EWLUSA Newsletter, first half 2023

FOUNDERS MESSAGE

Hello! I hope everyone is enjoying this fast-paced 2023 so far! I am really pleased to introduce the new format of our newsletter, and invite you all to participate in a great slate of events we have planned for this year. At our National Strategy meeting earlier this year, we laid out a big, hairy audacious goal of 10 chapters within 10 years, and sponsoring 333 women in their education and career goals!

We are thrilled to have 4 chapters up and running today! These chapters are actively working to fundraise as well as recruit and matriculate STAR’s into the program. Along with that, they support the STAR’s with their education and career goals with mentoring and networking events. We’d  encourage you to consider mentoring as an impactful way to help our STAR’s as they embark on their chosen educational and career paths.

To date, Empowering Women as Leaders has sponsored over 138 women in re-inventing their lives through scholarships and mentoring.  EWL has awarded $375,000 in scholarships.  Our STARs graduate with an average GPA of 3.5 and we have a success rate of 95%.

Great things are happening with all of our boards. We are very pleased to announce that Joan Kuehl will be moving into the role of President of Ft. Worth Chapter, and Paula Mascarenas joins us in the role of President, Dallas Chapter. We’re going to see great things in 2023 from these ladies and chapters! Along with that, we are adding new board members to our National and Chapter boards and look forward to a broader introduction to  you in the next newsletter.

As always, thank you for your participation in the mission of Empowering Women as Leaders. Without your generous support of your time, your  talents and your giving, we wouldn’t be nearly as far along to our 10 year goals as we already are!

All the best, Carolyn Bondy

BOARD SPOTLIGHT

Tabatha “Tab” Erck is Chief Executive Officer at Zipari, a software company and the first and only Consumer Engagement platform built exclusively for the health insurance industry. Previously, Tab served as Chief Executive Officer for Fulcrum Health, Inc, a specialty health organization, and was most recently Chief Operating Officer at Remedy, a venture backed digital health-care company. Dr. Erck received her doctorate in leadership and health care public policy at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

Tab brings over 20 years of board experience that includes establishing vision, mission and values, setting strategy and structure, oversight of top management, and fundraising both as a board member and the chairman of the board.

Tab joined the Women as Leaders (EWL) National Board in December 2022 as our Director for Fundraising and Sponsorships.

OUR NEW STARS

DECEMBER 2022 INDUCTEES

Welcome our new STAR’s to the EWL program! We’re so excited to have you join us!

Elizabeth Condron Social Work, Dallas

Chris Sterie Food Science, Dallas

Samantha Argueta Kinesiology (Pre-PT), Dallas

Melissa Baldi Applied Science, Austin

Lydia McMillan History, Dallas

Taylor Price Business Administration, Dallas

Jessica Cajka Social Work, Austin

Camilla Goldman Nutrition, Dallas

Jessica Cardenas-Mesa Psychology Pre-Entry OT BS, Dallas

Ashley Winston General Studies, Dallas

DECEMBER 2022 GRADS

We’d like to congratulate our December 22 and May 23 graduates! We are so proud of you and look forward to a long and productive relationship with each and every one of you!

Brooke Morlet Accounting, Dallas

Sophia Sykes Health Studies: Community Health, Dallas

MAY 2023 GRADS

Florinda Hernández BAAS, Dallas

LaShun Hunter Business Administration, Dallas

Sarah Johnson Gharib Fashion Design & Business Administration, Dallas

Nadya Lee Social Work, Dallas

Chioma Maduka

Kinesiology - Pre-Occupational

Alexandra Welker Education Department, Dallas

Therapy, Fort Worth

Marisa Martinez

Dental Hygiene, Dallas

Tara Moran

Education 4-8 Special Education, Dallas

Anna Palin

Social Work, Dallas

Annah Stewart Adams

English (Writing & Rhetoric Track), Dallas

Spotlighting a new star CHIOMA MADUKA

SENIOR AT TWU MAJORING IN KINESIOLOGY

Chioma Maduka is a senior at TWU majoring in Kinesiology, with plans to pursue an advanced degree in Occupational Therapy in the future. Chioma is an excellent student and has maintained a grade point average of 3.55. Chioma is  very anxious to promote healthy living in her Occupational Therapy practice by teaching patients and others about the importance of good nutrition and reasonable levels of activity for people of all ages. She has a passion for helping adults and seniors practice their own personal healthy lifestyle, finding unique ways to accomplish the tasks they need to accomplish, and also to support them both physically and mentally.

In addition to her excellent academic record as a full-time student, Chioma also has a full-time job and has been named employee of the month many times for her dedication, service and initiative. Chioma has also been a Success Mentor in 2021 and 2022, supporting and working with first generation freshman students to help them transition successfully from high school to college. She feels real pride in hearing from her mentees when they come back to tell her about their accomplishments, milestones, and all the things they’re involved in. After graduation, Chioma hopes to continue to mentor undergrad students to share her experiences and perspective to help them navigate their academic journey and avoid some common pitfalls.

Congratulations to Chioma on her many accomplishments and all her plans and goals for the future.

EWL HOUSTON CHAPTER

2023 marks EWL Houston’s first active year and we are excited to offer scholarships to deserving women in the TWU undergraduate nursing program in Houston. We recently hosted our first event - a partnership event with Kendra Scott - on February 12th. We raised money toward our scholarship and spread the word about our new organization in Houston. We begin our STAR selection process in May and cannot wait to meet these wonderful women!

EWL AUSTIN CHAPTER

Wow, it has been a fantastic first year for EWL Austin. We have just completed one full cycle from board building to fundraising to STAR selection, all culminating with the celebration of our inaugural STARs at the EWL Austin Signing Ceremony in February. We could not be more proud or grateful for the impact this board is having on the future women leaders of Austin. The board raised over $15,000 in year one which far surpassed our goal of $10,000 and represents the largest first year fundraise of any EWL board to date. With minimum working capital for our first year, we decided to get scrappy and raise our funds organically. Every board member was challenged to raise $1000 in 3

months by reaching out to our own networks and sharing our mission. The team exceeded that goal by 3X! We then leveraged those dollars to award scholarships to two very impressive candidates at Texas State University. Both ladies were former military and shared powerful stories of perseverance, hard work, discipline, and passion for making an impact. Meeting these ladies was the highlight of the year, knowing that we were helping to make a difference in their lives so that they could go on to be future leaders in their communities. Cheers to a year under our belt! We are pushing toward $20,000 in year 2 to help 4 new STARs in 2024. Thank you to EWL National for all the support.

EWL DALLAS & FT. WORTH CHAPTER

On March 25, EWL’s Dallas and Fort Worth chapters hosted a brunch for all current STARs and mentors. The brunch was held at Gloria’s Latin Cuisine in Las Colinas. Twenty-five STARs, mentors, and board members attended. Everyone reported having a great

time and appreciated being able to get together in person. This is the sixth year that we’ve held the brunch and it’s become a great tradition for our Dallas and Fort Worth STARs and mentors.

CHECK OUT OUR RECENT GREAT EWL EVENTS, AND MAKE SURE TO PLAN FOR THESE FOR NEXT YEAR! KEEP UP WITH US ON FACEBOOK AND LINKEDIN FOR UPDATES ON FUTURE EVENTS LIKE THE DALLAS LUNCHEON IN OCTOBER!

CREATING SECOND CHANCES FOR WOMEN