Strong Milwaukee Women: Celebrating Women’s History Month

by Shari Wszalek, Times Contributor

April 1, 2024

Meet Antonia Anderson! She’s the founder and curator of the Milwaukee Hip Hop Museum. Antonia works for Milwaukee Public Schools and believes that hip hop can help children improve their critical thinking and writing skills, and become more productive in the community.

For the entire month of March, I shared portraits of strong Milwaukee women I know on my Facebook page. The MATC Times requested that I share some of these pictures to place the spotlight on inspirational women for Women’s History Month.

The women I chose have impacted and inspired our community, and I hope this feature encourages you to reflect on the special women in your life and that you will tell them how much you appreciate them.

Let’s not forget Shari

By Iryna Levit

While we’re happy to feature the work of MATC Photography student, and soon-to-be graduate, Shari Wszalek and her portraits of strong women for Women’s History Month, there is one portrait missing–hers! Wszalek needs to be featured as well because she’s a great example of a strong Milwaukee woman. She is independent, proactive, hardworking and helpful.

She used to be a teacher at Milwaukee Public Schools, has a degree from UW-Milwaukee, and is the mom of two sons. After retiring from teaching, she found herself a student once again at MATC and is pursuing a degree in Photography. Since September of 2023, she has been tutoring photography students. I’m impressed with her because she doesn’t want to stop learning. On her journey at MATC, she has grown tremendously and learned to see light, which is an important skill for a photographer; I find her inspirational.