Women to Watch 2021 Mid-Shore

WOMEN TO WATCH

UniversityofMarylandShoreRegionalHealthanditspartnerUniversityof MarylandShoreMedicalGroup congratulate thenomineesinthe2021 Women to WatchChesapeakespecial feature“WomenChangingOur World”.

We celebratetheirmanyaccomplishmentsandthepositiveimpacttheyhaveonthe qualityofsupportandserviceofferedtoourpatients,hospitalsand communities.

DaleGreenhawk Jafari,MSN,CRNP, FNP-C CertifiedNurse Practitioner

Universityof MarylandShore MedicalGroup –Women’sHealth

RosaMateo,M.D. DoctorofInfectious DiseasesandInternal Medicine

Universityof MarylandShore RegionalHealth

BrittanyKrautheim CertifiedNurse Practitioner ClarkComprehensive BreastCenter

Universityof MarylandShore RegionalHealth

RobertaLily,M.D. (RETIREDON1/1/21) MedicalDirector, ClarkComprehensive BreastCenter University of Maryland Shore RegionalHealth

Christina Turner,M.D. Universityof MarylandShore MedicalGroup –Nephrology

TrenaWilliamson RegionalDirector, Communications &Marketing Universityof MarylandShore RegionalHealth

WheretheHealthoftheEasternShoreComesFirst.

UMShoreRegional.org

We invite you to read about extraordinary women in our community and their accomplishments! This new program spotlights the work, dedication, talents and community service of women on the Eastern Shore who continue to lead in their respective fields and those who embody strength, vitality, leadership and integrity for our community.

We invited readers to nominate and vote for these women who exemplify excellence, both in navigating their career path and as community leaders. Our portal that accepted nominations was open on Stardem.com from Friday, January 22, 2021 through Friday, February 19, 2021. During this 3-week period, we received (175) nominations of extraordinary women who work or reside in the Eastern Shore counties of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties. The Women to Watch committee ultimately decided to keep the nomination portal open for an extra week to accommodate the volume of nominations flooding in during the period the nomination portal was open.

An APG Media of Chesapeake internal committee then embarked on the extraordinarily difficult task of identifying 17 women to interview for the 2021 Eastern Shore Women to Watch Magazine. The committee worked through a set of criteria for the nominees. The criteria includes nominees’ community service, professional accomplishments and entrepreneurship as well as their work with mentoring and inspiring others.

As you can imagine, it was an exceedingly difficult decision. Each nominee had invaluable contributions indelible both in the community and workplace. The names within these pages represent women who are breaking stereotypes to positively impact our world today while inspiring future generations.

Next year, we anticipate the program to grow and develop even further. We will be augmenting our internal selection committee to include female leaders in several vital categories like education, health, philanthropy and science. We would also like to develop mentoring opportunities from this program to pair the extraordinary women recognized within the magazine with younger girls in our communities for role modeling. We envision this effort to become Mentoring Mondays over the course of the next year. So, enjoy, read on and join us in saluting the trailblazers featured within.

— The Women to Watch 2021 Committee

CONTENT

Angie Price

Connie Connolly

Jessica Duerstine

Candice Spector

Brad Dress

Tom McCall

Mike Detmer

Hannah Combs

Leann Schenke

Patricia McGee

Mike Sunnucks

CIRCULATION

Doug McAvoy

ADVERTISING

Jane Froehlich

Nancy Curley

Sherry Plummer

David Anthony

Iryna Varniaga

Brandon Silverstein

Elizabeth Carr

WOMEN TO WATCH

Contact Betsy Griffin bgriffin@chespub.com

PRESIDENT

Jim Normandin

‘Always work hard’

Kim Lessard shares love of the sport with 2 generations of swimmers

By Trish McGee

How lucky is the swimming community that Kim Lessard’s job is her hobby?

It’s a rhetorical question. If you don’t the answer, then you don’t know Kim Lessard.

Her entire career has been about lifting up swim programs — at the youth, high school and college levels.

After a hall of fame coaching career over 26 years at Washington College, Lessard moved into administration in the summer of 2016 as assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator. She has stayed on as the aquatics director and continues to oversee the day-to-day operation of the Casey Swim Center, which has allowed her to do what she does best — promote the sport of swimming.

Lessard can’t remember a time when swimming wasn’t an integral part of her life.

Growing up in Vineland, New Jersey, she swam on her high school’s boys team until there was a girls team. She managed the swim team at Penn State University, where she was an intramural champ in the butterfly and individual medley.

Looking back, Lessard said, managing the swim team at Penn State, which introduced her to the behind-the-scene administrative side of the sport, is probably what led her to coaching.

Lessard’s job right out of college in 1982 was with Hershey Hotels as health club director at the Philadelphia location. She coached the Vineland YMCA swim team in the evenings.

Lessard dived deeper into coaching when she accepted a job as assistant superintendent of recreation for the town of Vineland. She was hooked, even if she didn’t know it yet.

The lightbulb moment came when

the 13- and 14-year-old boys’ 200 medley relay that she was coaching established a national YMCA record. That’s when Lessard said she realized that “the coaching of youth and seeing their success was more enjoyable than my job.”

The next stop, in 1988, was Washington College, where swimming was in its infancy as an intercollegiate sport. There was only a women’s team when Lessard arrived in Chestertown. The men’s team was established on her watch.

It’s not a stretch to say that Lessard is driven, which is a notch above devoted or committed. Her daughter Devin, now 30, was only three days old when Lessard returned to finish the 1990-91 season.

She served as women’s head coach for 26 seasons and as men’s head coach for 25. She finished her coaching career

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WHO DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR ROLE MODEL?

Her mother, a longtime public school math teacher who tutored students in her home in math and piano, was an advisor to the school’s bridge club and National Honor Society, played the piano and organ for many area churches and for weddings, and was very involved as a member of the Penn State Alumni Association.

“My mother worked full time and always did extra, and my father was always supportive of her career. That set the plan that I was going to be a professional.”

WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU HAVE RECEIVED?

“When I entered coaching I was told to make an effort every day to acknowledge the people who come to practice — even if it had nothing to do with practice or swimming. That’s why I always try to make a personal connection with my swimmers by asking them things like ‘How was your day?’ ‘Do you have a final (exam)?’ ‘How’s your roommate?’”

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN?

To always work hard for something you believe in, it’s OK to ask for help and to have a strong support system.

with a dual-meet win-loss record of 357-209-1. The breakdown: 204-104 as the women’s coach and 153-105-1 as the men’s coach.

Highlights include two unbeaten seasons, 12-0 for the women in 2001-02 and 10-0 for the men in 2015-16.

Lessard was named the Centennial Conference men’s coach of the year in 2014. She entered Washington College’s athletic hall of fame in 2006.

During Lessard’s tenure, Washington swimmers earned All-America or honorable mention All-America recognition 26 times. On eight occasions, Washington boasted the most outstanding performer at the Centennial Conference championship meets.

Lessard took Washington swimmers to 15 NCAA Division III Championships and her teams routinely gained Scholar All-America recognition.

Also, she helped to shepherd along a $1 million renovation of the Casey Swim Center that was completed in 2015.

Giving back to the community was a priority for Lessard-coached teams. Service projects included an annual triathlon that raised money for the American Cancer Society, adopting families at Christmas, a learning to swim program for third-graders at nearby H.H. Garnet Elementary School and coordinating Special Olympics training at the college pool.

For their work with Special Olympics, Washington’s coaches and swimmers received the inaugural Competitors’ Challenge Award at the college’s annual athletics awards ceremony in 2016. The award is in recognition of outstanding community service.

In the summer of 2016, Lessard embraced the opportunity to move into an administrative role, fine-tuning some of the skills she learned all those years ago as a swim team manager at Penn State.

One of the things that made the position of senior woman administrator attractive was the chance to mentor seven sports. Plus, she was able to stay

on as aquatics director.

Though she did not launch Sho’men Aquatics, Lessard is singularly identified with the hugely successful age-group program that is based at Washington College’s pool. Many of the swimmers she coached are now parents of Sho’men.

Lessard’s legacy includes numerous Sho’men Aquatics alumni who swam at the high school and college levels. There are eight former Sho’men currently swimming in college, bringing the total number to more than 30.

She also has trained more than 700 lifeguards over the years; lots of them found jobs locally.

Lessard said she would not have been able to do all that she has without the support of her husband of 31 years, Dan, and their two daughters.

The biggest challenge, she said, has been time management — as a wife, mother of two very active daughters, running a facility and shouldering other responsibilities as a member of the Washington College athletics staff.

One year, when the Centennial Conference championship meet was on the same day as the Maryland state public high school championships, Lessard was not able to watch in person as daughters Devin and Kelsey swam on the winning freestyle relay that clinched the team title for Queen Anne’s County.

But she didn’t miss it completely because husband Dan had the video camera in one hand and his cell phone in the other providing play by play.

The Lessard “girls” were three-sport athletes at Queen Anne’s County High School; both also were conference champion and record-setting swimmers at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania.

Lessard said her commitment to swimming is a “team” commitment.

“My husband has always been so supportive,” she said. “And my daughters became committed to the sport I love and were successful, which fueled my commitment.”

NOMINEE

‘The value of hard work’

Dana Bowser, interim Assistant Dean of Students and Director of First-Year Experience at Chesapeake College

Dana Bowser of Easton is the Interim Assistant Dean of Students and Director of First-Year Experience at Chesapeake College.

Bowser is a woman of faith, active in the community and striving to make a difference.

She said, “My role models are people who embody traits I admire: joy, love, strength, empathy. They are ‘walkers of faith,’ people who are interested in serving their community, men and women who have overcome struggle and are willing to help others overcome theirs.”

Before joining the educational field, Bowser started her professional career at the Record

Observer newspaper in Centreville as the Queen Anne’s County reporter for the Star Democrat, covering government, and police and court news as well as writing features. In her role there, she garnered numerous awards. Along her path, Bowser said she has been inspired by many:

“My grandparents (Marvin and Louise Dickerson Sr.), who raised me taught me the value of hard work and community. My beautiful late mother, Georgeanna Carn, modeled how to persevere and live with joy even through difficult times.

“My Hampton University professors who

Q&A

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU HAVE FACED IN YOUR CAREER AND FIELD AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THEM?

One of biggest challenges early in my career was being the first African-American reporter for the Queen Anne’s County Record Observer and The Star Democrat. I could share many stories but one memory that stays with me is when I overheard someone asked for the “colored girl” when I worked for the paper! I immediately confronted that person and let him know in no uncertain terms who I was and that definitely wasn’t a colored girl. I overcame through professionalism and encouragement from folks in the community. I earned respect by my work ethic, determination, and not backing down even though I was intimidated at times. I eventually enjoyed a good relationship with everyone from local politicians to judges.

WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE FOR YOUNG WOMEN AND GIRLS (AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN GENERAL) CONSIDERING THEIR CAREER, EDUCATIONAL AND PERSONAL PATHS?

My best advice is to “know thyself” so you won’t base your career on what people think you should do. What is it that you love to do…what makes you happy? If you can find that – that passion – then search how you can turn that into a career. I urge all young people to get an education – short-term training, community college, or a university and then never stop learning. If they can, I’d urge them to be them to be their own boss as well – start their own business as their main income or supplemental income.

WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU HAVE RECEIVED?

I’ve gotten a lot of career and personal advice but it can all be summarized by having faith in God, treating everyone fairly, take chances, believe in yourself, be open to growth, and laugh every day.

pushed us to be the best in our field.

“My church community, which taught me love, forgiveness, and the willingness to embrace different types of people.

“My ‘girls’ who have been my sister-friends for over 35 years – they are phenomenal and accomplished women who inspired and challenged me.

“Local activists, mentors, and leaders who don’t haven’t gotten rich for their work, but they have enriched their communities.

“My first editors – Denise Riley and Barbara Sauers — who were strong women in journalism.”

Bowser enjoys singing and is a member of the popular, local gospel singing group Friends in Faith.

Other hobbies include watching documentaries, reading, volunteering, teaching and mentoring youth.

She is interested in promoting community and social justice for under-represented communities.

‘I’m a package deal’

K-9 handler and Deputy First Class Elizabeth Stacey

By Mike Detmer

It wasn’t Deputy First Class Elizabeth Stacey’s ability as a K-9 handler that was most needed during a sunny midday ride-along in late February, nor was it her ability to convince drug dealers to sell her drugs as part of an undercover sting operation. Nor was it the rapport she has built with members of the community, many of whom should out “Stacey!” when she drives by on patrol through town.

Instead, it was what she described as the essence of being a good police officer: respect and professionalism through uncertain encounters. “Being

a cop is hard, walking up to somebody [and not knowing their intentions],” Stacey said. “It’s about giving respect.”

“I try to start nice,” she said of the variety of encounters she has, although she acknowledged that peril still lurks below the surface and an officer must be ready: “You never know what’s around the corner.”

Around the corner on the daytime patrol through northern Dorchester County was a verbal dispute surrounding an eviction and a K-9 scan during traffic stop with a polite, but apparently unlicensed and uninsured driver.

Stacey’s patience and ability to listen was on display in both instances, and while she said the role of mediator for upset people is not the most preferred aspect of her job, she still loves what she does. “I love it. It’s very interesting, you don’t do the same thing every day.”

The 2018 Deputy of the Year entered law enforcement in 2017 when the door opened to a career where she could make a difference for her children in the future. Stacey enjoyed the 10 years she spent as a hair stylist, but she knew she had to make a positive difference for the world her two kids

will grow up in. “I know how bad it was — I didn’t want my kids growing up in that.”

Stacey’s K-9 partner Addy shares Stacey’s drive for getting drugs off of the streets, and Addy’s barking is quite intimidating, even when she is inside the marked DCSO SUV.

The German shepherd will be two years old in April, and has been Stacey’s K-9 since July of 2020. Addy “sounds scary” according to Stacey, who related the story of two suspects hiding in the woods who came out and surrender themselves to police custody before Stacey let Addy go.

“Why did you come out?” Stacey asked. “We heard the dog,” they replied.

“Every dog is different,” explained Stacey,” and while Addy is kennel aggressive and does not want people near her vehicle or crate, and she hates hearing a the voice taking the order if her deputy drives into a drive thru, she doesn’t mind the radio or speakerphone, and she loves to play ball outside. “You have to learn through training with them.”

When she became a cop, getting a K-9 was a goal of Stacey’s, and she reached it: “Now I’m a package deal.”

“She’s a person and a deputy,” Stacey said of her four legged colleague. “She makes sure i come home safe, I make sure she comes home safe.”

When Stacey first joined DCSO, the officer who has come to be know in police circles as the “Little blond from DoCo” was immediately put on the drug task force, doing drug buys in person and undercover.

“I had a great group of people very close,” said of the team she knew she could count on. “Being undercover is nerve wracking, and there were a few times we didn’t know how it was going to pan out.” Despite the danger, Stacey said she “loved” the duty that she knew was getting drugs like heroin, coke, crack, and prescription pills off of the street.

Stacey grew up in Bozman, in Talbot County, and went to schools in St.

Michael’s. She said her mom has been her inspiration, fighting through an illness that began in 2001 and has since required over 50 surgeries, including one during which her mom died on the operating table and was successfully resuscitated. “It was a big ordeal,” Stacey said of the illness and surgeries that lasted 18 years, but she saw a lesson in the way her mother continued to fight: “You can do anything.”

Stacey said she was also shaped by advice from her father: “Dad taught me when I was little, you never get anything for free, you have to work for it.”

“And I did,” she said with resolve.

Stacey’s husband, who works as a paramedic in Ocean City has been “really supportive” of her undertaking a

career in law enforcement, and as both work shift work, Stacey said she appreciated the help. “We have a really good support system,” she said.

“We’re a family,” said said of her fellow officers.

The ‘little blond from DoCo’ said she has received disrespect for being a female officer, and is sometimes “flirted with, hit on,” she takes it in stride.

“I try to treat everybody with respect, the way I want to be treated.”

NOMINEE

‘Successful diversity’

Tamiko Stanley of Luminis Health

By Hannah Combs

Tamiko Stanley joined Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center (LHAAMC) in 2017 as director and head of diversity equity and inclusion — a new position for AAMC, created as a result of the work of the Board of Trustee’s Health Equity Task Force — dedicated to eliminating health disparities in our community, and strengthening AAMC’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Q&A

WHAT DOES YOUR ROLE AS MANAGER OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (D&I) MEAN TO YOU?

My role as the head of D&I means a great deal to me. I’m helping us do our part in reducing health disparities, and ensuring a culturally competent workforce that reflects the communities we serve. And helping to build and foster a workplace where all employees feel valued. I’m proud to be a part of an organization committed and dedicated to this mission.

D&I means the opposite of indifference about difference. It means being intentional about difference. Fundamentally, diversity is people who offer difference in ethnicity, gender, culture and values. Inclusion is the action-orientated piece to diversity. It is the act of bringing together these differences and harnessing the power they bring. It is done by encouraging involvement and giving voice to all perspectives in order to contribute to the collective.

During her tenure, Stanley has been at the forefront of the design and execution of innovative strategies that have enhanced workforce diversity, cultural inclusion and increased outcomes in health equity for patients.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT IN AN ORGANIZATION?

The relationship between success and effective D&I is proven. D&I produces a more creative and innovative workforce that delivers effective, efficient and impactful solutions. Specifically in health care, culturally competent interaction and culturally customized care make each patient, family, colleague and community encounter better. At the core of it all, it’s the right thing to do, the smart thing to do, the responsible thing to do, and the only business-sensible thing to do for future success.

HOW DO WE BEGIN TO PRACTICE AND IMPLEMENT D&I STRATEGIES AT AAMC?

Our strategy will start with equipping our personal tool boxes, so that we each can contribute to fostering inclusion. That starts with dialogue. The overall goal is for diversity and inclusion to be integrated into what we do every day.

Most recently, she was instrumental in the creation of the health system’s Health Equity and Anti-Racism Task (HEART) Force, consisting of members of the board of trustees, senior leaders, medical staff, community partners and stakeholders.

This past February Stanley was promoted to vice president and chief diversity equity and inclusion officer.

From Pittsburgh, PA., Stanley worked in the diversity field for a several large organizations, including FedEx Supply Chain, the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Stanley shares some of her thoughts on her role now at AAMC.

Stanley’s work has directly contributed to LHAAMC receiving a score of 100 from the Healthcare Equality Index and being named a Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality in 2020 by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, as well as earning the honor of the 2019 Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award from the American Hospital Association — an award bestowed to only a few hospitals in the country.

“If you look at the world’s most successful companies, you’ll find a successful diversity and inclusion strategy embedded in those organizations,” said Stanley. “I am proud that Luminis Health is among them that are committed to the continuous pursuit of a more inclusive and equitable culture. This commitment is evident in our values of respect, inclusion, service and excellence that are at the core of our Vision 2030 strategic plan to ensure that diversity and inclusion are integrated into what we do every day.”

‘Know how the business works’

Architect Christine Dayton on working from the ground up

Growing up in Pennsylvania, Christine Dayton loved to draw. So, it was a natural path for Dayton to be drawn to architectural programs in high school and then college.

Now, Dayton is principal of Christine M. Dayton Architect P.A. in Easton. “It’s a great place to do what we do,” Dayton said of her firm’s work which ranges from historic properties to waterfront homes.

The firm’s work is on display in numerous commercial buildings and homes across Talbot County and the Shore.

Before moving to Easton in 1995, Dayton worked in Annapolis — and before that Texas. She earned her architecture degree from the University of Texas Arlington.

Dayton said the work experience in Texas was very valuable for her career. It gave a hands-on and both sides of the coin perspective for her professional and entrepreneurial paths. “I worked my way through school and I worked for a developer builder,” Dayton said. She said that experience taught her some valuable business lessons and to eventually run her own architecture firm. “He was proactive,” Dayton said.

“He balanced the technical part with the practical part of what happens in the field with what the architect does conceptually.”

The Savings & Loan crisis in Texas brought Dayton back east and eventually to the Eastern Shore where she started her own firm.

Dayton likes helping her clients visualize and the realize their goals for both residential and commercial projects.

“You get to help people who have that dream of living on the water,” Dayton said of some of her firm’s residential designs. Those designs include waterfront estates and other high-end properties.

She’s also done a number of renovations and other work on historic properties — including in downtown Easton. “I work with Paul Prager on a lot of his projects,” said Dayton of the wealthy businessman and his Easton real estate investments which include restaurants, galleries, shops and offices.

Dayton’s commercial portfolio includes renovations of Easton Utilities’ building in Easton as well as the renovations of historic properties at 40 South Harrison Street and 26 West Dover Street.

Dayton — who teaches college architecture and design classes and is active with a number of local groups — also serves on the board of the Talbot Country Club.

She also likes having her own business

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— especially the results the Easton firm provides to residential and commercial clients.

“I like having my own firm. I like meeting with people. I like meeting with the clients. I like watching things come up from out of the ground,” Dayton said.

She said those interested in starting their own architecture or design firms or other creative entrepreneurial endeavors need to know the business side of those efforts. “If you are going to have your own practice you need to know how the business works,” she said.

Dayton said her firm has been extremely busy during the pandemic. That mirrors other real estate-related businesses who have seen increases in business via historically low mortgage

interests driving strong demand from home buyers.

Outside of work, Dayton loves to golf, enjoying the water and exploring the region. “I love driving around the Shore,” she said.

Dayton also enjoys being an architect but does not sugar coat the stresses of the profession.

“I think architecture is great career but it’s not easy,” said Dayton who noted her career moves often coincided with downturns in the economy. “There are times when there are long and late hours. That’s the stressful part of it.”

She lists Rome as one of her favorite cities architecture and design-wise.“I always have loved Rome.There’s so much there to learn and so many layers of history,” Dayton said.

‘In my blood’

Caroline County Director of Emergency Services Anna Sierra

By Angela Price

Caroline County Director of Emergency Services Anna Sierra of Easton says she fell a bit backward into emergency services, although she always wanted to help others.

“Public service is where my life is,” she said. “I was raised by a career federal government worker and a librarian, so public service is certainly in my blood.”

She described it as a calling.

Sierra was born and raised in Prince George’s County, where she joined her local volunteer rescue squad at 16 and earned her EMT by the time she graduated high school. She started in pre-med at the University of Maryland Baltimore County in the emergency health services degree tract.

Growing up, she said, “My dream was to be a doctor, a trauma surgeon to be exact.”

She wanted to be like her hero, Dr.

Q&A

WHO DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR ROLE MODEL(S)?

If I had to pick one it would have to be Eleanor Roosevelt. She was quirky, outspoken, smart, and courageous in a time when women really were expected to be in the background. She also constantly adjusted her worldview based on new information from her experiences and friendships, which is a quality I respect and hope to emulate.

The other long-time hero I’ve had is Dr. Tom Scalea at UM Shock Trauma Center. From the time I was a kid, Dr. Scalea has been an example of how absolute dedication and hard work can literally save lives.

WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU HAVE RECEIVED?

The best piece of advice I picked up along the way that I try to practice each day is to be an active listener in every conversation. To truly listen to what someone is saying without planning a response or rebuttal as they

Tom Scalea at University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, but math was her downfall.

“You know, I found another pathway to save lives, hopefully,” she said. “One that didn’t require so much math.”

She switched her studies to political science and international affairs with the hope of being a foreign service officer and traveling the world.

“I was graduating in 2008, right at the recession. I knew that jobs were going to be few and far between,” Sierra said.

A friend sent her an opening for a federal contractor entry level position with a firm he was working for at the time. She applied without really knowing what an operations planner was or what the Department of Energy had to do with emergency response. They thought her background in volunteer rescue service made her a good fit.

“I got the job and spent the next five

years learning what emergency management was, traveling both in the U.S. and internationally, and falling in love with the profession I’m in now,” Sierra said.

As operations planner, what she was doing was emergency response training and exercises for the Department of Energy and Office of Nuclear Emergency Response.

“It was probably the best possible job I could have accidentally stumbled into,” Sierra said. “It was a ton of training and experiences that really set me up for the rest of my career.”

When she joined the Department of Energy team, she was one of only two female operations planners on a team of more than 10.

“Being young, female, and having no military background at the start of my career was immensely challenging,” she said.

Sierra said she struggled to fit into

the boys club and didn’t share the same hobbies or interests as the team.

The “outsider” theme has followed her throughout her career. Her next role was here on the Eastern Shore as an associate regional administrator for Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems, where she said she really got to know how EMS worked — in particular on the Shore — and it set her up for her next post as director of emergency services for Dorchester County.

“It has been an immense challenge for me to understand the culture and norms of the Eastern Shore, and for me to gain the trust of born-and-raised Shore folk to know that I want to do what’s best for the organizations and residents I serve,” Sierra said.

She said what she has tried to do is to listen and understand different viewpoints.

“I have invested a lot of time learning

speak. As a progressive-minded person in a largely conservative area (and professional field), this has helped me find common ground with colleagues or partner agencies that I may have missed if I wasn’t listening closely to what they were saying.

WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE FOR YOUNG WOMEN AND GIRLS (AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN GENERAL) CONSIDERING THEIR CAREER, EDUCATIONAL AND PERSONAL PATHS?

Early in my career I read “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg. While the book as a whole is problematic on a variety of levels, one tenet I took from it that I continue to remind myself today is that it’s OK to take up space. It’s OK to voice opinions, sit at the table, and be present even if the other people around you don’t look or think the same way. The world is changing; it was easier for me than it was for my mom, and hopefully it will be easier still for the next generation of women to own their intelligence, talent and success in a way that was difficult for me early in my career. And it starts with being OK with taking up the space.

about the history of the Shore, understanding the culture, talking to and taking cues from local leaders on how best to take steps forward that we can all agree upon,” Sierra said.

She was with Dorchester Emergency Services just under three years before taking the job as director in Caroline in March 2019. For the last year, she has been instrumental in helping coordinate the county’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Emergency management starts and ends local, and that’s really my profession so it has been an amazing and wild ride. Hopefully COVID will go away soon, and it can be less wild for a while,” she said. “Long term, the response stuff is fun and it’s important, but there are also larger things facing us, particularly in a policy perspective, you know, things like climate change and social justice, that I think emergency management has a role in.”

Sierra wants to be a part of shaping that policy both locally and statewide.

“The Eastern Shore is going to see climate change more drastically than anywhere else in Maryland,” she said, adding, “A huge part of emergency management is being able to see what’s coming and prepare communities so they can withstand the changes and withstand the impact, so that’s really on the horizon, I think, for sure for me.”

Sierra first moved to the Shore to be with her now-husband, who she met in college. He’s not involved in emergency services; he does commercial refrigeration and hates the sight of blood, she said.

“He’s so supportive of me and my career. He’s a great partner,” Sierra said. “I’m super lucky to have a really good partner, a supportive partner.”

They have two fur babies and, when not working, are busy renovating their house.

‘A loud, strong voice’

Dr. Rosa Mateo, the Eastern Shore’s lone infectious disease doctor faces global pandemic

By Candice Spector

When the coronavirus hit Maryland’s Eastern Shore in March of 2020, local hospitals braced for turbulence and all eyes were on Dr. Rosa Mateo, the rural region’s lone infectious disease specialist.

A self-described shy person with an aversion to the spotlight, Mateo never imagined herself as someone who could command the attention of her peers, let alone lead an entire community through an unprecedented crisis. The pandemic showed her she was wrong.

As the deadly contagion that had already ravaged cities across the country was threatening its imminent arrival on Mateo’s turf, Mateo’s employer University of Maryland Shore Regional Health readied its hospitals in Easton, Cambridge and Chestertown.

Mateo oversaw all three COVID-19 units and played a vital role on the Incident Command Team that is in place to handle crises. Mateo’s voice would become one of the most powerful in the regional system’s fight against the disease.

“I always think I’m a little mouse in

a big room, but suddenly I became a loud, strong voice,” she said. “Because I am the specialist, everything relies on me. All the questions of, ‘What do we do?’ rely on me. I didn’t know I could be more than an infectious disease physician. The pandemic gave me the opportunity to prove that I can lead.”

Mateo has spent her entire adult life studying and practicing medicine, and as an infectious disease specialist, is no stranger to having to encounter contagious diseases. But COVID-19 was different.

The unknowns that surrounded the new virus scared her. “If you go and read a medical book, it says, ‘For this infection, you do this, this, this and this, and the odds are this.’ COVID-19 is not like that. It’s unpredictable,” she said.

Because researchers and health officials were not armed at the pandemic’s onset with concrete knowledge about how the virus spreads, transmission preventing measures were not implemented early enough to stop the virus from swirling, and even rural communities felt the impact.

Mateo spent every single day of an entire year fighting the pandemic

alongside her team of nurses and other providers on the Eastern Shore’s frontlines. She was broken and scared for her family every time she suited up to treat a COVID-19 patient, but she was driven by her need to lead.

“There have been many times in this year that my heart has been broken in so many little pieces. I’m a physician, but I’m a human being, too,” she said. “I would be home, or even in the hospital, and I would just cry. I tried to cry where nobody could see me because you lead by example. You have to stay strong because a good leader is strong, but a good leader is human, too.”

Mateo was born in Peru, where she studied medicine at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia Programa Academico de Medicina. She completed her residency in the United States at Henry Ford Hospital, and her fellowship at University of Texas Medical Branch Hospitals.

Mateo joined Shore Regional in 2006 as the only infectious disease specialist the hospital system has had in decades. She grew up in a city of eight million people and was drawn to the Eastern Shore for its quaint, quiet towns, where

she considers her neighbors, colleagues and patients her friends.

Mateo worked tirelessly to heal her sick patients and serve as a guiding voice in the fight against COVID-19 locally. Those who knew of her efforts designated her “The COVID Warrior of the Eastern Shore,” a nickname of which she said she’s proud because it has many meanings.

The name is a recognition of her leadership and a symbol of her breaking gender and racial barriers to become a commanding presence, but also of the notion that the pandemic is a war, and Mateo and her fellow frontline workers are “soldiers of medicine.”

Mateo acknowledged she is in the minority as a female physician, and is a “minority of the minority” as an Hispanic woman. “I still think, in 2021, being a woman is not to your advantage. You have to fight a little bit more than the rest,” she said.

Mateo fought, sometimes having to raise her voice to be heard in a room full of strong minds. The fight was worth it to her as she tried to save as many people in her community as she could with her expertise and minimal information about a new and unpredictable virus.

“This is probably the most challenging thing I’ve ever gone through in my life. I dedicated my 150%, if not more, to this cause,” Mateo said. “We’re trained to treat, to heal and that we may lose people, but nobody trains you to lose that many people.”

Mateo was the first person to get vaccinated against COVID-19 on the Eastern Shore, which she called an “honor and a duty.” She said she hoped that by showing her trust in the vaccine as the area’s only infectious disease physician, others would follow her lead to help end the pandemic that has taken hundreds of lives in the region.

”We have to keep fighting and taking care of patients,” Mateo said. “We cannot not let our guard down and this is the time to be more vigilant. This is a war, and it’s better now, but it’s not over yet.”

We want to Congratulate our very own:

DaniRacine Onbeingselectedasa WOMAN TOWATCH2021!

Dani Racineis aProjectManagerandEnvironmental Planner at LaneEngineering,LLC inEaston,MD.She managesthemarinepermitdivision at Lane,working closelywithmarine contractors to permitpierandshoreline stabilizationprojects forproperty ownersacrosstheEastern Shore. As oneofLane’s sevenprojectmanagers,Danialso helpsfacilitate avarietyofmultifacetedsubdivisionand engineeringprojects.Daniis adedicatedemployeeanda tremendousasset to the company.

“Asafemale workingin alargelymale -dominatedindustry, Iamproudoftheprogress Ihavemade,theprofessional relationships Ihavedevelopedinthe communityand my abilitytoadvocate forboth myselfand my clients.” –Dani Racine

CorneliaC. Heckenbach h

Long &FosterRealEstate e

SaintMichaelsleadingrealtor with over30+ yearsofinternaational and local realestateexperiennce, selling propertiesrangingfrom $50K to $5+million! Corneliaisaavailable to providepremierserviceto the local, nationalorinternational client; she isfluentinthreelanguagges.

“Itwasn’tabusinessmovee. It was love at firstsightwithSt.MMichaels, Talbot County andtheCheesapeake Bay.Simplyput,it’sthebeest thing Ihaveeverdone.”

Contac tmefor yourreaal estate needs at 410-310-1229orinfoo@corneliaheckenbach.com

Office:109 S Talbot St St. Michaels, MD 21663 410-745-00283 Ext. 104

We would also liketo recognize two other woman K-9 handlerswho train with Tydewater Strategic Ser vices: Cpl Andrea Robinson and K-9 Sadie from Dorchester County Sheriff ’s Office and Pfc. Ashley Bayne and K-9 Ax from Easton Police Department.

something that nobody else is doing’

By Jessica Duerstine

If there’s one thing Jaime Windon can’t resist, it’s taking chances on new adventures.

“I have a perpetual habit of saying ‘yes’ to crazy ideas that I’m not always prepared for, and it leads me into some wonderful places,” she said.

Her travels have taken her to South America, Europe, Asia and Africa — where she was before returning to the U.S. and settling in St. Michaels. After graduating with a degree in journalism, Windon began her career as a writer and photographer. She’s always been interested in both the arts and hospitality spaces.

“I’d been working in hotels, bars and restaurants since I was in high school,” Windon said. “The arts — whether that was writing or photography and now what I like to call the spirits arts — is where I kind of found myself. I’ve always been driven by the desire to learn, to create and to take care of people.”

Getting into the art of distilling was driven by Windon’s desire to forge new paths.

“I have a natural inclination to want to do something that nobody else is doing around me. I think that explains my desire to learn, and being able to pave your own way is quite exciting,” she said. “There wasn’t always a plan to start a distillery in St. Michaels, the distillery was just what was needed. There was a brewery, a winery, tons of restaurants, but no one was making spirits — no one in Maryland had distilled rum or whiskey in over 40 years.”

Windon began distilling spirits eight years ago, right at the beginning of a resurgence in the industry.

“We had no idea that the industry would grow so fast, and we were on the forefront of this tidal wave of craft distilling that was about to revive,” she said. “We’ve just kind of found ourselves, as Lyon Rum, being a leader in the Maryland alcohol space, and the rest is history.”

As the craft distilling industry began to

‘Do

The spirit of St. Michaels, Jaime Windon

rise in popularity, Windon found herself saying “yes” to becoming a founding member of the Maryland Distillers Guild and serving as its president for the last six years.

“I have been very proud to help run the organization and grow the industry; we now have nearly 40 distilleries in the state,” she said. “We have changed many laws. I have spent countless hours testifying for better alcohol legislation for both manufacturers and consumers. One of the things I’m most proud of are the advances we’ve made in Maryland to make it a better place to do business as a spirits manufacturer.”

Between creating and growing her own business and helping distillers throughout the state to grow their businesses, Windon found the time to say “yes” to the opportunity to serve the residents of St. Michaels as well.

“I had no plans to be involved in politics,” she said. “I had recently moved to St. Michaels. There was a situation where they had two spots open and only one person running, so the then-president of the Commissioners of the Town of St. Michaels approached me and said, ‘You should run. You’re young, you’re a woman, you’re a business owner. You would provide an excellent perspective.’”

She threw her hat in the ring seven years ago and has enjoyed the opportunities to help the residents of St. Michaels.

“I spent four years learning everything about local politics and how to effectively work with four other commissioners to run a government and make budget decisions and listen to the residents,” Windon said. “That’s what I like the most. I don’t like being in charge as much as I like being a conduit for people who have concerns and need to be heard.”

Not content to rest comfortably on her laurels, Windon’s excited about the

future. Among her many projects, she’s working on limiting the distillery’s environmental impact.

“I am learning, studying and working with distilleries that are doing sustainable manufacturing,” Windon said. “It’s impossible to be a perfect manufacturer, the essence of what we do is create waste. So finding ways to go above and beyond what is required of us, and to be very environmentally friendly and sustainable, is important.”

She and the staff at Windon Distilling Company are continuing to increase their footprint in the craft spirits world. They participated in a “Habitat Build Challenge” in the spring of 2020, and Windon is looking forward to increasing their philanthropic footprint as well.

“We’ve done a number of projects that directly financially benefit non-

profits and organizations that we care about,” she said. “Using our spirits company to also amplify the work and voices of people in our community that are doing great things is very important.”

She was recently appointed to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States Craft Advisory Council, where they’re working to address national issues affecting small distilleries, including interstate commerce. She’s also involved with organizations that are mentoring and empowering women in the industry, and she’s committed to helping other entrepreneurs through Salisbury University’s entrepreneurship program.

“I’m just saying ‘yes’ to everyone that needs anything I can offer,” she said. “Being involved and saying ‘yes’ is very fulfilling for me.”

‘Little piece of tranquility”

Co-owner of Realty Navigator, Petra Quinn, Talisman Therapeutic Riding volunteer

By Hannah Combs

Petra Quinn, broker and co-owner of Realty Navigator, embraces her role with an inspiring dedication to matching first-time buyers with a space they can call home. Although home for Quinn is in Queen Anne’s County, her properties include listings from St. Mary’s County to Dorchester. The boutique brokerage, is home to eight

realtors, five of whom are women, Quinn notes.

The experience Quinn offers to clients, she describes as quality over quantity. Matching the right home to the right buyer, Quinn said takes patience. Something she learned before becoming a realtor. Married to an engineer, Quinn said her husband had very specific criteria for their home and she worked with several realtors over the course of five years searching for “the one”.

That would be her five-year apprenticeship, she said. Once settled, she was eager to return to work, but still had young children at home. Her background in construction — Quinn who hails from Germany originally, had worked alongside family learning much of the construction trade — combined with her experience in finding their own home, made real estate a natural fit.

Breaking into the field, Quinn said she did have one mentor who helped guide her, but much of the process was self-taught.

“You have to be an entrepreneur and be willing to network and connect. You also have to versatile in dealing with the public and accept all kinds of preferences and opinions,” Quinn said.

Quinn is guided by a high moral compass, a trait that is apparent as she discusses the value of a solid home inspection and the importance of guiding buyers to a home that is affordable. She said she encourages clients to consider could they afford this home if they lost one income. Just because you can spend x amount of money on a home purchase, does not necessarily mean you should.

She said she often feels like “mother” with her first time

homeowners, “I’m so proud of them,” and it’s good to know they’ve made a good investment.

And for those looking to sell their home, Quinn takes the approach of helping them to detach from their home during the sale process. Once that decision is made, the seller needs to recognize this is a house now and it helps to depersonalize the space, so a potential buyer can see the house and visualize what it might be like as their home.

Just recently, Quinn was awarded the At Home with Diversity® certification from the National Association of Realtors, after completing an eight hour course addressing topics of diversity, fair housing, and business planning development. The program is designed to meet the nation’s fair housing commitment by educating and equipping NAR’s members with the tools they need to expand homeownership opportunities.

Real estate professionals like Quinn wisely plan to meet the needs of diverse clients, while maintaining a competitive edge. The At Home with Diversity® certification allows realtors to not only apply the multi-faceted skills and tools they learned in the course to business practices, but conveys to clients they’re dynamic real estate professionals with expertise that transcends cultural barriers.

Quinn said she is cautiously optimistic about the housing market holding steady. And there are still many houses moving in what she deems the mid-price range of $300,000 to $400,000. For young women seeking to enter the profession an understanding of the trades and finance helps, but the career is not suited to everyone, she said. She recommends not quitting your current job until you’ve established yourself. “If you find you really like it, you’ll be fine.”

For Quinn, sharing her love of the region is one selling point that can’t be matched elsewhere. “I love showing homes in our area to people coming from a Metropolitan area, especially Kent Island, it may not be tropical, but the clocks tick differently here, it’s a Kent Island minute,” Quinn said. “Even in the winter, you don’t need Florida if you’re here. And I love finding people their little piece of tranquility.”

Realty Navigator is a full service, independently owned and operated real estate brokerage with offices in Annapolis and Chester.

‘Don’t be afraid to change your path’

Tracie Thomas celebrates the detours and surprises along her career path

By Connie Connolly

Tracie Thomas has never regretted the career detour in college that led her back home to Easton and the “best controller job in town,” she said.

She accepted that position at Easton Utilities 20 years ago, and in Nov. 2020, she was promoted to vice president for customer services.

She now focuses on enhancing the variety of ways customers interact with Easton Utilities. She oversees the marketing and communications team and an initiative to better serve the company’s growing non-English speaking customer base.

Thomas, 57, draws upon a deep reservoir of skills she observed at a “very young age” — and has put into practice through the years.

A “huge role model” is her father George, who owned the Easton Dairy Queen on Ocean Gateway for 39 years before retiring April 1, 2007.

“I started working at the Dairy Queen when I was 11. They didn’t call me Little George for nothing,” Thomas said, smiling.

“To see him always be so generous and kind to his employees — I’ve tried to model that behavior,” she said. She worked at the store all through school.

“It was special to get to be at the Dairy Queen when I was so young,”

Thomas said. “I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with him unless I was at the store because he worked all the time. He’d come home for dinner every night, but otherwise seven days a week, 11 months out of the year, Dad was at work. And Mom was there quite a bit at a time, as well. So it was special to get to be there and see all that he did for that business. To see the importance of providing excellent customer service at a young age was important.”

That drive, coupled with the life lessons she learned from her middle school band teacher set the tone for Thomas’s “practice makes perfect” work ethic and career path.

Born in Cambridge, Thomas graduated from Easton High School in 1981, determined to become a music teacher. But after two years at West Chester State College in Pennsylvania, she sensed she needed to regroup.

“Towards the end of that second year, I’m like, ‘Well, I really enjoyed this as a hobby, but I’m not positive that I want to be a teacher,’” she said, although both of her parents were teachers before they bought the Dairy Queen.

She went home and decided to work full time until she could determine a path forward.

Key to that path was getting a job at Preston Ford. She stayed for a decade,

starting in title work, then as the first female salesperson, progressing to finance and insurance, and finally as CEO David Wilson’s “right-hand man, so to speak,” learning about mergers and acquisitions. After a decade, she knew she had found her niche and went back to college, earning a degree in accounting from Salisbury University and becoming a certified public accountant.

“I learned a lot about business and how much I enjoyed (it),” she said. “You can get a job in any industry with an accounting degree. I really had dreams that maybe someday I’d get to go work for the Orioles.” Instead, she went on to get a job in public accounting with Beatty Satchell & Co. in Easton. Thomas then moved on to private industry, working for mapping company 3DI Technologies until “the best controller job in town” opened up at Easton Utilities, she said. “I was very excited to be able to get it.”

The same attention to customer service Thomas saw her parents practicing years ago is what drives her today. “It certainly drives most businesses, (and) it’s the key to getting repeat business,” she said.

“It’s really important to us here at Easton Utilities because it is our mission as a community-owned

utility to enhance the quality of life (for our customers),” Thomas said. “And providing exceptional customer service is one of those things that most people don’t necessarily notice they’re getting, but they sure notice when they’re not getting it. And we’re very fortunate here that we often hear from more customers praising our customer service — going out of their way to write a letter, write an email, write a handwritten note talking about what an exceptional experience they had with our customer service or our field crews or our tech support folks — than we get complaints. It does make you feel proud.”

Working in male-dominated in-

dustries, Thomas said she felt she had to prove herself, and “go above and beyond — not that those are bad things, and they certainly create drive, but sometimes it’s challenging because once you’ve gone above and beyond, it’s hard to go abover and beyonder.”

“When I came here, I bet there were no women CEOs of power companies at the time,” Thomas said. “But over the last several years, I’ve seen a lot of changes in our industry and met some women CEOs of power companies that are also owned by their town governments. It inspired me to want to come back and help the younger women here forge a path. I came here as a CPA controller doing the books,

and I don’t do that at all anymore.”

Her advice to young adults? “Don’t be afraid to change your path,” she said. “It’s never too late to make that change.”

That career flexibility to adapt and grow has been one of the keys to Thomas’s success. Even so, she cherishes her familiarity with and ties to her hometown.

Thomas lives in the same neighborhood as her dad, and one of her two sisters lives in Easton. Music remains a hobby, and she plays the clarinet with the Mid-Shore Community Band for which she also serves as a board member. She’s devoted about 30 years to the Waterfowl Festival, where she is chairman of music and the VIP hospitality room. She volunteers with Junior Achievement and recently joined the board of the Chesapeake Multicultural Resource Center.

Thomas said she enjoys people and loves volunteering. “I’ve been helping the county out with their food distributions during the pandemic, which is a lot of fun, actually,” she said. “I usually have the job of chatting up the folks that come through the line and keeping them safe. It’s just so much fun interacting with them (and) getting to see and talk to people, which you don’t get many opportunities to do right now.”

An avid sports fan, Thomas rarely misses a Ravens game or Navy football game, where she tailgates with her brother-in-law as a season ticket holders. She considers herself a University of Maryland “Terp” during basketball season. She doesn’t have the time to watch every Orioles game, but she used to.

Although she doesn’t have a longrange bucket list, she used to create a summer bucket list, like going to the Caribbean or to an Orioles game at Camden Yards. This year, she’s just looking forward to being able to entertain indoors.

“Right now, my bucket list is very, very reasonable: Just gather more than six people at a table for dinner,” she said, laughing.

NOMINEE

‘Where I belong’

Marilyn Neal lives to serve at NSC

By Brad Dress

Marilyn Neal often lights up when she talks about her passion project, which the 62-year-old says she absolutely has to complete before leaving her post as executive director of the Neighborhood Service Center.

But to Neal, it’s not just a project. It’s a commitment that throbs at the heart of the NSC: even when they share a laugh about it, every employee knows that Neal is dead serious when she says she won’t leave the organization until she fulfills this dream.

Neal’s ambition — to build an entire affordable housing apartment complex in Talbot County to assist low-income families — might seem like a far-fetched dream because affordable housing is a persistent problem across the country, but Neal is optimistic about achieving her goal.

And if anyone can do it, her employees say, it’s Neal. When she came to the NSC, a nonprofit community program that assists low-income and elderly people in the county, Neal first said: “I want there to be affordable housing.”

That concrete goal is symbolic of the passionate ideas that Neal has brought to the NSC since she first joined a decade ago. Another big, bold plan to better help those in need.

“We change lives through our programs,” Neal said. “Even though everybody that walks through the doors can’t be helped, 99% of the time you walk out with your need being met.”

The NSC, founded in 1969, runs an after-school program that assists children with learning; a food pantry; a rental assistance program; and at least four other programs. And under Neal, the NSC has expanded many of those services and added new ones, including more financial education programs and a housing program serving 23 low-income individuals.

During the pandemic, she never pulled back but rather increased her services. Frank Divilio, a Talbot County Council member and board member of the NSC, said the nonprofit has “excelled” under her leadership.

“I just want to shout from the rooftops how lucky we are to have her,” he said. “She takes an approach of addressing not just the immediate need but what the true problem is for the person to really achieve success so they don’t have to come back to NSC.”

As the head of the community’s lead nonprofit, Neal is a woman of color in a leadership role. In her orbit, she’s a role model for both women and minorities, two groups that traditionally are not represented well in leadership positions.

At the NSC, Neal has a staff of about 20, and almost all of them are young women. Ummu Thomas, her assistant, said she is 45 but she still looks up to Neal.

“I am a women of color, and when you see people in positions (that look like you), you recognize that it is also possible for me,” she said. Neal is “very infectious and something to look up to. People affected in low-income

households are usually women and she’s able to give that strong leadership while also being a caring person.”

Neal is all about helping others — it’s an innate desire that has always been with her. She grew up watching her own mother go out of her way to help strangers and it caught on.

“You don’t think about it, it’s just a way of life and you just do it,” Neal said. “I think (the need to help others) was born within me and the flame just kept burning. I wouldn’t have another job doing any other thing. The ability to change lives on a grander scale ... this is where I belong.”

Neal grew up in Caroline County but moved to Hurlock in Dorchester County in third grade, where she still lives to this day, 54 years later. After highschool and a flirt with college, she worked for 20 years at Maryland Plastics. But when her mother died in 1999, she felt empty.

“I needed to leave the job I was in because of my mom’s passing,” she said. “I could look out the window at my job and see (my mother’s) grave — it was a lot more than I could handle.”

So Neal got involved in community work and mental health therapy, and she met a number of people in Easton who recommended she apply for an open spot at the NSC in 2010. She became executive director in 2012.

Last year, Neal purchased a building at 6 South Street in Easton. There, two individuals and one family will move in and only pay the rent they can afford. The idea is testing the waters for her true vision of creating an adequate supply of affordable housing.

“I care about everything but affordable housing is my passion,” she said. “We know about food insecurities in Talbot County, but people don’t realize housing insecurities are as great or greater than food insecurities — you can have all the food in the world, but no place to cook that food or a place to lay your head.”

Neal said all women should dream like her — and dream big. She coached her daughters on that principle, and both are successful: one is a lawyer, another is the vice president of PETCO Holdings.

“You have to decide your own task in life,” Neal said. “I told both my daughters there is nothing you can’t do. The world is yours.”

Neal is motivated by an almost stubborn passion to change the community from the inside out. She has an unhatched dream; but she knows it will hatch one day.

“I’ll stay here,” the NSC director said, “until I have an apartment complex that is truly affordable.”

Q&A

The following is an interview with Marilyn Neal.

WHO DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR ROLE MODEL, AND WHAT OR WHO INSPIRED YOU ON YOUR CAREER, PERSONAL AND COMMUNITY PATH?

In this job, the person I admire is someone I have not always known.

I met Della Andrew when I came to work here. Her passion for the community is just outstanding. She’s with St. Mark’s United Methodist Church. She has worked tirelessly for the community. When I first met her, I was captivated by her spirit. I thought, “Wow, she reminds me of me.”

Before her, I always looked up to my mother. My mother would always help anyone in need. It could be a stranger, if they needed food or a kid needed clothing, she was always there to do whatever she could to help them.

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU HAVE FACED IN YOUR CAREER AND FIELD AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THEM?

The hardest challenge has been marketing the Neighborhood Service Center. When you are working in the day-to-day, you don’t always have time to do that. Unfortunately, the community that needs the services knows who we are, but the community that could support our mission don’t.

The hardest challenge has been educating the community on limited funding accesses on what this agency is, what it does, and what it stands for.

WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE FOR YOUNG WOMEN AND GIRLS (AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN GENERAL) CONSIDERING THEIR CAREER, EDUCATIONAL AND PERSONAL PATHS?

I would tell them to give everything they have in the classroom, take all the knowledge that they are being given, evaluate where they want to be in life and strive very hard to achieve that goal.

Don’t let anyone tell them that they can’t do it.

Howdoesitfeel to beanexceptional womanin yourindustr y?

Ithonestlyisanhonor to beconsidered part of thisgroup of women. Peopledo exceptionalthingsever yday -Iamfortunatetobepartofthisincrediblegroup of femaleprofessionalsandwant to continue to bringlight to theleadershipand strength womenplayintheagriculturalfieldas wellasinbusiness.

Whatqualitiesdo youbring to thetable that yourmale colleaguesdonot?

In regards to business Iseem to alwaysfind aconnectionwiththehumanelement.I think women tend to bemorepatientandconnectmoreonaninterpersonallevel compared to men. We seethingsthrough adifferentlensandthoseperspectives allowforchangeandinnovationonotherlevelsnotthought of before.

Whatchallengeshaveyouovercomeasa womanin yourindustr y?

IthinkthelargestchallengeistheperspectivethatAghasbeen atraditionallymale dominatedfield.Thestereotypicalimage of “Farmer ” hasbeenchanginganditisnot uncommonnow to see womenon atractor. Even backincollege Iwasone of thefirst femaleson atractorduringpubliceventsand Iremember to thisday alittlegirlasking to rideonmywagon….Shewanted to notbe withtheboysbutwanted to stilldo“boy things,” Mudisok! Idon’thavetowearheels to work to besuccessful.

Whatareyoumostproud of ?

Ithinkone of thethings Iammostproud of isshowingmyfamilyitisok to think outsidethebox. Youdonothavetodowhathasbeentraditionallyexpected of youbreaktherulesandhelp peopleEVERY WAY POSSIBLE.

46 yearsold Farmer -WildlyNativeFlower Farm

LizaGoetz

‘Every single one of us’

Beth Anne Langrell helps our neighbors in need at For All Seasons

By Mike Sunnucks

During her senior year at Oneonta State College in New York, Beth Anne Langrell became a certified rape crisis advocate – a training that would be the beginning of her professional path and her commitment to helping others.

That career path has led Langrell to the Eastern Shore where she is CEO of For All Seasons Behavioral Health and Rape Crisis Center. The nonprofit provides mental health services and helps sexual assault survivors across the Shore.

Langrell grew up outside of Rochester, New York. Her mother is a travel agent, and her father was a Captain on the Rochester City Fire Department. Langrell was a member of the swim team, cheerleading team as well as chorus programs.

Her interest in helping rape and sexual assault survivors continued to drive her career trajectory after her undergraduate studies.

She developed SUNY Delhi’s first sexual assault response program while working at the New York college as an adjunct professor, residence hall direc-

tor and educational program counselor. Langrell also traveled to New York City to work in a gang diversion program for middle school and high school kids.

She earned a master’s degree in counseling and human Services from Syracuse University while serving as a health educator for the school’s rape crisis center and substance abuse office.

Langrell landed on the Eastern Shore in 2005 when she became director of student development at Washington College. Again, she was a leader in the area of helping address the issue of sexual assaults. Langrell created the college’s first sexual assault response and education program.

Since 2014, Langrell has led For All Seasons which serves five Mid-Shore counties. The center has grown from 24 to 90 employees under Langrell’s executive leadership.

Langrell said the COVID-19 pandemic has created a mental and behavioral health crisis from all the social isolations, job losses and other stresses coming from the public health emergency and restrictions on

the economy and daily life.

“One of the biggest challenges For All Seasons faces is the mental health crisis that is continuing to unfold in front of us,” Langrell said.

She hopes the pandemic and its mental health challenges will create more understanding and focus on the issue and the challenges many people face.

“During 2020, our country, and specifically our region, saw a shift in the stigma associated with mental health. The community has come to understand that mental health issues are no longer ‘those people’s problems.’ Every single one of us has felt something different over these past 12 months –even those of us that would have said in March 2020 that our mental health was great,” Langrell said. “We have all experienced a different level of loss, isolation, anxiety, stress and found ourselves needing to step up differently as parents and caregivers. The effects of the pandemic on the mental health of our community are still unfolding.”

Langrell has helped draft state legislation on mental health and was

appointed by Gov. Larry Hogan to the Women’s Commission of Maryland. She also serves as vice president of the board of directors for Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MCASA).

Like other nonprofits and community groups providing essential services, For All Seasons faces a challenge of increased calls for assistance with the need to find social workers, counselors and other staff.

“Our industry continues to face a workforce shortage with social workers and counselors. For All Seasons has brought in over 1,200 new clients since March 2020 and with new clients comes a need for additional donor support to cover the costs of services,” Langrell said. “The agency sees the English and Spanish-speaking communities regardless of one’s ability to pay for services during a time when fundraising and events have had to be re-imagined.”

Langrell also said COVID’s mental health crisis has also extended to young adults, teens and children grappling with shuttered classrooms and canceled events.

“As adults, we know how challenging the pandemic has been on us, and we are continuing to see the impact it has had on our young people,” Langrell said. “More children are needing services, more families are reaching out. The community needs to keep the important conversations going, check in on one another, reach out to our friends and neighbors, and take the time to stop and listen to how people are doing.”

NOMINEE

‘A whole lot of drive’

Vonnie Mills talks life behind the wheel of a race car

By LeAnn Schenke

On weekdays, Vonnie Mills can be found working at one of her salon’s two locations. On weekends, she’s more likely to be driving 200 miles per hour (or faster) around a race track.

Mills, a Kennedyville native and Kent County High School graduate, is accomplished in both her careers as the owner of Show N Tell Salon — with locations in Kennedyville and Middletown, Delaware — and as professional race car driver.

For Mills, the key to her success in both careers is putting in the time.

“You have to have that drive and determination,” Mills said. “And you have to have a lot of drive. A whole lot of drive. You’re going to be kicked down and stomped on and you’re just going to keep coming back.”

Mills has competed, and won, in divisional and national races. Before the COVID-19 pandemic impacted last year’s racing season, Mills traveled

to Orlando, Florida where she finished first in a race earning $10,000 for her efforts.

“You definitely have to work,” Mills said of the sport.

Mills originally got into driver’s seat because of her husband Eddie’s job as a mechanic.

“He fooled with cars and I kind of got started there, but I always liked cars,” Mills said.

She said she has been racing “probably since 1980,” with her husband doing the mechanical work on the cars and her as the driver. In 2018, she finished her season as the top eighth drag racer in the world.

Her racing career slowed for a bit in 2019 when her husband’s health declined, but she was able to come back later in the season and finish sixth in her division that year.

Practice, Mills said, happens mainly on her qualifying runs although some

people will rent time at a race tracks to drive for a few hours.

Mills is not alone in her racing effort, she said. Her team has grown from her and her husband to include daughter Tiffany Shehaney and her husband Cole. Mills’ son, Clint, has also followed in the family tradition of competition. He competes in truck pulls.

“They definitely are a big part of the team,” Mills said of her family. “They do a lot of tuning on the car now.”

When the family isn’t racing, a lot of their time in the off season is spent

getting the car race ready again.

“We work during the week and travel all night to get where we’re going,” Mills said. “We race Saturday, drive back Sunday and get ready for Monday morning. You don’t have much time for anything, but work or racing.”

Mills’ daughter also works with her at her Show N Tell salon, which opened in 1979. Since then, the salon has had locations in Chestertown and Galena before moving the salon to Middletown, Delaware about seven years ago.

Mills said being a woman in the

a male-dominated sport like racing comes with it’s challenges. She cited race car driver Shirley Muldowney as an idol of hers for “paving the way” for women to race. Reba McEntire is her every day idol — because the two have similar work ethics, Mills said.

“When I first got started, I don’t think I was taken seriously. After you prove yourself, then it’s a whole different ball game,” Mills said. “You definitely have to get out there and prove yourself. Now that I’ve been racing with them for so long, I’m just one of them.”

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Vonnie Mills, a Kennedyville native and Kent County High School graduate, has a career as both a race car driver and small business owner of Show N Tell Salon.

‘Leaders set the tone’

Irma Toce is the CEO of Londonderry on the Tred Avon, an intimate residential cooperative community for adults ages 62+ in Easton. Over the past seven years, her focus on creating a vibrant culture on campus has made Londonderry the Eastern Shore’s premiere waterfront community.

When asked about Londonderry’s success, Toce said, “It has to do with culture. When you have a strong culture, you will see the results.”

Creating a culture that fostered strong relationships among residents and staff was Toce’s first priority when she began as CEO. She began by mentoring her leadership team and helping them understand the important role they play in creating a community that feels like family.

“Leaders set the tone for the rest of the community, and as a leader, you have to be someone who is engaged,” shared Toce.

Toce and her team also embraced a hospitality culture across the entire organization as a way to engage residents and draw them into their community. Inspired by the “amuse-bouche” concept in fine dining where a chef will prepare a special surprise appetizer for guests, from time to time, residents are presented

with an unexpected gesture to enhance their experience at Londonderry.

“Our culture shift emphasized going beyond the expectations of our residents to provide an exceptional experience and create a stronger feeling of community.”

Over the years, the focus on establishing a positive, healthy and vibrant culture has led to a true sense of family on campus, which was critical to Londonderry’s ability to weather the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In a way, our close-knit culture made COVID-19 more difficult. We had all worked so hard to create these strong connections, and then in a blink of an eye we were all forced into isolation. Our team had to come together quickly to reestablish that sense of togetherness even when we were physically apart. And while we felt that loss of connection more acutely, it was our care for each other that kept us going. Because it wasn’t just about you. It was about your neighbors, it was about the staff members who were leaving their family to come to campus to care for you, it was about all of us getting through it together while staying safe, healthy and sane.”

Toce has presided over many Londonderry milestones during her tenure, but she was the proudest when

Irma Toce, CEO of Londonderry on the Tred Avon

residents and staff received the COVID-19 vaccine last month.

“We got through it because we put in the work to create a community that we care about, that others want to be a part of.”

Londonderry is indeed a community that people want to be part of.

As Londonderry celebrates its 30th Anniversary in 2021, it has grown from its first 15 individual cottages and 17 residents to a vibrant campus of over 140 cottages, 26 apartments and more than 180 residents. Over the years, Londonderry has added more amenities and activity space to support the needs of its community. These include the Manor House, Pool, Community Center, expanded green space and access to the Tred Avon

River, and the new Clubhouse that was completed in 2018.

While the amenities are a big part of the Londonderry lifestyle, Londonderry is nothing without its people. Irma takes special pride in mentoring the leadership team who has worked so hard to create and maintain the vibrant culture at the community’s core.

“Irma has always been a teacher, and I love the faith she has in me,” said Rachel Smith, Londonderry’s Sales and Marketing Director. “I am part of the senior management team, and I am also a mother. Irma believes I can do it all. She supports me in being a mother and being the best at my job. Her faith in our entire team inspires us to continue to do our very best every day. I often find myself thinking ‘What would Irma do?’

‘Lifting up the community’

Barb Seese, Executive Director of Dorchester Center for the Arts

By Mike Detmer

She started oil painting in grade school, but now her favorite art medium to personally create is collage, using found objects to make a piece of art.

In a way, Barb Seese does the same in her role as executive director of the Dorchester Center for the Arts (DCA), helping pull artists, staff, volunteers, other organizations and members of the community to create opportunities for enrichment from art and beauty.

“I’m all about lifting up the community, providing opportunities,” said Seese of the role she has held for four years. “When they’re successful, I’m successful.”

Barb Seese was appointed executive director in 2017, bringing a lengthy background in nonprofit organizations, communications and the arts.

Prior to DCA, she worked as Creative Director in California for the advertising and music industries, production director for a local radio station in Cambridge, and executive

director of the Oxford Community Center in Oxford. She is a graduate of Easton High School, and holds a B.S. in advertising design from the University of Maryland College Park.

“I was fortunate to be able to take private art lessons from third grade until I graduated from high school,” said Seese of the source of her inspiration. “My instructors were all strong, talented women who served as role models and supported me creatively, but who also provided the opportunity to learn in a multigenerational setting,” a circumstance that causes her to see the value of mixed age groups in current DCA programs.

Seese said that her parents were active in church and in the community during her upbringing, so for her, “the idea of a strong work ethic and giving back were not abstract concepts.”

Her experience as a young manager in a California design firm supervising older colleagues shaped her, as did her beginning to volunteer with non-profits.

“I was feeling like I needed to prove myself, but ultimately what worked was giving up the need to be right all the time,” Seese said of the former. The latter was what she called, “an immersion in the experience of women coming together and helping each other.”

Seese said the best advice she received was “Get over yourself,” a direct and concise admonition spoken by a mentor and design and marketing partner in California. “She was a decade older and was so instrumental in how I developed as a professional and learned to let go of all that small stuff that just doesn’t matter,” said Seese of the mindset that has greatly helped her recognize the value of a strong team.

The advice she would in turn give is “Always look for the gift. You will find yourself in extraordinary circumstances along life’s path, and things won’t always look the way you think they should look or want them to look. But if you decide that what appears in your life is a gift, you will find that there is a

benefit for you in there somewhere. When you look for the gift, what you find are possibilities. It might not happen right then it might not happen until you look back years later. But there’s magic in that process, and it can change your life.”

Seese considers her greatest personal achievement to be her “amazing son,” followed by fighting and winning three bouts with cancer, one round in each of her 30s, 40s and 50s.

She considers her greatest professional achievement to be the Harriet Tubman mural “Take My Hand,” painted by artist Michael Rosato.

The process started with a grant she received from the Maryland State Arts Council to produce a piece of public art in Dorchester commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Council. “This was so grassroots—we didn’t have much money,” said of the partnership and support of Alpha Genesis Community Development Corporation, the DCA and the artistic genesis of Rosato.

“We had no idea at the time how this project would explode. We never dreamed it would take on a life of its own, become a destination and touch lives all over the world,” Seese said.

She has plans for similar impactful public art projects and performances in the future, including workshops for youth in the upcoming summer season.

Seese said in her quest to bring art to the community that it be not just for the people that live here, but of them, things they help create. “Art is about changing peoples lives.”

‘Making a difference’

Sandy Love has grown Qlarant to national heights

By Brad Dress

Sandy Love has spent the past 25 years chasing down the bad guys at Qlarant, a data and health-science company in Easton that investigates fraud, waste and abuse in the healthcare system and works to improve patient quality of care.

Among Love’s most significant accomplishments is overseeing a team that mines the data and trends behind the opioid crisis, compiling the statistics into reports and analyses for the Office of Inspector General and the Drug Enforcement Administration, among other federal and state agencies across the U.S.

Love, the president of Qlarant for the past eight years, is the closest thing to a real-world hero — Qlarant takes on government contracts and then tracks down pharmaceutical companies or “pill mill” doctors over-prescribing opioids to patients. Those illegal practices have led to a crisis that has killed more than 500,000 Americans and has actually worsened during the pandemic.

Once tracked, investigators under Love have flagged these bad actors for the government, ultimately assisting with the effort to bring lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies and doctors across the country.

“People are shocked to hear about the fraud cases, but there is a lot of fraud,” Love said. “We are making a difference with the contracts we hold — finding the bad guys who are being turned over.”

And as the president of Qlarant, Love has spearheaded the nonprofit’s

growth, overseeing all federal contracts and the fraud, waste and abuse division, which has ballooned to national heights under her leadership.

Ron Forsythe, the CEO of Qlarant, said “we have a huge company based right here in Easton” thanks in part to Love.

“Having grown up on the Shore, you have to be able to recognize the leadership when you get these leaders in the area,” he said. “Sandy is the head of a subsidiary that has a national footprint right here in our backyard. Data analytics and health professionals are all working together in one spot.”

Forsythe has known Love for about 13 years. The CEO said she’s grown into a community leader but also a national one, too.

“She is nationally known for her program integrity,” he said. “We are the only company in the country that does fraud, waste and abuse detection.”

And she’s a woman in that national leadership role, something that is truly remarkable given that women are still less likely to hold top leadership positions today, Forsythe added.

“In the company, she has been an inspiration for a number of women,” he explained, and for those “who have grown up in organizations around or with her.”

Love grew up in Pocomoke City in Worcester County and attended York College in Pennsylvania, where she majored in health information.

Love first became director of health information at a hospital in New Orleans, but in 1983 she was hired for another directorship at Dorchester General Hospital. She found Qlarant, then called Delmarva Foundation, in 1996 and quickly joined the team, wanting to “get into more work with medical billing, coding and government contracts.”

What Love did was join the other side of the spectrum— enlisting with an organization that investigates malpractices in the healthcare industry. While she didn’t join Qlarant for that reason alone, the expertise she gathered from working in the healthcare industry translated into her new field right away, and Love immediately started looking into fraud, waste and abuse.

“In 2005, we began to bid on large

contracts,” she said. “The first contract had 18 people, and now we have four of these types of contracts — two national and two regional that cover the southwest and western United States.”

Qlarant is tackling on the most egregious claims and most nefarious fraudsters in the healthcare industry. But Love stays humble, though she really is most proud of expanding her investigative team and nabbing the bad guys.

“I’ve enjoyed growing Qlarant and growing myself,” she said. “I get a lot of personal fulfillment from it.”

Through audits, inspections and training, Qlarant has also enhanced the quality of care at some nursing homes and facilities with the Department of

Q&A

Veteran Affairs. Both institutions have received recent scrutiny, with nursing homes coming under the spotlight for malpractice during the pandemic and the VA struggling to help veterans with mental illnesses.

When she’s not correcting wrongs, Love is still trying to do good in the community, working with local groups such as Partners in Giving, in which she is president-elect.

Love works with about 25 women at Partners in Giving, hosting fundraisers and doing local volunteer work. The group’s mission is to help the hearing impaired as well as women and children in need.

“I really believe in that,” she said — and in bettering the world.

WHO DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR ROLE MODEL, AND WHAT OR WHO

INSPIRED ON YOUR CAREER, PERSONAL AND COMMUNITY PATH?

I had a woman leader early on at Dorchester General Hospital, Charlotte Hinkle. It was early on, she gave me more of a business sense in my younger career.

Through the years at Qlarant, I have worked with a lot of good leaders. Also, people that are from the Office of Inspector General, I have learned a lot from people we partnered with.

WHAT HAVE

BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES

YOU HAVE FACED IN YOUR CAREER AND FIELD AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THEM?

Change, and being able to adapt to change. Our company has gone through a lot of changes and your reaction to that makes it a positive or a negative. I have adapted really well to changes, Because we have grown so much, another challenge would be the startups of new contracts.

WHAT IS

THE

BEST

ADVICE FOR YOUNG

WOMEN AND GIRLS (AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN GENERAL) CONSIDERING THEIR CAREER, EDUCATIONAL AND PERSONAL PATHS?

Always accept change and embrace change and work hard. Collaboration has really helped us build the company and our company believes in collaboration. Our contractors that pay us, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, see us as a collaborative group, and I think it’s really important.

‘I’m living my dream’

Jennifer Chaney dominates Eastern Shore’s real estate industry

By Candice Spector

Jennifer Chaney is a force in the real estate industry on the Eastern Shore, and she has hundreds of millions of dollars in career sales and countless “best of” recognitions for her work in the region to prove it.

An independent broker, a designer and stager, and the owner of Chaney Homes, Chaney has topped her peers for several years and counting. She has ranked #1 in sales volume and transaction count for all of Queen Anne’s County between 2014 and 2020, and was voted “Best Real Estate Agency” for 2020 in The Shore Update.

Chaney is unique in her field in that she is a broker and a designer wrapped in one. There is no other brokerage, at least of which she’s aware in the region, that offers its own home staging as part of its services.

Chaney’s dominance in the Shore’s real estate market has paid off — literally — in the form of more than $100 million in sales in the last three years alone.

While the numbers are impressive and have attracted her myriad professional accolades, Chaney says the dollars are “just a tally” that don’t quantify how she helps hundreds of clients style and sell their homes.

“I hear my clients’ needs and combine my talents to make their dreams happen,” Chaney said. She attributes her success to her down-to-earth approach with clients — treating people as she would want to be

treated, with honesty and class.

Chaney oversees her company’s ten real estate agents, is licensed in Maryland and Florida, and overcame “attempted belittling” from her competitors early on in her career to reach the heights at which she’s now soaring in the real estate world.

“I transformed the negative energy into fuel and power to push harder and stronger. That’s the trick to deferring undeserved judgement,” she said. “Kindness, class and success win everyday.”

Chaney has lived on Kent Island since 2002, where she raised her children and established her career. “I’m blessed to say I’m living my dream,” she said. She has a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s in business administration from Loyola University.

“My career has been heavily benefited through the value of my education,” Chaney said. She said her clients take comfort in her business expertise — and because higher education is not a requirement in her field, her credentials undoubtedly give her an edge over her competitors.

Chaney’s advice for people considering getting into the real estate business is to continually strive to learn more within the profession.

“Ignorance is never an excuse,” she said. “An education opens doors.”

WOMEN TO WATCH

WOMEN TO WATCH

Nancy Andrew, Executive Director, Talbot Family Network

Nancy Andrew, Executive Director, Talbot Family Network

Dr.Sarah Aufderheide, DDS Dentist, Island Dental Studio

Dr.Sarah Aufderheide, DDS Dentist, Island Dental Studio

Heather Bacher, President, Chesapeake Women’sNetwork

Heather Bacher, President, Chesapeake Women’sNetwork

Jennifer Baker, Business Owner, Chester River Wine and Cheese

Jennifer Baker, Business Owner, Chester River Wine and Cheese

Maria Bassaro, Uniformed Patrol Super visor, Queen Anne’sCounty Office of the Sheriff

Maria Bassaro, Uniformed Patrol Super visor, Queen Anne’sCounty Office of the Sheriff

Joanna Blackburn, Physical Therapist, Owner of Aquafit

Joanna Blackburn, Physical Therapist, Owner of Aquafit

Helen Bennett, Business Owner, The Grooming Place

Helen Bennett, Business Owner, The Grooming Place

Karen Bishop Marx, Business Owner, Bishop Per formance Horses

Karen Bishop Marx, Business Owner, Bishop Per formance Horses

Whitney Bonnet, Cer tified Sur vey Tech, RAUCH Engineering

Whitney Bonnet, Cer tified Sur vey Tech, RAUCH Engineering

Jodi Bor tz, Business Owner, Blue Canar yPress

Jodi Bor tz, Business Owner, Blue Canar yPress

Ginny Bowers, Cer tified Nurse Midwife, Chesapeake Women’sHealth

Ginny Bowers, Cer tified Nurse Midwife, Chesapeake Women’sHealth

Kristin Bram, General Manager, Wylder Hotel

Kristin Bram, General Manager, Wylder Hotel

Beverly Brannock, WIC Coordinator, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Beverly Brannock, WIC Coordinator, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Joan Brooks, Pastor, United Methodist Church -Hurlock

Joan Brooks, Pastor, United Methodist Church -Hurlock

Amanda Brown Clougher ty, Associate Director,Alumni Relations, University of Mar yland

Amanda Brown Clougher ty, Associate Director,Alumni Relations, University of Mar yland

Robyn Brown, Pastor/Author, United Methodist Church -Wor ton

Robyn Brown, Pastor/Author, United Methodist Church -Wor ton

Jennie Burris, Deputy Health Officer, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Jennie Burris, Deputy Health Officer, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Karah Bunde, Business Owner, Heirloom Athletics

Karah Bunde, Business Owner, Heirloom Athletics

Bridget Campbell, Attorney, Shipman &Wright

Bridget Campbell, Attorney, Shipman &Wright

Dr.Kari Clow,Ed.D., Principal, Chapel District Elementar y

Dr.Kari Clow,Ed.D., Principal, Chapel District Elementar y

Tracy Cohee Hodges, Vice President &Area Manager, EasternShore Lending, First Home Mor tgage

Tracy Cohee Hodges, Vice President &Area Manager, EasternShore Lending, First Home Mor tgage

Chelsea Coombs, Head Chef, Londonderr yonthe Tred Avon

Chelsea Coombs, Head Chef, Londonderr yonthe Tred Avon

Elizabeth Copp, Public Health Emergency Planner, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Elizabeth Copp, Public Health Emergency Planner, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Jennifer Daniels, Associate Director of Sales, Choptank Transpor t

Jennifer Daniels, Associate Director of Sales, Choptank Transpor t

Susan Delean-Botkin, CRNP, Cer tified Nurse Practitioner, FamilyCare of Easton, LLC

Susan Delean-Botkin, CRNP, Cer tified Nurse Practitioner, FamilyCare of Easton, LLC

Leigh Dillon, Assistant State’sAttorney, Queen Anne’sCounty

Leigh Dillon, Assistant State’sAttorney, Queen Anne’sCounty

Kendra Eichler, Business Owner and Trainer, EasternShore Per formance Center

Kendra Eichler, Business Owner and Trainer, EasternShore Per formance Center

Cr ystal Farina, Manager of Clinical Simulation of Health, The George Washington University School of Nursing

Cr ystal Farina, Manager of Clinical Simulation of Health, The George Washington University School of Nursing

Dorine Fassett, Prevention Super visor, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Dorine Fassett, Prevention Super visor, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

2021 NOMINEES

2021 NOMINEES

Dr.NicoleFiorellino, Assistant Professor &Extension Specialist Agronomy, University of Mar yland

Dr.NicoleFiorellino, Assistant Professor &Extension Specialist Agronomy, University of Mar yland

Beth Francis, Mother/Farmer

Beth Francis, Mother/Farmer

Linda Friday, President, Queen Anne’sCounty Chamber of Commerce

Linda Friday, President, Queen Anne’sCounty Chamber of Commerce

Jessica Gallew, Business Owner, Choreographer &Teacher, Step 1Dance 2&Shop1Dance 2

Jessica Gallew, Business Owner, Choreographer &Teacher, Step 1Dance 2&Shop1Dance 2

Liza Goetz, Teacher/Business Owner, Kent County High School/Wildly Native Farm

Liza Goetz, Teacher/Business Owner, Kent County High School/Wildly Native Farm

Bobbi Graef, CRNP,MS, Director of Nursing and Clinical Programs, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Bobbi Graef, CRNP,MS, Director of Nursing and Clinical Programs, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Dale Greenhawk Jafari, MSN, CRNP, FNP-C, Cer tified Nurse Practitioner, University of Mar yland Shore Medical Group –Women’sHealth

Dale Greenhawk Jafari, MSN, CRNP, FNP-C, Cer tified Nurse Practitioner, University of Mar yland Shore Medical Group –Women’sHealth

Katherine Hager, Clerk of Cour t, Queen Anne’sCounty

Katherine Hager, Clerk of Cour t, Queen Anne’sCounty

Stephanie Hambleton, Attorney, Hambleton Law,LLC

Stephanie Hambleton, Attorney, Hambleton Law,LLC

Frances Harris Mason, Wife, Episcopal Priest (Retired)

Frances Harris Mason, Wife, Episcopal Priest (Retired)

Cornelia Heckenbach, Realtor &Associate Broker,Longand Foster

Cornelia Heckenbach, Realtor &Associate Broker,Longand Foster

Jules Hendrix, Agency Owner, Crow Insurance

Jules Hendrix, Agency Owner, Crow Insurance

Dr.Reba Ross Hollingswor th, University of Delaware Hall of Fame Member, University of Delaware

Dr.Reba Ross Hollingswor th, University of Delaware Hall of Fame Member, University of Delaware

Kerrie Hutchins, Business Owner, Mobile Salon Magic Wand,LLC

Kerrie Hutchins, Business Owner, Mobile Salon Magic Wand,LLC

Susan Schauer John, Business Owner, Spider web Connections

Susan Schauer John, Business Owner, Spider web Connections

Mar yAnn Judith, Business Owner, 1st Class Plumbing

Mar yAnn Judith, Business Owner, 1st Class Plumbing

Dr.Andrea Kane, Superintendent, Queen Anne’sCounty Public Schools

Dr.Andrea Kane, Superintendent, Queen Anne’sCounty Public Schools

Melissa Kay-Steves, Business Owner, CharmTree Jewelr y

Melissa Kay-Steves, Business Owner, CharmTree Jewelr y

Deborah Keller, Vice President Human Resources, Qlarrant Integrity Solutions

Deborah Keller, Vice President Human Resources, Qlarrant Integrity Solutions

Amanda Kidd, Business Owner, SCORE

Amanda Kidd, Business Owner, SCORE

Jen Koch, Physical Trainer, Physically Fitch

Jen Koch, Physical Trainer, Physically Fitch

Brittany Krautheim, Cer tified Nurse

Brittany Krautheim, Cer tified Nurse

Practitioner,Clark Comprehensive Breast Center, University of Mar yland Shore Regional Health

Practitioner,Clark Comprehensive Breast Center, University of Mar yland Shore Regional Health

Amy Kreiner, Chamber President, Talbot County Chamber of Commerce

Amy Kreiner, Chamber President, Talbot County Chamber of Commerce

Messina Kurst, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Messina Kurst, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Mar tha LeDoux, Business Owner, Happy Chicken Baker y

Mar tha LeDoux, Business Owner, Happy Chicken Baker y

Arlene Lee, Co-Founder, Social Action Committee for Racial Justice, Kent County

Arlene Lee, Co-Founder, Social Action Committee for Racial Justice, Kent County

TrishLewis, Business Owner,Blue Bird Tavern

TrishLewis, Business Owner,Blue Bird Tavern

Kathy Lill, Business Owner, Tidewater Cleaning Company

Kathy Lill, Business Owner, Tidewater Cleaning Company

WOMEN TO WATCH

WOMEN TO WATCH

Rober

(Retired on 1/1/21), Medical Director, Clark Comprehensive Breast Center, University of Mar yland Shore Regional Health

Rober ta Lily,M.D., (Retired on 1/1/21), Medical Director, Clark Comprehensive Breast Center, University of Mar yland Shore Regional Health

Jessica Lister, Business Owner,Tardigrade

Jessica Lister, Business Owner,Tardigrade

Julie Lowe, Executive Director, Talbot Inter faith Shelter

Julie Lowe, Executive Director, Talbot Inter faith Shelter

Anna Lubetski, Stormwater Program Manager,NAVFAC

Anna Lubetski, Stormwater Program Manager,NAVFAC

Genevive Macfarlane, Attorney, Stevens Palmer,LLC

Genevive Macfarlane, Attorney, Stevens Palmer,LLC

Beth Malasky, Community Outreach Specialist, Queen Anne’sCounty Government

Beth Malasky, Community Outreach Specialist, Queen Anne’sCounty Government

Trish McGee, Assistant Editor, APG Media of Chesapeake, Kent County News

Trish McGee, Assistant Editor, APG Media of Chesapeake, Kent County News

Kelly Mecca, Cer tified Financial Planner, Compass Investment Advisors

Kelly Mecca, Cer tified Financial Planner, Compass Investment Advisors

Brooke Mesko, Business Owner, Town and Countr yLiquors

Brooke Mesko, Business Owner, Town and Countr yLiquors

Jennifer Messick, Associate Director, Choptank Transpor t

Jennifer Messick, Associate Director, Choptank Transpor t

Karey Minor-McCauley, Registered Nurse, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Karey Minor-McCauley, Registered Nurse, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Natalie Morales, Director of Food &Beverage, Wylder Hotel

Natalie Morales, Director of Food &Beverage, Wylder Hotel

Julie Moriar ty, Business Owner, Guilford &Company

Julie Moriar ty, Business Owner, Guilford &Company

Lori Morris, Assistant Chief, Special Operations Division, Queen Anne’sCounty Government

Lori Morris, Assistant Chief, Special Operations Division, Queen Anne’sCounty Government

Michele Morrissette, Community Health Nurse Program Super visor, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Michele Morrissette, Community Health Nurse Program Super visor, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Donna Olson, Coordinator, Meals On Wheels

Donna Olson, Coordinator, Meals On Wheels

Kristen Owen, Financial Advisor, Chesapeake Bank and Trust

Kristen Owen, Financial Advisor, Chesapeake Bank and Trust

Wendy Palmer, Operations Manager,YMCA at Washington Business Owner,Latitude 38 Restaurant

Wendy Palmer, Operations Manager,YMCA at Washington Business Owner,Latitude 38 Restaurant

Amanda Parks, Business Owner,Fit Flock

Amanda Parks, Business Owner,Fit Flock

Rev.Yvonne Paxton, Pastor, United Methodist Church

Rev.Yvonne Paxton, Pastor, United Methodist Church

Krista Pettit, Non-Profit Owner, Haven Ministries

Krista Pettit, Non-Profit Owner, Haven Ministries

Dr.V ita Pickrum, Vice President of Institutional Advancement, Delaware State University

Dr.V ita Pickrum, Vice President of Institutional Advancement, Delaware State University

Linda Pusey, Reading Specialist, Dorchester County Public Schools

Linda Pusey, Reading Specialist, Dorchester County Public Schools

Kimberly Quathamer, Business Owner, Midshore Solutions Lawn and Landscape

Kimberly Quathamer, Business Owner, Midshore Solutions Lawn and Landscape

Dani Racine, Marine Design &Permitting, Lane Engineering, LLC

Dani Racine, Marine Design &Permitting, Lane Engineering, LLC

Jackie Reiss, Paramedic, Talbot County Department of Emergency Ser vices

Jackie Reiss, Paramedic, Talbot County Department of Emergency Ser vices

Deb Rich, VP of Marketing, Shore United Bank

Deb Rich, VP of Marketing, Shore United Bank

Sarah Rich, CEO, Choptank Community Health Systems

Sarah Rich, CEO, Choptank Community Health Systems

Cr ystal Richard, Attorney, Thompson &Richard

Cr ystal Richard, Attorney, Thompson &Richard

Jeanmarie Richardson, CEO, The Digital Architects

Jeanmarie Richardson, CEO, The Digital Architects

Virginia Richardson, Senior Architect, RAUCH Engineering

Virginia Richardson, Senior Architect, RAUCH Engineering

Linda Rohleder, Business Owner, ADU, Your Appliance Source

Linda Rohleder, Business Owner, ADU, Your Appliance Source

ta Lily,M.D.,

2021 NOMINEES

2021 NOMINEES

Julie Russum Smith, President, Ashley Insurance

Julie Russum Smith, President, Ashley Insurance

Maggie Schmidt, Community Health Nurse Super visor, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Maggie Schmidt, Community Health Nurse Super visor, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Leann Schenke, Journalist, APG of Chesapeake/Kent County News

Leann Schenke, Journalist, APG of Chesapeake/Kent County News

Casey Scott, Health Officer, Dorchester County Depar tment of Health

Casey Scott, Health Officer, Dorchester County Depar tment of Health

Pammy Sellers, Tattoo Ar tist, Sellers Ink

Pammy Sellers, Tattoo Ar tist, Sellers Ink

Jennifer Smith, Business Owner, Galler yRestaurant

Jennifer Smith, Business Owner, Galler yRestaurant

Beth Strader, Computer Consultant, IBM

Beth Strader, Computer Consultant, IBM

Amy Steward, Business Owner &Writer, Shore Magazine Editor

Amy Steward, Business Owner &Writer, Shore Magazine Editor

Francoise Sullivan, Business Owner/Web Designer, Moo Productions

Francoise Sullivan, Business Owner/Web Designer, Moo Productions

Stefanie Takacs, Executive Director, Touchstones Discussion Project

Stefanie Takacs, Executive Director, Touchstones Discussion Project

Doris Tate, CNP/FF,Retired

Doris Tate, CNP/FF,Retired

Maggie Thomas, Director of Addiction and Prevention Ser vices, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Maggie Thomas, Director of Addiction and Prevention Ser vices, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Lisa Thornton, Development Director, Junior Achievement of the EasternShore

Lisa Thornton, Development Director, Junior Achievement of the EasternShore

Ginna Tiernan, Director,Adkins Arboretum

Ginna Tiernan, Director,Adkins Arboretum

Heather Tinelli, Director of Economics &Tourism, Queen Anne’sCounty

Heather Tinelli, Director of Economics &Tourism, Queen Anne’sCounty

Amanda Todd, AssociateDirector of Logistics, Choptank Transpor t

Amanda Todd, AssociateDirector of Logistics, Choptank Transpor t

Billy Jo Turner, Fiscal Manager, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Billy Jo Turner, Fiscal Manager, Queen Anne’sCounty Depar tment of Health

Christina Turner,M.D., University of Mar yland Shore Medical GroupNephrology

Christina Turner,M.D., University of Mar yland Shore Medical Group -

Nephrology

Shelby Turner, Cadet

Shelby Turner, Cadet

Mar tha Tuthill, Vice President, Hear thstone Fitness Center

Mar tha Tuthill, Vice President, Hear thstone Fitness Center

Jordan Twilley, Executive Sales Director, Live Out Loud Area

Jordan Twilley, Executive Sales Director, Live Out Loud Area

Cassandra Vanhooser, Director of Economic Developers and Tourism, Talbot County

Cassandra Vanhooser, Director of Economic Developers and Tourism, Talbot County

Shannon Vaughn, Business Owner,Pursoma

Shannon Vaughn, Business Owner,Pursoma

Dr.Marissa Wallie, Business Owner/Chiropractor, Broadneck Family and Coastal Chiropractic

Dr.Marissa Wallie, Business Owner/Chiropractor, Broadneck Family and Coastal Chiropractic

Nicole Webb, Assistant General Manager, Wylder Hotel

Nicole Webb, Assistant General Manager, Wylder Hotel

Kristin Weed, President, KI Beach Clean Up

Kristin Weed, President, KI Beach Clean Up

Katy Weddell, Business Owner/Physical Therapist, Chesapeake Physical Therapy

Katy Weddell, Business Owner/Physical Therapist, Chesapeake Physical Therapy

Heidi Wetzel, Ar tist, Heidi Wetzel Woven Sculptures

Heidi Wetzel, Ar tist, Heidi Wetzel Woven Sculptures

Jamie Williams, Economic Development Director,Kent County

Jamie Williams, Economic Development Director,Kent County

Trena Williamson, Regional Director, Communications &Marketing, University of Mar yland Shore Regional Health

Trena Williamson, Regional Director, Communications &Marketing, University of Mar yland Shore Regional Health

Melissa Whittington, Proper ty Manager, Magnolia Meadows

Melissa Whittington, Proper ty Manager, Magnolia Meadows

Christina Wingate-Spence, Director of Marketing, Bright Star Care

Christina Wingate-Spence, Director of Marketing, Bright Star Care

Qlarant

WHATISYOURADVICETO OTHERWOMENLOOKINGTO EXPANDTHEIRCAREERSIN NON-TRADITIONALFIELDS?

Iwouldsay,“goforit!”Putyourselfoutthere andtr y. Star tbyinterviewingothersand learnasmuchasyoucanaboutthefield.Be involvedinthecommunitybecausesomany opportunitiescomefromnetworkingwiththose aroundyou.

HOWDOESITFEELTOBEAN EXCEPTIONALWOMANINYOUR INDUSTRY?

Awesome! Ihaveworkedver yhard,demonstrated competenceovertimeandhavetakencalculatedrisks.

WHOHASBEEN AROLEMODELFOR YOU?

Ihavehadsomanypositiverolemodelsalongthe way.Earlyoninmycareer,BarbHarriswhowasmy supervisoratGeneralElectricwasinstrumental.She gavemestretchassignmentswhich Icreditformuchof myearlydevelopment.Heracknowledgementofmy successesandencouragementmeantsomuchtome.

WHATARE YOUMOSTPROUDOF?

Iammostproudofdeveloping astrongteamand mentoringothers. Watchingthosearoundyougrowinto humanresourceprofessionalsinotherindustriesistruly humbling.

DOYOUACTIVELYMENTORIN YOURROLEINYOURHOME, BUSINESSORCOMMUNITYWORK?

ThroughmySoroptimistClubof TalbotCountywe promoteadvancingeducationforunderservedwomen. Thiscanmeanhelpingwithscholarshipsforcollegebut alsofortradeschools. We also giveawardsforgirls ages14-17whoaremaking aphilanthropicdifference intheircommunity.

DEBORAH KELLER VicePresidentofHumanResources

“Watchingthose around yougrowintohuman resource professionals in otherindustriesis trulyhumbling.”

Amanda Todd AssociateDirectorofLogistics

Choptank Transport

WHODOYOUADMIREMOST?

Myfather.Hehas alwaysbeensuch astrongrole modelandtheone Iadmiremost. Ihavealways strivedtobejustasstrongandsuccessfulasheis.

HOWDOESITFEELTOBEAN EXCEPTIONALWOMANINYOUR INDUSTRY?

Itis aprettyamazing tobereceiving recognitionlike this. Womenhave comea longwayinthisindustr y, andthisfeelsjustasgreataswhen Iearned my AssociateDirectortitle!

WHATISYOURADVICETO OTHERWOMENLOOKINGTO EXPANDTHEIRCAREERSIN NON-TRADITIONALFIELDS?

Grind.Bringyourbestandpushyour waytothetop ever yday.Ifyouhavetheadvantageofworkingina teamsetting,buildthosepeopleup withyou. Youare onlyasstrongasyourweakestlink.

WHATAREYOUMOSTPROUDOF?

My2020ExcellenceCupaward.Thisispretty much thebiggestawardoftheyearatChoptank,andit ispresentedto thepersonwhoshowsthegritand dedicationon adaily basis. Thataward is recognition on awholeotherlevel.

DOYOUACTIVELYMENTORIN YOURROLEINYOURHOME, BUSINESSORCOMMUNITY WORK?

Thereare afewpeoplethatIhavementoredhere onthejob overtheyears.Mostofthemhave currentlyearnedtheirown management roleshereat Choptankandlead theirown teamsorgroupsunder me. Iamver ypassionateaboutbuildingsolidteams withstrongleadership,andhave been luckyenough tobeableto passtalentdowntoothers.

“Ifyou have the advantageofworking in ateamsetting,build thosepeopleupw ithyou.

Youare only as strong as your weakestlink.”

WHATCHALLENGESHAVEYOU OVERCOMEAS AWOMANIN YOURINDUSTRY?

Oneofthebiggestchallengesas awomaninthe supplychainisreallytrustingyourownvoiceand beingconfidentwithyourdeliver y-thewillingness toleaninwhentheunsaidneedstobroughtto thetablewithpoise. We don’tneedtobepushy –youjustwanttobeconfidentandrealizeour differencewillhelpallsucceed!

HOWDOESITFEELTOBEAN EXCEPTIONALWOMANINYOUR INDUSTRY?

It’sasenseofaccomplishmentandatthesametime thereisalwaysworktobedoneandimprovementsI amalwaysworkingon.Alwaysreachingformore!

WHATAREYOUMOSTPROUDOF?

Iammostproudofthestaf fmembersthat Ihave mentoredovertheyears. Alothavegoneonto leadershippositionsandarenowleadingournew teammembersanddevelopingevenmoreleaders thuscontinuingtogrowourcompany.Itisagreat feeling!

WHODOYOUADMIREMOST?

Ireallyadmiretheleadershipteamthat Iworkwith daily.Togetherweare adiverseteamthatbrings alot tothetablewithextensiveindustr yknowledge!

WHATDOYOUENJOYDOING FORTHECOMMUNITY?

“I really admire the leadershipteam that Iwork with daily. Together we are adiverse team that brings a lottothe tablew ithextensive industry knowledge!”

Ilovefaith-basedorganizations.Faithhasalways played ahugeroleinmylife.

JEN MESSICK AssociateDirector,Logistics Choptank Transport

HOWDOESITFEELTOBEAN EXCEPTIONALWOMANINYOUR INDUSTRY?

Iamhonoredtoberecognizedinthiswaynotjustfor myselfbutforalloftheotherwomeninmyfield.

WHOHASBEEN AROLEMODEL FORYOU?

Ihavehaddifferentrolemodelsindifferentareasof mylife.Myparentsareextremelysupportiveand havemodeledwhat afamilyshouldbe.Through highschool,mytenniscoachesBillBusickandJackie Wood,encouragedmetoneversettleandalways striveformore.Inmycareer,CharleneKellerhas beeninstrumentalinmygrowthandalwaysinspires me.

WHATAREYOUMOSTPROUDOF?

Firstandforemost, Iammostproudofmyfamily. Theyaremydrivingforceandmotivationtoalways give100%inallendeavors.Secondly,I’mproudto be apar tofagrowingcompanythatcaresabout theircommunityandemployees.

DOYOUACTIVELYMENTORIN YOURROLEINYOURHOME, BUSINESSORCOMMUNITY WORK?

Iamfortunatetohave 3childrenandamabletobe extremelyinvolvedintheirathleticsandphilanthropic activitieswithinourcommunity.Iwantmychildren andtheirpeerstofindtheirownvoice,tohave courageandconfidence,andalwayshavevisionfor thefuture.

“I want my children andtheir peerstofind theirown voice, to have courageand confidence, andalwayshavev ision for thefuture.”

Jennifer Daniels AssociateDirectorofSales Choptank Transport

VOTEDBESTOFTHEEASTERN SHORE2021

Step 1Dance2 Academy(S1D2)isa non-competitive,friendly, fun, familycommunitybasedandinnovativedance studiowhosegoalsare to helpeachstudentbuild confidence,self-esteem,strength,flexibility, andanappreciation fortheart of danceandmovement.S1D2is aplace of encouragementwherestudentswilllearnandgrow inmovement, performance,andself-assurance.

Thedanceworldiscompetitive...andsmall! Learn everystyle,stay challenged,pursue your technique,grasptheentertainmentindustry,and diveintoyourperformancequalities,whilebuilding your resumeand work ethic. Neverstoplearning... competitiveornot...growfromwhatyoulearn! Classesaredesigned to helpourstudentsdevelopphysically, mentally, socially, andemotionallythrough asolid foundation of creativity,propertechnique,anddevelopmentallyappreciate movements. We have a “strong” reliabledancefamily, staff &alumnibondthatiswhatmakesS1D2special.

OWNER,JESSICAGALLEWis anativeofPhiladelphia, PA andis a2005graduate from PointPark University inPittsburgh, PA with aBAdegreeinJazzand Modern DanceConcentrationand aMinorinBusiness. Once a professionaldancer,turnedchoreographerandstudio owner,Jessica’s maingoalis to sharethebeautyand knowledge of danceasasportandanARTFORMthroughoutthe communityandgivechildrenandadults afun/ safe andcreativelearning experience to grownandfindthemselvesthrumovement.Ahugeaccomplishment hasbeengrowingthestudioin other ways by creating 2AWARD-WINNINGPre-Professional DanceCompanies, Paralleland Paradigm. To beable to givethese youngdancersprofessional experiencesandopportunities to workwiththebest of thebestintheindustrythatcan lead to doorsopening forthefutureasaprofessional dancerand/orlearninginvigoratinglifelessons.

Celebratingour10thseason at S1D2this year,ithasbeen aremarkableandhumblingjourneytobeableto reopenourdoors afterbeingclosed forsixmonths.Our DanceFamiliesand my STAFFhave always beenour WHY…weneeded to findcreativewaystokeepthemdancing,whetheronscreen,inperson,outside, we had to beinnovative, we had to besafe;and we didit TOGETHER!

Eagerlyexcited to shareJuneofthis year,ourcreativeendeavors to showcaseourtalenteddancersinour ANNUALShow, “EPIC” and revampingour companyshow“WANDERLUSTREIMAGINE,” inaninnovativeway since theatersareclosed. It isfreshandnew, givesus awholenewcreativefreedom to exploreasadancefamily.

If this yearhastaughtusanything…itis to STAY STRONG, to nevergiveup!

It isan extraordinaryhonorand recognition to benominatedasanempowering woman,in2021 womentowatch! Ihave afullteam of extraordinary,inspiring womenwhoareempowering to me to leadthem!

CHELSEA COOMBS

DirectorofDiningServices

Londonderr yonThe Tred Avon

“Myadv icetoothers is not listentoanyonewho says youcan’t,justput your head down,workhardand just go do it.”

HOWDOESITFEELTOBEAN EXCEPTIONALWOMANINYOUR INDUSTRY?

Itfeelsamazingtobehonoredinthisway!Itis awesometoseeanywomansucceedinthisindustr y.

WHOHASBEEN AROLEMODEL FORYOU?

Mymomhasbeenmyrockmyentirelife.Sheworks harderthananyone Iknowandalwayshas.Also,my boss,Irma Toce.Sheisnotonly agreatleaderbut oneofthesmartestmentorsI’veeverhad.

Irma TocewhoistheCEOofLondonderr yhasbeen ahugerolemodelforme.Sheissmar tandlevel headed.Irmatook achancewhenshehiredme overolderandmoreseasonedchefs.Sheisalways availablewhen Ineedhelpworkingthrougha potentialproblem.

WHATARE YOUMOSTPROUDOF?

Iammostproudofmyteam.Therearebetween 24-30peopleworkinginthekitchenandinthe diningroomcombined. We worktogethersowell, Iliterallycouldn’tdoitwithoutthem.

WHATISYOURADVICETOOTHER WOMENLOOKINGTOEXPAND THEIRCAREERSIN NON-TRADITIONALFIELDS?

Myadvicetoothersistonotlistentoanyonewho saysyoucan’t,justputyourheaddown,workhard andjustgodoit.

APG Mediaof Chesapeakewould like to applaudthesethreeoutstandingmembers ofoureditorial teamwho were nominated forthe Women to WatchMagazine2021! Leann

WOMEN IN HISTORY

MAYA A NGELOU

She was sent at an early age to live with her paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, in Stamps, Ark. After suffering sexual abuse in her mother’s household, Angelou became mute for almost five years. Cloaked in silence, Angelou developed an extraordinary memory, coupled with a love for books and an ability to listen and observe.

At 16, Angelou — then living with her mother and brother in Oakland, California — became the first Black female cable car conductor in San Francisco. Soon after, she gave birth to her son Clyde. In 1959, after a failed marriage and song-and-dance career, novelist John Oliver Killens urged Angelou to move to New York to concentrate on her writing. She did, and met Black authors and was published for the first time. In 1960, she and Killens organized the Cabaret for Freedom to benefit the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was named the SCLC northern coordinator.

She moved to Africa with South African freedom fighter Vusumzi Make in 1961, where she worked as an associate editor at The Arab Observer, an English newspaper. By 1962, her relationship with Make was over and she and her son lived in Accra, Ghana, where she was an administrator at the University of Ghana, a feature editor for The African Review and worked and performed in Ghana’s National Theatre. She became close friends with Malcolm X, and eventually returned to the U.S. in 1965 to help him form the Organization of Afro-American Unity. She was living in Watts during the 1965 riots and, devastated by the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, she wrote. She produced and narrated “Blacks, Blues, Black!” a 10-art series of documentaries about the connection between blues music and Black heritage for the precursor of PBS. This work was followed by her first autobiography and one of her most famous works, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” published in 1969.

This was followed by work as a composer, screenplay writer, authoring short stories and documentaries and poems. Angelou was nominated for a Tony Award for 1973’s “Look Away” and appeared in “Roots” in 1977, chalking up more than 30 honorary degrees from universities around the world. She taught at Wake Forest University until 2011 and also lectured around the country, winning a Grammy, directing a feature film (“Down in the Delta”), even receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 from President Barack Obama.

Angelou died in 2014 at 86. Her papers were donated to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.

Maya Angelou, a Black poet, memoirist and civil rights activist, was born in 1928 in St. Louis.

WOMEN IN HISTORY

FRIDA K AHLO

She was born in 1907 in Mexico City to a German father and a mestiza mother, spending most of her life at the family home which is now the Frida Kahlo Museum.

Kahlo was disabled by polio as a child and also suffered a bus accident at 18 which caused her lifelong medical problems. During the recovery from this accident, she returned to a childhood interest in art. In 1929, she married fellow artist Diego Rivera and spent the late 1920s and early 1930s traveling throughout Mexico and the United States, developing her artistic style that drew from Mexican folk culture, including preColombian and Catholic beliefs.

Kahlo held her first solo exhibit in New York in 1938, which was followed by another in Paris in 1939 that resulted in the Louvre acquiring one of her works, “The Frame.” Kahlo continued to work and teach art, landing at the Escuela National de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado. She became a founding member of the Seminario de Cultura Mexicana. However, her fragile health caught up with her, and she died in 1954 at age 47.

Her work remained relatively obscure until the 1970s, when her work was discovered by feminist scholars and the Chicano movement. In 1977, “The Tree of Hope Stands Firm,” painted in 1944, became the first Kahlo painting to be sold at auction, fetching $19,000. A retrospective of her paintings opened in London in 1982 and traveled the world, followed by 1983’s bestselling art history book “Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo.”

In 1984, Mexico declared her works part of the national cultural heritage, which prohibited their export from the country. Now, her paintings seldom appear in international auctions but have still managed to break records when they do. In 1990, “Diego and I” sold for $1,430,000 and in 2016, “Two Lovers in a Forest” sold for $8 million.

Kahlo’s life and work have inspired a variety of fashion looks and merchandise. She has become an icon for minority groups and political movements and a symbol of non-conformity and the cultural minority.

Magdalena Carmen Frida

Kahlo y Calderon was a Mexican painter known for her portraits, self-portraits and works inspired by Mexico.

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