Local activist of the year: Liz Oster

Women’s Magazine features local women activists every month. Liz Oster, of Superior, made such an impression on us that we honor her this month as our local female activist of the year.

Oster, 52, turned a domestic-violence experience into something positive by creating a nonprofit called Courage is Change. The goal: Help end the cycle of violence by opening up communication and creating stronger communities.

Since we last talked to Oster, Courage is Change has launched after-school “Red Tent” gatherings for girls at four local high schools. The meetings feature classes on all kinds of topics — from self-defense to meditation to interviewing skills — to help empower girls to make healthy choices.

Oster hopes to soon have Red Tent clubs at all Boulder Valley high schools and launch a middle school program. She also dreams of starting a Red Tent center for women of all ages and backgrounds, where women can find various offerings, such as coaching, yoga and dance classes, cooking classes and massage. To learn more, visit www.courgeischange.org.

“Women don’t have that sense of community in our lives anymore,” Oster says. “We need each other for survival.”

We asked Oster a few more questions, to get a glimpse inside her busy brain:

What is the best advice you can offer other female activists right now?
Follow your passion. I’ve had many challenges, but I look at them as something I need to learn from and move forward.

What is your life’s motto?
It’s all good. My girlfriends and I will complain to each other for hours, be in tears and end it all with, “But it’s all good.”

What inspires you?
I don’t listen to negativity. If anybody says I can’t do it, I say, “Yes, I can.” And I’ve proven that. I know I’m going to pull this off, and I know it’s going to be incredible.

— By Aimee Heckel

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