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MADISON — The YWCA Madison is pleased to announce the 2013 Women of Distinction award honorees: Betty Banks, Andreal Davis, Tehmina Islam, Salli Martyniak, Becky Steinhoff, and Mona Adams Winston.
Empowering women is a key component of the YWCA Madison’s mission. The 2013 awards will be presented at a luncheon during the new YWCA Moxie Conference: Nerve and Know-How for Emerging Leaders. This women’s leadership conference aims to build tomorrow’s leaders and encourage them to draw inspiration from the Women of Distinction Award recipients. The conference and awards luncheon will be held May 23 at The Monona Terrace. The luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m. and the awards program starts at noon.                            
Event attendees can see a panel presentation from the Women of Distinction during a special breakout session at the Moxie Conference, entitled “Personal Leadership Styles.” They will also hear short remarks from the honorees during the awards program. Other Moxie Conference breakout speakers include Marcia Anderson, Bettsey Barhorst, Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, Amy Christianson, Jennifer Conlin, Dawn Crim, Linda DeVries, Londa Dewey, Annette Miller, Barbara Nichols, and keynote speaker Marilyn Tam.                                  
The YWCA Women of Distinction awards were established to increase community awareness and appreciation of the diverse contributions of women in the work force and in the community. This is the 39th year the YWCA has presented these annual awards. In that time, more than 195 women have been honored.

 
About the Honorees
Betty Banks — Ms. Banks is co-founder and executive director of Today Not Tomorrow, Inc. whose mission is to create ways for the voices of youth to be heard as they raise the awareness in the community about issues that affect their lives. She is currently president of the Access Community Health Board of Directors, where she has been instrumental in the organization’s efforts to build a new south side clinic. Ms. Banks is also a board member of the South Madison Health and Family Center—Harambee. She was previously the Director of the Early Childhood Center at Family Enhancement and served as lead facilitator on the city-funded “Teaching Kids About Race and Culture” workshops.
 
Andreal Davis — Ms. Davis is Culturally Responsive Practices Coordinator at the Wisconsin Response to Intervention Center, a collaborative project between the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the CESA Statewide Network. She taught for 20 years at Lincoln Elementary School and has provided leadership in culturally-responsive teaching in the Madison Metropolitan School District as Instructional Resource Teacher in Cultural Relevance and then as Director of Equity and Family Involvement. She was also instrumental in the African American Ethnic Academy, a Saturday academic enrichment program that combined academics and cultural affirmation.

 
Tehmina Islam—Ms. Islam is a Certified Professional Midwife and owner of Access Midwifery, LLC. She is the first person of color to be a Licensed Midwife in Wisconsin. Ms. Islam is Secretary of the Wisconsin Guild of Midwives and is a volunteer facilitator for the Madison Institutes for the Healing of Racism. She volunteers at Neighborhood House Community Center, Northport Community Center, and ARC Community Services. She previously worked for the Dane County Rape Crisis Center.
 
Salli Martyniak —Ms. Martyniak is president of Forward Community Investments (FCI). Under her leadership, FCI has been instrumental in many nonprofit building projects in Madison, including the Lussier Community Education Center, The Urban League of Greater Madison, The Road Home Dane County, the YWCA Madison, and the new DAIS facility. Ms. Martyniak is currently a member of the development committees for Goodman Community Center and Access Community Health Centers. She formerly served as a board member of Salvation Army Dane County and the North/Eastside Senior Coalition, among others.
 
Becky Steinhoff —Ms. Steinhoff is executive director of Goodman Community Center. As director, she has aggressively sought and secured federal and local grants in order to expand programming to be responsive to changing needs in the community. Under her leadership, the center has created several programs that expand opportunities for teens such as MERIT and TEENworks. Ms. Steinhoff began her career as a social work intern at the Atwood Community Center and started working there after graduation, soon becoming the center’s executive director.
 
Mona Adams Winston —Ms. Adams Winston is Agency Services Area Representative for Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin. She is a founding member of the Madison Juneteenth Celebration, and worked with state legislators on the State of Wisconsin Juneteenth Holiday Bill. Ms. Adams Winston is the immediate past chair of the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center board. She coordinated the Madison Study Circles on Race project through the Urban League of Madison. She was also a foster parent for 20 years, guiding 22 children into adulthood. Before her retirement, she worked full-time at Ameritech.

Prior to the early-bird registration deadline of April 25, tickets for the Moxie Conference and the Women of Distinction Awards luncheon are $175. Tickets for only the awards luncheon are $55. For more information or to purchase tickets, please contact Amanda at (608) 257-1436, option 2 or visit www.ywcamadison.org/moxie.