EVENT TO SPOTLIGHT VARIETY OF WOMEN.

Byline: Charles Bostwick

PALMDALE -- Business and motivational authors, a feminist legal theorist and a nun who gave up a life as a Beverly Hills socialite to spend 30 years working with Mexican prison inmates will be speakers at the second Antelope Valley Women's Conference.

About 1,200 women and some men are expected to fill four buildings May 17 at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds for the all-day conference, which organizers said is intended to celebrate, ignite and invigorate women.

``The women's conference is about taking women forward,'' said Dianne Ressegue, one of the organizers.

Conferencegoers will be able to talk with the speakers and buy autographed copies of their books during a book fair.

There also will be exhibits, more than 130 vendors and interactive workshop sessions with guest speakers.

``It's going to be hard to choose. They're all fabulous women, and they're all fabulous speakers,'' said Vivian Komori, the conference's executive director.

Tickets will go on sale March 5. General admission will cost $95 for tickets purchased before April 15 and $125 for those bought later.

For people older than 62 and for full-time students with identification, the price will be $65 before April 15 and $90 later.

The conference will begin with a continental breakfast from 7:30 to 9 a.m., and the last talk will end at 4:30 p.m. Lunch will be included.

Organizers announced Wednesday that the speakers will include law professor Elvia R. Arriola, founder and director of Women on the Border; Dorothy Breininger, a consultant in home and office organization and clutter prevention; and Alana Pratt, who bills herself as a ``sexy mom expert.''

Keynoters will include Pamela Jett Aal, author of ``Mind Your Own Business -- A Career Management System,'' and Lorraine Monroe, first principal of the Fredrick Douglass Academy in Harlem.

At the conference, a Looking Beyond the Ordinary Award will be presented to Mother Antonia, who -- as a twice-divorced mother of seven grown children -- sold her home in 1978 and moved into a Baja California prison to minister to inmates.

Now 80, she heads a Roman Catholic religious order that women ages 45 to 65 can join to work with the poor.

Nuns in San Diego will drive Mother Antonia to the Antelope Valley, where she will stay at St. Andrew's Abbey to attend the conference, organizers said.

For more information, go to www.avwomensconference.com, e-mail [e-mail] or call [phone].

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Photo:

Vivian Komori, executive director for the event, speaks Wednesday about the Antelope Valley Women's Conference to be held May 17.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer