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Member Clubs › USA
Broward International Women’s Club
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Friendship, culture and scholarships in Fort Lauderdale since 1975.
About us
Broward International Women’s Club brings together women from around the world who call South Florida home. Our members share their cultures over potluck dinners where everyone brings a dish from her own country, and celebrate together at luncheons, holiday parties and International Women’s Day.
Our heart is education: every year we fund scholarships for international students at Nova Southeastern University, and we love meeting each new group of students. In 2028 we look forward to welcoming the whole WCI family to Fort Lauderdale for the 18th Biennial Conference.
Our club began in 1975, when Fort Lauderdale’s mayor, Clay Shaw, asked Olga Ortiz, then Honorary Consul of Ecuador, to gather international women as the city’s official hostesses for the U.S. Bicentennial celebrations. Six founding members started the club, with Ms Ortiz as our first president. Student volunteers from Broward Community College helped at those events, which gave us the idea of scholarships: since then we have supported more than 160 students from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Central and South America.
Our motto is “Changing the World, One Woman at a Time”. By 2023 our scholarships had given about $500,000 to foreign-born students, and in 2025 our club turned 50.
What we do
- Scholarships for international students at Nova Southeastern University
- Night of All Nations, our annual fundraising gala
- International potluck dinners and holiday luncheons
- International Women’s Day celebration honoring our members
- Outings such as the NSU Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center
Photos
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Night of All Nations: $25,000 in scholarships for international students
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Potluck dinner with dishes from members’ home countries
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Holiday Luncheon at Jacaranda Country Club
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International Women’s Day with our scholarship recipients
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Our Board of Directors (theLINK, 2016)
Club news
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Host of the 2028 WCI Biennial Conference
We are proud to host WCI’s 18th Biennial Conference in Fort Lauderdale, the “Venice of America”, from April 23 to 27, 2028, followed by an optional cruise to the Bahamas. Mark your calendars!
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International Women’s Day 2026
Judge Jackie Powell was our guest speaker at the Sheraton West in Plantation. We honored three loyal members from France, Cameroon and Pakistan, and three of our scholarship recipients joined us.
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Night of All Nations raises $25,000 in scholarships
Our biggest fundraiser of the year at the Riverside Hotel funded scholarships for five international students at Nova Southeastern University.
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A WCI woman who makes a difference: Dr. Kamala Anandam
theLINK magazine honored our member Dr. Kamala Anandam. Raised on a farm in India, she taught neighbours’ children to read, earned her doctorate in the United States and retired as Associate Dean of Educational Technologies at Miami Dade College. She mentors high school girls, founded the Weston branch of the American Association of University Women in 2007, and was named our Woman of Merit in 2006. She is in the Broward County Women’s Hall of Fame.
Our club in the WCI family
Member Club Spotlight Higher education is the heart of this Florida club’s mission, because one student’s education lifts a family, a community and the wider world.
“Appreciate everyone for who they are…”
On the WCI Executive Committee
- Gloria AnthonyDirector of Development
- Winnifred McPhersonDirector of UN Council
Why women join a WCI club
Friends from everywhere
Meet women of many nationalities who know what it is like to start over in a new place.
Culture and learning
Talks, trips, cooking, languages and traditions, shared over coffee and at our events.
A voice beyond the club
Join sister clubs at International Conferences and in WCI’s work at the United Nations.
Sister clubs nearby and around the world
All 18 clubs ›- USAInternational Women's Club of New EnglandMaine, USA
- USAInternational Women's Club of PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- USAWelcome to California International ClubSan Diego, California, USA
- GermanyAnglo-German International Women's Association e.V.Hamburg, Germany
- GuamChinese Ladies' Association of GuamGuam
- IsraelInternational Women's Club IsraelIsrael
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