Shine Awards Honor Inspirational Kansas Women

Thirteen honorees and an inspirational family of women will receive a Shine Award at the annual award luncheon on International Women’s Day, March 8. The Shine Awards celebrate Kansas women who empower others and improve their communities. The luncheon helps raise funds to support Storytime Village’s mission of inspiring a lifelong love of literacy.

This year, the Shine Awards will come to the Wichita Art Museum in partnership with the “Isabelle de Borchgrave: Fashioning Art from Paper” exhibition. Tickets are $75, with proceeds supporting early literacy initiatives in Kansas.

Kim Doze-Lohmann is director of marketing at Martin Pringle Law Firm and provides regional marketing support for over 40 attorneys in three offices across two markets. She is also the vice chair of leadership for the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Doze-Lohmann has worked to help close the gender pay gap and is also passionate about advocating for the differently-abled.

Carla Eckels is the director of organizational culture at KMUW. She has been an award-winning announcer and news producer for KMUW since 1996, producing and hosting shows like the gospel- and R&B-focused Soulsations. Eckels has received numerous awards for her broadcast journalism, including being inducted into The Kansas African American Museum’s Trailblazers Hall of Fame in November 2020.

Virdena Gilkey is the executive director of the Wichita Bar Association and the Sedgwick County Law Library, which serves over 1,200 legal professionals. With degrees from Friends University and the University of Phoenix, Gilkey was employed with the City of Wichita for over 25 years. She is also a licensed evangelist missionary in the Church of God in Christ.

Teketa Michelle (Berry) Harding is a community development manager for Capitol Federal. With 30 years of experience in the banking industry, she helps improve the community by originating mortgage loans and promoting affordable housing loans, grants, and special lending initiatives in underserved neighborhoods. She has served on several boards and committees and is a member of several service organizations.

Sheila Kinnard retired from teaching drama after 17 years at Mayberry Cultural Fine Arts Middle School, where she also directed and produced scores. She is a self-described artist of words and song; audiences have enjoyed her talents since 1998 in shows and musicals at the Forum Theatre, Music Theatre of Wichita and Roxy’s. In 2022 Kinnard made her professional directorial debut with “Canaan,” a cultural presentation by the Kansas African American Museum.

Mary Beth Jarvis is the executive director of NXTUS, Inc., which helps entrepreneurs grow companies of significance. Her previous roles include president and CEO of Wichita Festivals, Inc. and 15 years at Koch Industries, including serving as vice president of the Public Affairs Division. Jarvis is the current chair of the Greater Wichita YMCA and a director of its YMCA360 digital venture, and she serves on the board of Visit Wichita.

Dr. Chela Love is a family nurse practitioner whose goal is to see her patients healthy while taking minimal medications. She received her bachelor of science degree from Wichita State University and her master of science from Maryville University in St. Louis. Love feels that being a medical provider is a ministry and loves serving those in need.

Roseline Onijala is the founder and owner of Roseline’s International Enterprise, a clothing store specializing in African clothing and artifacts, which she opened in 1996 to share the rich African culture with the community. Onijala dedicates much of her time to supporting organizations like the Kansas African American Museum and community events like Juneteenth.

Amber Sellers was elected to the Lawrence City Commission in 2021, the first African American woman ever to do so. Her professional experience includes early childhood education, community health, field organizing, and systems improvement. Sellers is currently a regulation specialist for the Bureau of Family Health with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and is also involved with many local and national organizations.

Sue Tirukonda is a financial planner at Cordell Wealth Management and is past president of the Financial Planning Association of Kansas and the Wichita Estate Planning Council. She is also a past president of the Wichita Downtown Rotary and serves on the board of the Wichita Independent Business Association, United Way of the Plains, and HumanKind Ministries.

Dr. Michelle Vann is CEO of Vanntastic Solutions, a coaching and speaking company designed to help women accomplish their goals, and is also the founder of the nonprofit organization Sistahs Can We Talk, which helps fill gaps in health disparities among BIPOC women. Vann retired from Wichita Public Schools after 20 years of service and is a licensed minister of the gospel.

Amy Williams is Spirit AeroSystems’ executive director for global diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and corporate culture. She serves on the boards of Music Theatre Wichita, Via Christi Foundation, the Wichita Public Library Foundation, and the Wichita Foundation. She is co-chair for the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce’s DEI Advisory Council and community advisor for the Wichita Chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals.

Annika Wooton is most known for her historic two-year reign throughout the pandemic as Miss Kansas in 2019 and 2020. She serves as a national program officer with Lead for America and is a primary consultant for Crown the Nation, her business that creates customized coaching plans for young women entering pageants. Wooton recently launched Beyond the Crown, a program that helps competitors find post-pageant purpose.

Shine Awards

March 8, 11 a.m.

· Farha Great Hall at Wichita Art Museum

For tickets, visit storytimevillage.org