The 2022 SHERO Project - Celebrating the Women Who Shape Our Lives

THE 2022 SHERO PROJECT Celebrating the Women Who Shape Our Lives www.vnf.com

“Nikki Giovanni is one of my heroes. Throughout her career, she has used her art to express life as she sees it in verse and prose. My favorite work, her 1976 album, The Reason I Like Chocolate, made me feel connected to her childhood memories. I felt empowered by her pride and vulnerability.

She is bold and unapologetic in her love for her people and for her art.” ~ DiNoua Avery - Recruiting & Diversity Coordinator - DC Office

“Sixteen-year-old actress and “Black-ish” star Marsai Martin is my SHERO. At the age of 14 Marsai produced her first film “Little” through her company Genius Production thus making her the youngest executive producer in Hollywood and the youngest African American to sign a first look deal with Universal Pictures. The nine-time NAACP Image Award winner is the embodiment of Black Girl Magic and serves as inspiration to all women that no matter what your age you never let anything stop you from pursuing your dreams. " ~ Linda Madison, Executive Assistant/Pro Bono Coordinator- DC Office

"The women that influenced my life are my mom, Vicki Robertson, and my grandma, Lois Robertson (passed away on 3/13/2019). Both my mom and my grandma are/were strong women. They taught me amazing values about family and being a hard worker. My grandma lost her father when she was a teenager and helped raise her younger siblings. My mother was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when I was a tween and had to stop working when I was a teenager. They both taught me from these struggles to be thankful for each day. They also taught me the importance of family values and to work hard for what you want. "

~ Christina Albert, Director of Human Resources- DC Office

"Maya Angelou had a challenging life, but her writings and poetry are filled with wisdom, generosity for people – and some hard truths." ~ Deb White, Director of Facilities, Services and Corporate Records - DC Office

"As we commemorate Women’s History Month, I wanted to share a story about my grandmother, Catherine Mary Schlimm Klees Hanscom. After receiving the polio vaccine (with her three young daughters, including my mom) in 1955, Grandma Kate (how I knew her) sat down and wrote a heartfelt letter of thanks to Dr. Jonas Salk. Dr. Salk has developed the first polio vaccine, and 1955 is when it was widely distributed. The distribution of this vaccine was helped by Canadian scientist Leone Farrell, who led a team in Toronto that increased the yield of the live virus.

Grandma Kate always had a way with words, and her letter to Dr. Salk likely expressed her fears for her daughters and her gratitude for the work Dr. Salk and his team (including Dr. Farrell) had done. In 1956, Dr. Salk wrote back (photo attached). He closes by writing “with feelings deeper than this may convey, I send you my thanks for the inspiration you have added for the pursuit of the work that we will go on doing.” Grandma Kate saved this letter, and never told my mom (or apparently anyone else) about the letter. My mom found it tucked into an old photo album, a year or so after Grandma Kate passed away.

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, I’ll think about Grandma Kate and my own mom, Anne Klees Farber, as personal heroes and role models. Words and deeds matter."

~ Mike Farber, Partner and Co-Coordinator of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, DC Office

"Marge Frost, my 92-year-old Aunt, continues to inspire. Her radiant positivity and grit have served her well through many challenges. After graduating as Valedictorian from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, in 1951, she married and raised four children. In the early 60s, she divorced and relocated with her young kids to Red Wing, MN, to live with her widowed Aunt. Marge went back to school to obtain her teaching credentials and spent nearly 20 years teaching business at a local Technical College. In her retirement at 70 years of age and after 40 years of being single, she met the love of her life and spent the next 11 years traveling to all 50 states with her husband Milt until his death. These days Marge reads multiple books per week and loves to still learn. It is not easy to fit into her busy social calendar. She is an active member of her church, having served as its organist for decades. The care and kindness that she shows everyone she meets is remarkable. This past December I attended the St. Olaf Christmas Concert in Northfield, MN, where I met a couple from Northfield over dinner. We discovered that they had lived in Red Wing for a season. When on the off chance I mentioned my aunt by name, they promptly began to tell me the many fond memories they had of my dear aunt Marge. What a gift and example she is to me and so many others."

Pictured here with Julie's daughter, Haley Griese. ~ Julie Brandsness, Executive Director, Seattle Office

"My grandmother and mother are two of the most incredible women I have ever known. My grandmother was the eldest daughter to my great-grandparents, who were survivors of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. After the Genocide, my great-grandparents returned to the village in eastern Turkey that they were forced to leave and raised their family. My grandmother had to drop out of school at a very young age because the local children harassed her, but her father taught her how to read and write. Fast forward into adulthood, my grandmother got married and had my mother and uncle, but unfortunately her husband passed away when my mother was three and my uncle was six. My grandmother raised her kids with the help of my great-grandparents, and in 1979, my family immigrated to the United States. My mother was 19, and neither my mother nor my grandmother spoke English when they moved here. My mother went to night school to learn English and built a career in the pearl industry. My grandmother never learned English fluently, but she was incredibly perceptive and resourceful. She was involved with our church in Queens and helped raise me and my sister. My grandmother and mother overcame significant obstacles but managed to build a good life for their families, and I try to channel their resilience and kindness every day. " ~ Ani Esenyan, Associate, DC Office

"Since a child, I have always loved fashion and it has always left a sparkle in my eye. I've followed fashion over the years, recently realizing that we have very few women that have become CEOs of fashion companies. As I continued to read about some of the few that have become CEOs over the years. It was uplifting to read about the success of the few women in the fashion business today.

Sonia Syngal joined Gap in 2004 and became one of the few female CEOs of a Fortune 500 company when Gap, Inc. made Old Navy into its own publicly listed company in 2019. She believes ‘progress means equality’ and worked hard within Gap, Inc. to help put gender equality at the heart of the business. Syngal believes it’s essential to “Operate with integrity. Find a place to work that has values that align with your own. Demand equality” and “empower those around you – the leaders of tomorrow – to raise their voices.”

I realize that I'm not only inspired by dressing for success and being a professional. Women like Sonia Syngal also encourage me to, no matter what, never give up. My passion is dressing for success while working in an environment that also values equality, believes in operating with integrity, and appreciates working with people that empower each other." ~ Lavenia Frye, Executive Legal Assistant, DC Office

"Two women who I admire are right here at VNF: Nicole Rutherford and LaTosha Richardson.

I admire Nicole’s natural ability to be curious about others. She likes to dig deeper and get a better understanding of what makes people tick. I enjoy my conversations with Nicole because she asks just the right questions about people that oftentimes broadens and/or shifts my perspective on any given subject. I attempt to apply the same skillset in my relationships.

WWLD – What would LaTosha do? It started as a small joke after LaTosha recounted how she handled a challenging situation. I said, I need to handle some of my issues more like you, which led to WWLD. LaTosha addresses issues and challenges head-on with confidence. I admire her ability to lean into those difficult moments, and when in a challenging situation I might think WWLD." ~ Kim Fernandes, Data Governance and Business Process Manager, DC Office

"Those who know me well know how important my Israeli/Tunisian heritage and music are to me. This is why I am choosing to highlight Ofra Haza, an Israeli Yemenite Jewish singer, Grammy Award-nominee recording artist, and Israel’s first international superstar. Haza was born to a poor immigrant family in Tel Aviv and rose to international acclaim in the early 80’s by embracing her Yemenite heritage, releasing an album of Yemenite folks songs which she combined with modern dance beats which garnered attention from rap artists, and international DJs. I discovered her singing while in Israel one summer visiting my grandparents – I had been sick and while everyone was out enjoying themselves I was feeling sorry for myself lying in a small hot apartment – but when Ofra suddenly appeared on TV representing Israel in the EuroVision song contest, suddenly I felt better. Her beautiful soaring soprano voice has always filled me with a sense of pride in my culture and her music and her success meant so much to the immigrant communities in Israel. Though she died tragically in 2000, her songs will always live in my heart." ~ Anat Allal, Marketing & Business Development Manager, DC Office

"SHEro: Amanda Nguyễn Activist. A 2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. A former Forbes 30 Under 30. One of Time Magazine’s 2022 Women of the Year. A lady deserving of our admiration. She helped draft the Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act of 2016, ensuring statutory rights for survivors of sexual assault and rape as a survivor herself. She founded Rise, a nonprofit that fights for the rights of sexual violence survivors, but has now also spawned the Rise Justice Labs which helps teach people how to pass their own laws.

More recently, since the increase of violence against Asians, particularly Asian women, during the pandemic, she is mobilizing a nationwide response to the continued attacks and hate crimes. How can I not praise such a human? And in her spare time she’s training to be an astronaut. No big deal." ~ Mealear Tauch, Energy Analyst, DC Office

"My hero is my mom, Linda, who was a stay-at-home parent until I was 8, when my dad had a massive ruptured cerebral aneurysm. Given just minutes to make a life-or-death decision, she chose an experimental treatment for him that has since led to the development of a glue that today that saves thousands of lives each year. My dad’s brain damage disabled him permanently, forcing my mom into the workplace. Lacking any specialized job skills or higher ed, but rich in math smarts, she applied for a job that required a strong understanding of base-2 binary numeration systems in applied technology. In this way, she was hired by Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone and became the company's first-ever female installer/repairman. Leaving for work each day in leather boots, hard hat, tool belt and spikes, she climbed phone poles not just to diagnose problems and repair phone lines but to keep our family afloat. She never complained once about having to, or even questioned whether she could, make it in a field occupied exclusively by men. I credit her for instilling in me the ability to take on any challenge without fear or doubt that I can succeed. ~ Erin Anderson, Partner, Seattle Office

"For the VNF SHEro Project during Women’s History Month I was inspired to showcase my great-grandmother, Zenda Sawyers. Zenda was a brave, independent, driven, and capable woman. After her divorce, she moved to Seattle and attended Cornish College of the Arts to study music. She received a degree in music instruction and converted her garage into a music studio and taught organ, piano, accordion, and guitar.

She eventually switched gears and turned her attention to antiques and collectibles, which she bought and sold in a shop she rented at Pike Place Market. Zenda left her shop to my mother; my brother and I would accompany mom in the summers (named “Zenda’s”). I have so many fond memories of the Market. I especially liked going to our storage facility, which was a dark, creepy, old, abandoned bar in the Market.

I was excited to learn she played basketball, as did many of the women in our family." (Pictured top row, far left). ~Ann Gabu, Executive Legal Assistant – Seattle Office