Shenna Bellows Submitted photo

WINTHROP — Secretary of State Shenna Bellows plans to give a talk at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 22 at the Charles M. Bailey Public Library, 39 Bowdoin St.

The event will kick off the library’s 13th annual Summer Speaker Series.

The presentation will focus on the importance of literacy, reading and community; how to spot scams and misleading solicitations; and information regarding the upcoming election.

Bellows lives in Manchester and grew up in Ellsworth. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in international politics and economics from Middlebury College in Vermont, where she spent a semester in Costa Rica. While in Costa Rica she started a Junior Achievement chapter at a high school in Panama that promotes economic and educational opportunities for women and girls.

After college Bellows served as an AmeriCorps volunteer, working to promote educational and economic empowerment for youths in Nashville’s largest public housing project.

Bellows is the former executive director of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine and LearningWorks in Portland. She also ran Bellows & Company, a communications consulting firm.

After representing District 14 in the Maine Senate, she was selected by the state Legislature to serve as Maine’s secretary of state. She’s the 50th person, and the first woman, to serve as Maine’s secretary of state, a role that involves overseeing state elections as well as the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Maine State Archives.

For more information, call the library at 207-377-8673 or visit baileylibrary.org.