Dominique Dawes, the Silver Spring native who became the first Black American gymnast to win an individual medal in the Olympics, is headed to Baltimore for a women’s festival next weekend.

Dawes, known in the gymnastics community as “Awesome Dawesome,” is a spotlight speaker for the daylong Women of the World (WOW) Festival in Baltimore on April 5. Featuring topics such as child care, women in the arts and building a better Baltimore, the festival will be presented by Notre Dame of Maryland University at the Rita Rossi Colwell Center in the Inner Harbor area.

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WOW is a global gender equity organization that, since its founding in the United Kingdom in 2010, has hosted over 150 festivals and events in 71 places, discussing obstacles facing women and girls. According to Maricka Oglesby, the executive producer for WOW Baltimore and former director of the Women’s Leadership Institute of Baltimore at Notre Dame University, Baltimore is one of two U.S. locations that hosts the festival.

WOW made its debut in Charm City in 2012 presented by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and was picked up by Notre Dame University in 2016, Oglesby said.

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“WOW Baltimore isn’t just a festival—it’s a love letter to this city, sung in the voices of the women who build, care, and create for our community,” Oglesby said in an email. “As a global festival, we’re not just putting Baltimore on the map—we’re declaring that the map begins here.”

General admission tickets for the festival are $30 and $10 for students. Dawes is a featured speaker alongside WOW Foundation founder Jude Kelly; Gary Barker, the president and CEO of Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice; India Gary-Martin, the founder and CEO of Leadership for Execs; and Amber Wendland, the associate principal at Ayers Saint Gross.

Dawes is a three-time Olympian who has won one team gold medal (1996), two team bronze (1992, 2000) and one individual bronze (1996, floor exercise). She is a 2002 graduate of the University of Maryland and owns the Dominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academy, with locations in Clarksburg, Rockville and Columbia.

Dawes could not be reached for comment in time for publication.