knowledge, identify opportunities, and develop connections that continue long after the weekend ends.

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ONE NETWORK, MANY PLACES

This year the Haitian Ladies Weekend is designed as one global experience. Women will gather in Washington, D.C., alongside satellite gatherings in Haiti, France, Italy, and additional locations. Each gathering connects to the same weekend, the same theme, and the same global network. 

For HLN, the power of this weekend is not measured by a headcount alone. It is measured by the woman who meets someone she needs to meet. The entrepreneur who finds a new customer. The young woman who hears a story from an elder. The family that finds a trusted resource. The relationship that continues after everyone goes home.

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ROOTED IN THE WOMEN WHO CAME BEFORE US

Rasin Nou se Fòs Nou draws a direct line through Haitian women's history.

From Anacaona and Cécile Fatiman to Sanité Bélair, Marie-Jeanne Lamartinière, Marie-Louise Christophe, Ertha Pascal-Trouillot, Claudette Werleigh, Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis, Michaëlle Jean, Edwidge Danticat, Karine Jean-Pierre, and today's emerging generation of Haitian women, Haitian women have led, created, organized, governed, resisted, and built across generations. Their stories remind us of something essential. Haitian women's strength did not begin with this moment. It is part of our inheritance. And what we inherit, we have a responsibility to carry forward.

“Rasin Nou se Fòs Nou is not about looking backward,” said Elodie Manuel, 2026 Board Chair. “It is about embracing where we come from so we have greater clarity about where we are going. This weekend is a place to meet one another, resource one another, and leave with relationships and ideas we can put to work.”

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A PLACE FOR CONNECTION AND RESOURCES

For Haitian women living in the United States, the current immigration environment has added another layer of uncertainty for families. HLN will encourage women and families to seek qualified legal and community support for immigration questions and to rely on verified information as policies continue to change. The weekend will create opportunities for women to connect with people, organizations, and resources while building relationships with others who understand the realities facing Haitian families.

“We are not gathering because the moment is easy,” said Manuel. “We are gathering because connection matters when the moment is hard.”

Haitian Ladies Weekend isn’t aimed at solving every challenge facing Haiti and its diaspora in one weekend. It offers a starting point to listen, heal, gather information, meet, organize, and strategize. It’s a space to reflect on our roots and consider our responsibilities to future generations.

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EVENT DETAILS

The Haitian Ladies Network® invites Haitian women, community leaders, journalists, partners, and friends of the Haitian community to join us in Washington, D.C.

For members of the press, Haitian Ladies Weekend offers an opportunity to hear directly from Haitian women leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, authors, advocates, and emerging voices from across the diaspora about the issues shaping their families, communities, and futures.

Additional programming and information will be announced at haitianladiesweekend.com

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ABOUT HAITIAN LADIES NETWORK® - Haitian Ladies Network® is a global community connecting Haitian women across generations, professions, cities, and borders. For two decades, HLN has created spaces where Haitian women gather to celebrate who we are, support one another, and invest in our future. What began as a small brunch has grown into a global network connecting more than 100,000 women across the United States, Haiti, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa. Since becoming a nonprofit organization in 2017, HLN has advanced women's leadership through year-round programming focused on financial well-being, wellness and healing, culture and heritage, bridging Haiti and its diaspora, and voice and influence.

MEDIA CONTACT: Media@haitianladies.org / haitianladiesweekend.com

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