Making it Their Business to Succeed
Chamber Salutes Women in the Workplace
By Carolyn Mitchell
Through the Chattanooga Nautilus Awards the Chamber 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 distinguished by professional achievements, community service and efforts to help women obtain career goals and leadership skills.
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, about 120 of whom are women. She leads by example, training Hospice employees to achieve new levels of excellence in caring for over 560 hospice patients in daily care and an additional 475 patients in non-hospice palliative care.
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 a place where women become proficient managers and leaders both in their hospice careers and in the community at large.
ATHENA Award Finalists
Darlene Brown is managing broker and an owner of Real Estate Partners. All the company’s owners are women, and 31 of the 35 real estate professionals are female. These women are among more than 1,000 women Brown has hired or managed during her 35-year career in real estate.
Virginia Anne Sharber is a member of the law firm of Miller & Martin, PLLC, where she is a co-leader of the female attorneys’ affinity group. Vice president of the Women’s Leadership Institute, Sharber serves on the Institute’s committees that design and implement the "Women Mentoring Women" program.
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. 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.
Later, after founding Cleaning Solutions, 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.
Navigator of Entrepreneurship Finalists
Brenda Amaral de Cabrera, owner and CEO of Say What, LLC, a language service company, has taught classes in Spanish to clients, preparing them for GED testing, and has tutored young women to help them graduate from high school and enter college.
Amanda Buchanan owns Dale Buchanan and Associates law firm, Table 2 Restaurant, Fleetwood Development and Flying B Development. Under her leadership female attorneys now constitute 25 percent of the firm’s lawyers. Also, she has implemented programs and policies to make the work/life balance easier.
The Lightkeeper Award
The Lightkeeper is an individual who has made significant contributions to issues affecting women and 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. 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.
As a director and a past board president of Ballet Tennessee, she has worked with students, including inner city and scholarship dancers, on fundraising projects and volunteer programs.
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. In addition to her Make-A-Wish duties, Hood serves as a mentor for a ministry to single minority women with children and volunteers 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 assists Latino women in advancing at the workplace and gaining leadership skills and supports a program she developed to help Latino women achieve healthy birth outcomes.
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. 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. As the manager of some 250 Select Staffing associates working at three separate facilities, Jones provides associates’ orientation, does payroll and acts as Worker’s Compensation coordinator.
A Baylor graduate, 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 DaCorian, who entered Bright School this year. Her professional goal is to become a corporate lawyer.
Stargazer Finalists
Lillian Disla is working towards her nursing degree with the goal of working as a hospital nurse and offering clinics that promote health and preventative care for low-income families.
Sunny Murray has overcome family hardships that forced her to drop out of school and now plans to complete a degree at UTC and make a career in public relations, publishing or reporting.
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.
See story on Pearl of Promise recipient Kermisha Tate on page 26.
Pearl of Promise Finalists
Ioana Florea, a senior at Girls Preparatory School, 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. She is the daughter of Dr. Radian Florea and Dr. Cristina Florea.
Xanadu Locey, a senior at Ooltewah High, plans to graduate from Norwich University, join the U.S. Navy as an officer and work with the Navy’s military police force. Xanadu is the daughter of Robert and Neyla Locey.
