Forum honors female leaders for furthering diversity

By Juliette Coulter

Texas Women’s Foundation held its Leadership Forum & Awards Celebration (LFAC), presented by AT&T, on April 26 at the Dallas Omni Hotel and raised more than $600,000 to help lift up women and girls. 

Miki Woodard, president and CEO of Texas Women’s Foundation, said, “As we strive to meet the moment where we are all navigating various forms of a ‘return,’ we offered it as an in-person and online event and added an afternoon of forums from the seven honorees.” 

Co-chairs Bonnie Clinton, vice president and chief procurement officer, Indirect Procurement Shared Services, Toyota North America, and Ana I. Hernandez, senior vice president and senior commercial loan officer, PlainsCapital Bank, greeted guests who arrived in the afternoon to attend the honorees’ breakout sessions. 

After the forums, 600 guests sipped cocktails and sampled hors d’oeuvres. When the doors opened, June Blount, a fiddler duo, played upbeat songs to get everyone to their seats. Attendees enjoyed dinner and conversations around the table. 

Alva Adams-Mason, group manager, Multicultural Business Alliance & Dealer Relations at Toyota Motor North America, introduced keynote speaker Radha Agrawal. 

Agrawal is co-founder, CEO and chief community architect of Daybreaker, a dance and wellness movement with a worldwide community of half a million people. She spoke about how this movement was founded on belonging to a community and how to develop community. 

Her book, “Belong,” was a part of the table centerpieces. 

Agrawal asked attendees to close their eyes and put their hands on their hearts. She also asked the mostly female audience to hold hands with the person on each side and talked about the importance of community, especially after a tough couple of years. Finally, at the end, she led in some spontaneous dancing, and most ladies were up dancing with her. 

Hilda Galvan, board chair, managing partner of Jones Day Dallas and awards selection co-chair, and Brenda Jackson, awards selection co-chair, presented five women the Maura Women Helping Women Award.

Jackson gave the first awards: 

“For her passion making diversity and inclusion a priority in all endeavors, and being an advocate for the inclusion of women in business, from supply-chain to the board room, we award Patricia Rodriguez Christian with the Maura Women Helping Women Award.”

“For recognizing the need for inclusive and equitable policies and practices within our school systems and organizations, and bringing transformational change in these institutions to build bridges, we award Dr. Arlene Ford with the Maura Women Helping Women Award.”

“For her tireless work for gender equity and representation in leadership, and her commitment to amplifying women in political office, we recognize Pat Jasso, recipient of the Maura Women Helping Women Award.”

“For leading efforts in creating opportunities for marginalized communities, and for empowering the next generation with limited access by equipping them with the tools and opportunities to be leaders, we celebrate Lynn McBee with the Maura Women Helping Women Award.”

“For her deep dedication to serving and supporting teen mothers, her great heart for providing resources to help these families thrive by providing housing and education, we celebrate Thana Simmons, Maura Women Helping Women Award recipient.” 

Galvan said, “Now, I have the honor of recognizing two women under the age of 40 who are blazing trails to help other women advance in leadership.”

“For pursuing her dream to create a safe place to help foster care children and young adults have a home and resources so they can thrive, we recognize Stacy Johnson with the Young Leader Award.”

“For leading the way in furthering more diversity in STEM programs to bring more women and people of color with talent into top positions in this field where they are underrepresented, we recognize Sharareh Kermanshachi with the Young Leader Award.”