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editor 16 PLANOMAGAZINE.COM
letter
A #FierceFemale is easy to spot around here. Our offices at Plano Magazine are filled with women fervent in their pursuits, compassionate members of their communities who are excited by the everyday of their jobs. Those attributes could be re peated about nearly every Pla no woman I’ve interacted with, of many ages and backgrounds, since taking the reins as Editor of Plano Magazine this summer. From high-schoolers starting their careers before they’ve even ob tained their diplomas to women pursuing their passions with postchild-rearing years careers, Plano is full of some of the fiercest fe males I’ve ever met. You’ll meet some of them in this issue.Katherine Goodwin is a queen of volunteerism who strives to that started right in the founder’s own gardens, provides vitaminpacked produce to local restaurants.VictoriaMakanjuola, a recent college graduate, creates space to discuss mental health with other Gen Z influencers and experts through her blog and podcast. Konnor McClain was born to be a star. The 17-year-old gymnast has been training since she was 18 months old and is set to go to the 2024 Olympics. Shriya Bhat, also 17, turned a family illness into inspiration, re searching ways to fight the in fection using household ingredi ents. She brought her bacterial research to Harvard University this summer.Lawyer Rocio Gosewher Hernan dez helps to ensure women have a political voice in their community from the
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W hen it comes to being involved in the community, few people can top the record of Katherine Goodwin. She is active in local schools, city govern ment and the arts scene among other endeavors. When a group is in need of assistance, there’s a good chance that she will be there to answer the call. Goodwin and her husband were married in 1988 and moved to Plano in 1989. She is a University of California at Berkeley grad who once dated a punk rocker. Her husband served in the Marine Corps and went to Ole Miss. When they moved to their home near Coit Road and 15th Street, she figured she would live there five years or so. Then life happened, and before they knew it, they were empty nesters still living in Plano. Looking for something that better fit their new lifestyle, they moved to the Rice Field area at the beginning ofThe2018.following year she ran for a seat on the Plano ISD Board of Trustees. Although she lost, she promised her friend Angela Miner that she would remain active in the schools. So she continued to volunteer in PTA even after her kids wereWantinggrown.to serve her neighborhood, in 2020 Goodwin joined volunteers from the Plano West Rotary Club to help the Douglass Visions nonprofit distribute food to neighbors in need.
Volunteer Katherine Goodwin fights hunger like it’s her job story Joshua Baethge | photos courtesy of Katherine Goodwin
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Food distribution became much more streamlined through their efforts in the early pandemic. What used to take hours was now being completed in about 40 minutes. That experience made her want to help school kids in need over the holidays because long lines at food banks at the time worried her. She couldn’t get the program started by Christmas, but she set up a food drive-thru in February 2021 with the help of James Thomas of Plano ISD Student and Family Services. Volunteers from Plano West Rotary and Douglass Community turned out, this time to help those in need in the Barron Elementary community.
“You want to give volunteers things to do so that they know they are doing something needed and will be more likely to come back,” she says. “People don’t want chaos, so I try to make sure that everything is wellcoordinated.”Inaddition to her rotary and PTA work, Goodwin serves on the board of directors and the finance committee for Art Centre Plano. She also serves on the Plano ISD Board of Trustees Diversity Advisory Committee as well as multiple City of Plano boards. Goodwin says she has no interest in retiring and having nothing to wake up and do in the morning. She enjoys community services and plans to find new ways to support causes that are important to her and the city. Ultimately, she hopes her efforts will bring more opportunities and a better life for more people. When people tell her there are only so many ways to slice a pie, she has a quick retort.
“I’m all about working with people in projects where they make more pie for everyone instead of cutting up the pie,” she says.P
According to Goodwin, the people who truly deserve credit are the district’s food service workers who continued to work throughout the“Wesummer.werehelping by being the one that stood outside and distributed the food so that they could keep doing their jobs without having to stop and come out in the hot sun,” Goodwin says. Food distribution continues throughout the school year. At Armstrong Middle School, the project is done in conjunction with the North Texas Food Bank, parent involvement and liaison Kattia Saenz. At Bowman Middle School and Williams High School, it is done in coordination with Minnie’s Food Pantry in collaboration with Plano Up and Texas Health Resources, coordinated by Amanda Rhodes. Goodwin says volunteering has taught her the importance of making sure other volunteers have a good experience. She pays particular attention to things like starting the project on time and making sure it’s organized.
“At that point I was becoming really good friends with James Thomas. We were becoming like partners in crime in food distribution,” she says. With the help of several Rotary Club volunteers she organized weekly food distribution outposts at three locations during the summer of 2021. Each student received a meal bundle that contained seven breakfasts and lunches. The volunteers distributed more than 95,000 meals to 6,808 students.
CMYCYMYCMYMCK AHA_PlanoMag_Sept22.pdf 1 8/16/2022 1:55:59 PM
THE CHANGES ROLL WITH
Thunderbird Roller Rink remains after 50 years story Joshua Baethge | photos courtesy of Thunderbird Roller Rink
The carpet that has been in place for nearly 30 years will soon be replaced. Anthony and Sonya also plan to update the video games and food menu, but don’t expect to see too many changes.Whenlongtime residents step into Thunderbird, they are often surprised by how similar it looks to their childhood memories; Anthony and Sonya know nostalgia is a major reason many people come to visit. Still, they want to make sure the facility meets today’s expectations.
“Weown.went
Anthony says. “We’re going to continue with improving the lights, adding snack bar options and things like that.”
“It’s all about keeping a certain aesthetic,” Sonya says. “We don’t want to totally redo it. We are going to put some improvements in but keep the same look — just brighter and more colorful, like it was back in the ’80s.”
T his summer marked the 50th anniversary of Plano’s Thunderbird Roller Rink. It was a bittersweet anniversary after longtime manager Terry Monjure died this spring of pancreatic cancer. His son, Anthony, and Anthony’s partner, Sonya, began helping out around the rink a few years ago. They recently signed a new lease and plan to continue running Thunderbird on their ahead and decided to give it a try,”
For years the popularity of roller skating has seemingly been in decline, and there are only
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a few dedicated roller skating rinks left in the area today. Yet at Thunderbird on any given weekend, there is a packed house, with families doing laps around the rink, trying their best to stayAnthonyupright.says many rinks are run by people approaching retirement age. From his vantage point, it seems like there aren’t a lot of people from the next generation eager to take over those facilities.
Anthony says.
She and Anthony say they decided to stick with Thunderbird because they truly enjoy it.
Assassination City Roller Derby also returned this year and has been drawing big crowds. Sonya says she has also seen an increase in popularity among teens thanks to the show Stranger Things and its roller rink scenes.
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This summer, the crowds have returned to prepandemic levels. Kid birthday parties remain one of the biggest draws, and private events are on the rise. A group of seniors recently rented out the venue and skated the afternoon away to songs from their era.
Part of that may be that a lot of work goes into operating a rink. Skates must be inspected and repaired regularly, and the rink must be maintained to provide the optimum experience and ensure safety. Then there’s the fact that skyrocketing real estate prices make every square inch valuable. A roller rink requires a large amount of space, not to mention adequate parking for visitors. Many investors figure they can find a more profitable use of the land.
“They think that skating rinks aren’t that valuable, but to a lot of people, they are,”
“The fun thing is that you have these people coming in and telling their stories about birthday parties when they were kids and things like that. That’s the fun part,” Sonya says. “That and all the kids, and just seeing them so happy.”P
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Vitamin Green story Alyssa High| photography Jessica Turner Turning a garden hobby into a nutrient-rich business
Monica Gautam, left, and co-founder Pooja Kumar, right.
“Our biggest selling point is we do not have a middleman. Literally, when you say farm to fork, it is farm to fork,” Gautam says.
Kumar and Gautam own Talise Microgreens, a farm started just over a year ago that distributes to many favorite local restaurants.Kumarspent free time during the pandemic trying out different varietals and learning about the nutritional benefits of microgreens for her family. She discovered she could grow more than she needed and gave extras to family and friends. A mutual friend, knowing what an avid gardener Gautam is, suggested they work together.Though both women have full-time jobs, feedback from people who tried their greens inspired them to create the business, and Gautam began pitching to potential clients. They are a minority, womenowned business, though Kumar says their product speaks volumes, eliminating a lot of the heavy lifting typically needed for marketing.
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This has changed in recent years with microgreens — tiny versions of greens and other plants that are even more potent than their larger counterparts and just as tasty. Even better, these microgreens can be purchased from local farms, like one owned by Plano neighbor Monica Gautam and co-founder Pooja Kumar.
The pair and their employees grow, harvest and deliver 22 varietals. Clients are able to receive their greens within 48 hours of
“Becauseharvesting.wedon’t have middlemen, we don’t have storage, we don’t have external delivery, and we give our clients the best price that is in the market,” Gautam says. “If anyone compares, they say our price beats everyone else, the quality, the price, the service.”
F ar from the sad salads of the past, greens have come a long way in their incorporation into everyday dishes. The leafy plants are full of vitamins and antioxidants, but each plant produces a small amount for the energy it takes to eat them.
Though they’ve experienced quick success, Gautam says they are having trouble hiring more employees. However, they offer flexible hours and are willing to hire teens and those who need workplace accommodations, but the dip in the labor market makes hiring“We’redifficult.very grateful to all the clients that we have and all these big chains that we have, who’ve had so much faith in us,” Gautam says. “On our Instagram, they’re always pushing our name out there and sharing pictures of dishes that our microgreens have been used on.”
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The business serves more than 20 restaurants, several private chefs and a few chains. Because of their stronger flavor, health benefits, sustainability and small size, microgreens have endless ways to be included in a meal.
“We were just thinking, ‘OK, there’s this amazing thing that we really believe in what it has to offer. How do we get it out to people,’” Gautam says. “And the biggest struggle that we had was the amount of education around it.” Though microgreens can be used to make a salad, the powerful plants are small enough to pack tons of flavor into a dish without taking up too much space on the plate, which is the draw for many chefs, Gautam says.“Chefs really like to get creative with all the flavors you get in that first bite. But there’s only so much real estate that can actually go into your mouth,” Kumar says. “For example, if you taste our radish, you will be amazed how spicy it is with just one leaf versus having something you pull off a vegetable from Trader Joe’s.”
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Whether its Plano’s awardwinning school districts or parks, there’s something in the air. There’s plenty of fierce females in the neighborhood, but this year’s lineup is getting an early start. Meet these young women making strides in their respective field before they’re old enough to rent a car. story Alyssa High | portraits Kathy Tran
FEMALESFIERCE
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How
MakanjuolaVictoriacreatesacommunityofmentalhealthadvocacyforhergeneration
N etwork television. Podcasting. MTV honors. Helping transform silence into action.
“You never know what impact you can make even if you feel like: ‘What can I do? I’m just me. I’m nobody,’” Makanjuo la says. “You can still make a difference and an impact. You can still be a leader wherever you are. “So I’m kind of using my tiny space and the platform that I’ve created to be a positive influence.”P 35
Earlier this year, when MTV announced its Youth Mental Health Forum, Makanjuo la applied, becoming one of 30 young people accepted to participate. In co ordination with the White House and 18 mental health nonprofits, the forum dis cussed how to bring awareness and ac tion to mental health through media. The program coincided with her former em ployment at CBS, though, so she was un able to attend.
“Of course, I was disappointed.… From that point, I just decided to pivot into doing things that meant something to me and that could help me create real change,” Makanjuola says. Makanjuola recently began working as content and community manager with Better to Speak, a Black youth-led com munity media platform working to trans form silence into language and action.
“There’s still a communication gap, like an emotional gap between the old er generation and our generation, and that’s definitely something I’m trying to fight through,” Makanjuola says. “Even at home talking to my own parents, I try to make sure that we see things eye-toeye even though we’re a different gen eration, and it’s so much harder than it looks.”Makanjuola studied communication and media studies at Sam Houston before moving to Washington, D.C., to attend George Washington University, obtaining a master’s degree in media and strategic communication.AsaCBSNews summer intern during the pandemic, Makanjuola completed the program virtually from her parents’ house in Plano. That internship led to another as a features intern at CBS This Morning . Makanjuola then was hired as an executive assistant for 60 Minutes Plus. When that show was canceled after one season, Makanjuola changed her career path. During college, she’d creat ed a blog and podcast, so she decided to direct her energy there. These days, her podcast — Feel Your FeelingZ — tries to enlighten, educate and talk about how Generation Z is cop ing with mental health issues. Makanjuola has completed two seasons of Feel Your FeelingZ , covering topics such as vulner ability online, youth activism and stress.
And in her spare time, Makanjuola is active on her blog, As Told By Victoria , where she discusses a variety of topics, with much of her work centered around mental health.
During the past year, the platform host ed workshops to teach journalists how to use storytelling as a tool for social change. The nonprofit also participated in various community events, including The Book Drive, The Period Project and others that raised hundreds of dollars for community campaigns and where cre ators learned how to incorporate social justice into their content.
Plano neighbor and Gen Z member Victoria Makanjuola already has covered a lot of ground in her life. Her latest effort: Creating and operat ing a social media community dedicated to discussing mental health taboos.
A GEN Z FOR GEN Z
How a family illness led to Shriya researchmicrobiologyBhat’satHarvard
THE TEENAGE BIOLOGIST
A
s Shriya Bhat entered her first year of high school, she got word that one of her cousins had succumbed to a bacterial infection. Though the infection is common, her cousin lives in a rural part of South India, where doctors did not have access to antibiotics that could help her. “It was heartbreaking to watch the doctors prescribe more and more antibiotics, and there’s just really nothing we can do,” Bhat says. Bhat was inspired by the experience and began looking at how the bacterial infection, bacterial biofilm, worked. She found that biofilm is a group of bacterial cells that congregate and are more resistant to typical antibiotics. The bacteria communicate with one another and regulate gene expression in a way Bhat akins to talking. “I got really interested in the mechanisms of how this biofilm grows because it will sustain itself. And as I did more research into more cost-effective solutions, that’s when I started getting interested in specifically trying to target this bacterial speak, sort of intercepted the communication,” Bhat says. “So I was actually using ingredients that we typically use in South Indian cooking, and I was studying those natural compounds to see if they had any potential for combating biofilm growth.”Usingthis combination of bacterial knowledge and Eastern Asian medicine, Bhat began to research compounds found in her own kitchen to see what could combat this disease. Bhat worked in a lab at Baylor Scott and White Health clinic and published a paper in the International Journal of High School Research.
Bhat spent her summer at Harvard Medical School in Boston with Dr. Steven Laurie, a microbiology professor, to learn more about antibiotic resistance and the tools used in a university lab setting. This research is a part of the Research Science Institute Program, where 80 of the world’s most accomplished high-school students come to MIT/Harvard Medical School. There she found students with interests across the STEM field, many of whom with interests outside of the traditional science track.
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The paper, titled “Generating a Non-toxic, Multi-pathway Targeted Combination Treatment to Inhibit Pseudomonas Biofilm In-vitro,” discusses her findings that demonstrate that non-toxic substances could be effective against biofilm.
“Being a woman in STEM is just not being afraid to pursue whatever it is you want to do. I think that there is sort of a stigma against women who not necessarily do STEM or enjoy STEM but women who make STEM their entire life, and I think that stigma truly needs to be broken down,” Bhat says.
Bhat has other interests. At Plano East Senior High School, she has been location content research intern for the University of Texas at Dallas, publishing intern for Mission Impossible Kids, biological content research intern at UTD, an intern at iStart Valley, a student debate instructor, and founder and president at student-led nonprofit SySTEM for Success. While Bhat doesn’t know what is next in her research and career journey, she aims to continue researching her cousin’s illness and working with biofilm — and of course to graduate high school.
K onnor McClain started gymnastics at 18 months old after watching her older sister enjoy the sport. Long after her sister began pursuing other interests, McClain stayed invested, practicing twice daily and dedicating her life to making it to the top. She started in the Junior Olympic program in 2015 at the age of ten, where she competed in HOPES, or preelite, competitions and placed second on balance beam, fourth in all-around, fifth on vault and seventh on floor exercise.
“It was really just fun for me all those years,” McClain says. “I always loved going to the gym, practicing and meeting new people.”In2017, McClain qualified for junior elite status and competed at the KPAC National Qualifier, Parkettes National Qualifier, American Classic and U.S. Classic with other well-known gymnasts Kayla DiCello and Irina Alexeeva. By 2018 she had a silver medal in floor exercise at the Buckeye National Qualifier and International Gynix behind Alexeeva and second in the all-around at the American Classic behind DiCello. In the 2018 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, McClain finished fifth in the all-around and won gold on the balance beam. This success launched her career, and McClain was added to the national team.
While on the national team, McClain competed at the 2019 City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy where the team won silver and she won gold in the all-around How gymnast Konnor McClain is preparing for the 2024 Olympics photo courtesy of WOGA GOLD
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“I’m definitely adding upgrades to my routines and getting more consistent each year,” McClain says. “Next year is a really important year to prepare all my routines and stay consistent building into 2024.” P
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McClain made her debut at the 2021 Winter Cup, where she got the third-highest score on vault and fourth on beam. She was featured in the Peacock docuseries Golden: The Journey of USA’s Elite Gymnasts.
McClain moved to Plano to train at WOGA under Valeri Liukin in 2021; she settled down and made a family out of her fellow gymnasts. Though she has always been homeschooled, she attend homecoming in Plano with her WOGA friends. After settling into WOGA and Plano life, McClain competed at the 2021 World Championships and was re-added to the national team.
“Going there and traveling, literally across the world, was so fun,” she says. “Competing on the world stage and where everybody could watch was just a crazy experience and one of the best experiences.”InDecember, her father and grandmother died, and McClain reached out to Sunisa Lee, a friend and Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist, to discuss how to continue working through heartbreak.Afteran emotional reset and a few more months of practice, she headed to the Winter Cup Challenge, where she sported an “MM” patch on her uniform in reference to her father. At the 2022 Winter Cup, McClain won the allaround competition. Other accolades this year include gold at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge and the 2022 City of Jesolo Trophy. McClain is looking to the future and aims to compete in the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
COME VISIT AND TAKE ONE and bronze on the uneven bars and floor exercise. She was on a roll. She continued collecting medals at the Junior World Championships, the U.S. Classic and U.S. National Championships and was added to the junior national team. In her last year as a junior elite, McClain competed at the International Gymnix where the team won gold and she won silver in the allaround and gold in all four event finals. It was time to move to the senior elite.
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The organization was founded on the core values of women’s rights, voting rights, civil rights and human rights.“When we have a four-to-one ratio of men making decisions, women’s rights are not going to be the priority,” Gosewher Her nandez says. “We are hoping to mobilize voters and candidates who care about those issues.”
W
Women of color can join the Empower WOC group as full members, eligible to vote on issues, participate in programs and serve on boards and committees.
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One thing she and other founders were very strategic about was not aligning with any political group. Instead, they hope to unite people around the organization’s core beliefs.
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“A lot of people joined be cause they really care about their child’s education and ac cess to health care, specific is sues they can get behind and know what candidates they can get behind for these issues without committing to this as a political group,” she says. Many people involved in put ting the organization together have run for office or worked on campaigns, and Gosewher Hernandez says they often had similar experiences. For exam ple, female candidates felt like they were constantly having to prove their qualifications and defend their age in a manner that would never be expected of men.
omen are slightly more than 50% of the Tex as population, but there are three times as many men than women in the Texas House of Representatives. In the U.S. House of Representatives, men outnumber women four-to-one. Stats for women of color are even more disproportionate.
Rocio Gosewher Hernandez sees those numbers as a call to action. Last year, the Plano-based lawyer helped found Empower Women of Color North Texas. The orga nization seeks to help women, particularly women of color, who are running for office. It also works to mobilize more female voters of color.
The organization offers endorsements to those whose platforms align with the organization’s beliefs. Women of color who earn an endorsement are also eligible for financial support.
“One of our longer-term goals is to mentor and train future candidates for office and to tie them into the community and organizations they may not know about,” she says. “We’re essentially trying to level the playingGosewherfield.”Hernandez ran for the State House in 2020. She learned that candidates in Collin County try to fo cus on winning over white, middle-aged women voters since that’s the demographic that has traditionally de termined area elections. However, that model does not take into account that nearly half the county is now nonwhite.“There is a huge Asian, Black and Latin population, and you are essentially told not to mar ket to them,” she says. Through her new group, she hopes to promote messages that will resonate with more diverse groups and hopefully bring more of them to the polls.
Gosewher Hernandez says her family motivates her to stay involved in politics. Her immi grant parents gave up every thing they had to eventually settle in Plano when she was a teenager. Now she wants to en sure her children live in an even betterShe’sworld.made it a point to get involved in the community through advocacy as a lawyer and volunteer for local organi zations.Asthe number of people from diverse backgrounds continues to grow, Gosewher Hernandez is aware of the backlash many face. She chalks that up to people being threatened by the rapidly changing face of the“Yes,community.thereare people who only want representation that looks like them, but I think we all deserve represen tation that looks like our community,” she says. “This is an organization that focuses on empowering a community — not a particular person but making sure that the com munity’s voice is heard.”P To learn more about Empower Women of Color North Texas programs and event, visit empowerwocntx.com. This is notthatorganizationanfocusesonempoweringacommunity—aparticularpersonbutmakingsurethatthecommunity’svoiceisheard.
But there’s still the funding issue. First- or second-gen eration immigrants may not have access to fundraising networks that other candidates do.
Others who believe in the group’s mission can join as allies, participate in events and serve on committees. Nearly 30% of the registered allies are men.
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