posted October 30, 2009
The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce held its fourth annual Chattanooga Nautilus Awards Luncheon on Friday at the Convention Center.
The event recognizes outstanding local businesswomen and the businesses and individuals that assist women in reaching their potential as entrepreneurs and corporate leaders.
The 2009 award recipients are Dr. Terry Melvin, ATHENA Award; Velma Wilson, Navigator of Entrepreneurship Award; Rosemarie Bryan, Lightkeeper Award; Marquita Jones, Stargazer Award; and Kermisha Tate, Pearl of Promise Award.
The ATHENA Award
The ATHENA Award is presented to an individual whose professional achievements, community service, and efforts to help women obtain career goals and leadership skills are worthy of this coveted honor.
As Hospice of Chattanooga’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Terry Melvin supervises and inspires a professional staff of 320 women, 10 men and 200 hospice volunteers of whom about 120 are women. She leads by example, training Hospice employees to achieve new levels of excellence in care for over 560 hospice patients in daily care and an additional 475 patients in non-hospice Palliative Care.
Dr. Melvin has recruited leading women physicians to help direct patient care for Hospice of Chattanooga, but she encourages staff in every department to move forward in career goals. As a result, Hospice of Chattanooga is an organization where women become proficient managers and leaders both in their hospice careers and in the community at large.
Under Dr. Melvin’s leadership, Hospice has received special commendation from the Community Health Accreditation Program for physician leadership, wound care and its volunteer program. Dr. Melvin has also been recognized for establishing the region's only dedicated Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Care program and for developing free Grief Counseling Programs open to the community, including Children's Grief Support Counseling and Children's and Teen Grief Retreats.
Dr. Melvin is a board member of the Southeast Tennessee Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, a past president of the Chattanooga Regional Oncology Association, and a past board member of Senior Neighbors of Chattanooga. She is a volunteer with Volunteers in Medicine, Chattanooga’s free clinic, among other organizations helping those in need.
ATHENA Award Finalists
Darlene Brown is managing broker and an owner of Real Estate Partners. The company is all-women owned and 31 of the 35 real estate professionals are female. These women are among more than 1,000 women Ms. Brown has hired or managed during her 35-year career in real estate.
The formation of the company reflects Ms. Brown’s commitment to her hometown, her desire to support the downtown resurgence and a dedication to encouraging the professional development of women.
Bringing residential living back to downtown is Ms. Brown’s most important business accomplishment. Its first year Real Estate Partners was the No. 1 real estate company in downtown Chattanooga and on the Northshore and was No. 1 in the entire metro area in condo sales.
Ms. Brown has held virtually every office at the Chattanooga Association of Realtors, including president and Realtor of the Year. She was the first female member of the Downtown Civitan Club and served on the McCallie School board.
Virginia Anne Sharber is a member of the law firm of Miller & Martin, PLLC, practicing primarily in commercial lending and commercial real estate development since 1984. She serves on the diversity committee and is a co-leader of the female attorneys’ affinity group.
Vice president of the Women's Leadership Institute, Ms. Sharber serves on the Institute’s committees that design and implement the “Women Mentoring Women” program. She is also on the executive and program committees of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga Women’s Fund, which seeks to make Chattanooga a place where women flourish personally, economically and professionally.
A 1989 graduate of Leadership Chattanooga, Ms. Sharber previously served as program committee chair on the board of Girls, Inc. and is a past board chair of the Community Foundation, Allied Arts, the Bright School and the Memorial Health Care Systems Foundation.
In 1996, she was president of the Junior League of Chattanooga when it received a national award for partnering with primarily female residents of the Westside community in an effort that resulted in the Westside Community Development Corporation.
Navigator of Entrepreneurship Award
The Navigator of Entrepreneurship Award is presented to a woman business owner who encourages work-family balance among employees, demonstrates a pioneering spirit of entrepreneurship and serves as a role model for other women.
Velma Wilson, recipient of the Navigator of Entrepreneurship Award for 2009, is president and owner of Cleaning Solutions, LLC, a commercial janitorial service established in 2001. Before founding Cleaning Solutions, she worked at Inner City Ministries and the American Cancer Society. Both positions enabled her to help many young women with financial assistance, life skills training and job placement.
As Community Outreach Director for ACS, Ms. Wilson was awarded the first AVON grant in Chattanooga for low income women to receive a free mammogram. After obtaining the grant, the next challenge was encouraging women to overcome their fears and actually get a mammogram.
Ms. Wilson set up ACS office sites in two of the major housing developments and collaborated with neighborhood leaders to teach the importance of the service right in the neighborhoods. When she found out some women were not keeping their appointments, Ms. Wilson personally transported the women to and from their appointments and often stayed with them during their appointments to ease their fears.
Later, after founding Cleaning Solutions, Ms. Wilson often made sure her employees had transportation to work, flex time to maintain social services appointments and employee performance bonuses and picnics. The company was a Chamber Small Business of the Year finalist in 2007.
Ms. Wilson, who is also an agent with Bridge City Realty, is president of the Chamber’s MidTown Council, a graduate of the Leadership Chattanooga Class of 2006, board development chair of the Henry Branch of the YMCA and an associate minister of Faith Family Worship Center.
Navigator of Entrepreneurship Finalists
Brenda Amaral de Cabrera is the owner and CEO of Say What, LLC, a language service company, offering culturally sensitive business solutions.
At first the company was heavily involved in servicing the legal market, translating legal documents and interpreting in the courts. Now, under Ms. Amaral de Cabrera’s leadership, Say What provides translation and interpreting services, business consulting from a cultural perspective and a variety of workshops. The goal is to become Chattanooga’s number one resource for language services and its consultant on effective ways to assist underserved communities.
Ms. Amaral de Cabrera has taught classes in Spanish to Say What clients, preparing them for GED testing. She has sponsored young women through their senior year in high school, tutoring them and serving as a support help them graduate and enter college. She is always on the lookout for seminars, workshops and classes to benefit those around her.
Nominated as the Interpreter of the Year by the Hamilton County Health Department, Ms. Amaral de Cabrera is a role model, showing that a woman can be a leader and an entrepreneur and that she can have a family while achieving professional ambitions.
Amanda Buchanan owns Dale Buchanan and Associates law firm, Table 2 Restaurant, Fleetwood Development and Flying B Development.
Under her direction, the law firm has moved from employing no female attorneys to employing 25 percent female attorneys. She has implemented programs and policies to make work/life balance easier. The law office closes on Fridays at noon to allow time for personal matters, and the firm allows employees to set their work hours based on personal obligations.
In 2007 Ms. Buchanan created Buchanan University, continuing education classes offered one Friday a month. She strongly encourages – sometimes with financial assistance -- employees to complete undergraduate degrees.
Among her multiple business interests, Table 2 has a special place in Ms. Buchanan’s heart. The establishment recently became one of only three restaurants in Chattanooga to earn the Wine Spectator’s Award of excellence.
On the development front, Ms. Buchanan and her partners have shown creativity, dedication and entrepreneurial skills in preserving and developing the century-old block on East 11th Street known as The Fleetwood.
Each year Ms. Buchanan employs interns who are exposed to the detailed, daily operations of business. Ms. Buchanan works closely with these young women, encouraging, and often financially subsidizing, their college education.
A graduate of Leadership Chattanooga, Ms. Buchanan served on the boards of the Children’s Advocacy Center, the Convention and Visitors Bureau and WTCI Community Advisory. Her philanthropies include Girls Inc., Girls Preparatory School and the Chattanooga Symphony.
The Lightkeeper Award
The Lightkeeper is an individual who has made significant contributions to issues affecting women and/or girls through grassroots efforts. The recipient is a person who keeps her/his company or organization operating smoothly and efficiently, oftentimes outside of the public spotlight.
This year’s Lightkeeper, Rosemarie Bryan, is an employment attorney with the law firm of Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel and has practiced law in Chattanooga for more than 25 years.
Ms. Bryan was a director of the board and board president of Girls, Inc. for
over six years, where she worked closely with the girls as a volunteer and brought the work and needs of Girls, Inc. to the community’s attention.
She has been a director and is a past board president of Ballet Tennessee. She works with students, including inner city and scholarship dancers, on fundraising projects, volunteer programs and other board activities.
Ms. Bryan has also served as board director of the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults and as secretary/treasurer for Families, Inc.
She is the founding director of the board of the Young Women’s Leadership Academy Foundation, which supports the Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy. CGLA serves at-risk girls with a rigorous curriculum of science, technology, engineering and math. Ms. Bryan is particularly delighted to see girls and women grow their presence and leadership.
Lightkeeper Award Finalists
Tory Hood is director of program services for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of East Tennessee, which grants wishes for children with life-threatening conditions.
Ms. Hood teaches and mentors Wish children parents, answering their questions and giving them a shoulder to cry on. She develops and oversees the wish-grant training programs for the volunteers, including their orientation and continuing education. She performs community outreach with doctors in East Tennessee to educate them about the Foundation’s program, as well as developing and maintaining relationships with the doctors, nurses and parents of Wish children.
Ms. Hood’s community service includes leading women’s retreats, where she mentors and counsels young women, distraught from personal tragedy. Through the Adventure Guild she leads rope courses for team-building for companies, schools and special needs children.
Ms. Hood volunteers with the Chattanooga Food Bank, serves as a mentor for a ministry to single minority women with children and serves as a Big Sister in the Big Brother/Big Sister program.
As executive director of Chattanooga’s Latino advocacy organization, La Paz de Dios, Stacy Johnson works to help the local Latino population become engaged community members. Part of her job is assisting Latino women in advancing at the workplace and gaining leadership skills.
Ms. Johnson was at the forefront of developing a program dedicated to achieving healthy birth outcomes for Latino women. The program provides Latino women with an understanding of the importance of prenatal care, nutrition and giving birth to a healthy baby.
Ms. Johnson founded and served as the first director of Hispanic Banking at First Tennessee where she developed culturally sensitive outreach, marketing and public relations plans, arranged for Spanish classes for employees, initiated the hiring of five Spanish-speaking employees and managed all customer relations with Spanish-speaking customers.
A Leadership Chattanooga graduate, Johnson co-founded Gluten Free Chattanooga and has chaired Sangria on the Southside and the Grateful Gobbler Walk for the Homeless.
The Stargazer Award
The Stargazer Award provides financial assistance to a non-traditional college student who intends to advance her career by furthering her education. This award salutes women who have made a decision to change their lives by pursuing their education and making the sacrifices necessary to achieve their goals. The honoree receives a $2,500 scholarship and a laptop computer.
Marquita Jones, who received the Stargazer Award, is a Select Staffing colleague and serves as Select Staffing’s onsite manager at Farley’s & Sathers Candy Company, Inc. Her duties include managing up to 250 Select Staffing associates working at three separate facilities, serving as Worker’s Compensation coordinator for the associates, providing orientation for new associates, doing their payroll and handling the hiring and firing of associates. She is on-call 24-7.
At Ms. Jones’ suggestion Select Staffing paired with Chattanooga State and formed a joint G.E.D. assistance program. The plan offered all active employees the opportunity to earn their G.E.D. while on assignment at Farley’s & Sathers, thus allowing them to have work while they obtained their high school degree, a prerequisite for employment.
A Baylor graduate, Ms. Jones dropped out of UTC after her freshman year to have her son, DaCorian. The top priority for the single mom is to be a good role model for her son, who entered Bright School this year.
A Bethel College student, Ms. Jones and her five-year-old work on their studies together at the kitchen table during “Homework Time.” When she graduates in 2010, Ms. Jones wants to attend the UT-Knoxville School of Law with the goal of becoming a corporate lawyer.
Stargazer Finalists
Lillian Disla is the daughter of immigrant parents. She began to work at 15 to help her family and to save money for college. A combination of prayer and government loans, she says, allowed her to be first in her family to graduate from college. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in psychology, she went on to take her master’s in counseling, both from Southern Adventist.
Ms. Disla began working full-time to help support her family and put away some money in hopes of one day returning to school for a nursing degree. While working as a finance counselor at Southern she had the opportunity to take the pre-requisite classes for admission into the nursing program. She was scheduled to begin her schooling this past January, but because of limited financial aid and unexpected health procedures, she had to postpone her start date.
Ms. Disla is now working towards her nursing degree, but the demands of the program make it impossible for her to work full-time. Her part-time pay means it is hard to make ends meet but she is not discouraged and her friends and family provide her emotional support. Her goal is to graduate in May of 2011 and to work as a nurse in a hospital and hold workshops and clinics that promote health and preventative care for low-income families.
Sunny Murray graduated from Cleveland State with honors and now majors in communications at UTC. She hopes to make a career in public relations, publishing or reporting. She is motivated to receive her degree by her mother’s determination to overcome serious illness.
After high school, Ms. Murray was accepted to Indiana University but couldn’t afford tuition and decided to join the U.S. Navy instead. In Third World countries she encountered people who had even less than her family did when she was a child.
Ms. Murray dropped out of UTC for three months to help care for her ailing mother in Indiana. When she re-entered UTC, she was often depressed by the memory of her mother’s suffering and because, even though her mother beat the odds, she lost her independence and now lives with Ms. Murray’s sister.
But Ms. Murray remembered her mother always stressed the importance of education, and recalls her great grandfather instructing her to “Get your education.” Ms. Murray hopes to graduate from UTC in December 2010. She serves as an intern in communications at Unum.
Pearl of Promise Award
The Pearl of Promise is presented to a female senior high school student with strong mathematics and science skills, a defined career goal and leadership abilities. The recipient receives a $2,500 scholarship and a laptop computer.
Pearl of Promise winner for 2009, Kermisha Tate is a senior at Boyd-Buchanan School. Her plan is to attend the University of Southern California with a major in political science and a minor in communications. Her long-range goals are to attend law school and become a U.S. senator.
Kermisha is president of the Boyd-Buchanan Student Council, president of the Key Club and vice president of Future Business Leaders of America. She's a student leader in the school mentoring program which addresses issues facing middle school students.
The seventeen-year-old is the daughter of Kimberly Elder.
Pearl of Promise Finalists
Ioana Florea is a senior at Girls Preparatory School. She intends to have a double major in college in neuroscience and molecular and cellular biology. She hopes to become an MD/Ph.D. and conduct biomedical research.
Ioana is co-editor-in-chief of the GPS yearbook, world news editor for the school newspaper and secretary/treasurer of the senior literary society. The seventeen-year-old takes an active role in the school’s Model United Nations, the Science Olympiad, Science Club, Junior Engineering Technical Society and the Global Ambassadors.
She is the daughter of Dr. Radian Florea and Dr. Cristina Florea.
Xanadu Locey is an 18-year-old senior at Ooltewah High School. Her plans are to graduate from Norwich University, join the U.S. Navy as an officer and work with the Navy’s military police force. After retiring from the Navy she would like to become an NJROTC instructor.
Xanadu, who is majoring in chemistry, is vice president of the school’s Writers Club and is contributor to the literary magazine. A part of the JROTC program for three years, she is a member of the school’s Academic Quiz team.
Xanadu is the daughter of Robert and Neyla Locey.
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