Here are your ten EXTRAordinary women finalists. Please vote for your favorite. The voting ends Wednesday August 12, 2009 at 12 a. m. PST.
Dianne York-Goldman is an internationally recognized media expert, speaker, author, model and business woman. She is the star of Addicted to Beauty on Oxygen and is the creator of the popular DYG Mineral Makeup line. Dianne is the Founder and CEO of La Jolla Spa MD which draws locals and Hollywood celebrities who seek the facility’s combination of traditional spa pampering services and cosmetic surgery procedures. As a recognized beauty expert, Dianne has been a featured guest on many radio and TV programs and has appeared in countless publications. She was a recipient of the San Diego Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” award and co-authored the popular You Glow Girl! Series. In addition, she founded You Glow Girl, a teenage skin care company, and authored Fun in the Sun Safely. Dianne is a dynamic speaker who lectures around the globe to packed houses about healthy skin care, self-esteem, and beauty. For more information visit www.dianneyork-goldman.com and www.dygcosmetics.com
Donna W. Hill, an eighteen-year breast cancer survivor, is an author, singer/songwriter, recording artist, speaker and avid knitter in rural Pennsylvania. Donna, who was born legally blind, started her music career as a street performer in Philadelphia’s Suburban Station, a center city commuter hub, where she sang for thirteen years. She writes for the online magazine American Chronicle: https://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3885 Hear clips from her third album, “The Last Straw” at: https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill.
Donna, who has a six-year-old black Lab guide dog, works to foster understanding of and improve opportunities for blind Americans, as a volunteer publicist for two divisions of the nonprofit National Federation of the Blind (NFB) – The NFB of PA and the Performing Arts Division:
https://www.padnfb.org
Dr. Aldona J. Spiegel is the Director and Founder of the Center for Breast Restoration at the Institute for Reconstructive Surgery at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. In addition, she is an Assistant Professor with the esteemed Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Dr. Spiegel’s clinical expertise is in breast reconstruction and microsurgery, particularly in the area of DIEP flap reconstructions. In addition, she is interested in all aspects of aesthetic surgery and is committed to women’s health issues in plastic surgery.
Dr. Spiegel is committed to providing superior, patient-focused care and preparing the next generation of surgeons to meet the highest standards of excellence. Dr. Spiegel’s main goal is to provide women who have survived the traumatic experiences of breast cancer and a mastectomy, the emotional comfort of regaining the lives they once knew. Dr. Aldona Spiegel has dedicated her practice, and her life, to women. In addition to spreading awareness to women about reconstruction options, which are widely unknown, Dr. Spiegel’s mission has been to give survivors the gift of more natural feeling breasts, which she hopes will help women take the first steps toward recovery and normal life. One of her patients summed up Dr. Spiegel’s dedication by saying, “I was feeling overwhelmed with sadness and anxiety the day before my mastectomy. I couldn’t imagine what my body was going to look like. After my family and I met with Dr. Spiegel and her staff that day for the first time, everyone’s feelings began to change. We suddenly felt hope because of her confident attitude that everything was going to be okay. I was amazed at her level of expertise and the description of the procedure she would do to restore my body as close to its original state as possible.”
MILITARY MEMORIES
At age 85, Navy Veteran Helene Weinberger has a lot of energy to give to others. She has volunteered at Menorah Park Center for Senior Living for more than 13 years, logging more than 8000 hours with massive accomplishments made in various departments. She is truly in tune to the needs and interests of the community and in particular aging adults. After interviewing Helene for an article for AAHSA, Lauren Shaham, Vice President, Member Communications and Media Relations believed she had the perfect person to be the passionate voice of advocacy, and portrait of aging for their annual report. She is a caring person who puts others needs before her own. She has been quoted in the Chicago Tribune as a woman who urges other aging seniors to get out and remain active in politics and policy. She spent countless hours campaigning in presidential campaigns, tirelessly urging seniors to get out and vote, and to be informed. Helene teaches a foreign language as a freelance tutor, charging very little. She creates beautiful beaded jewelry and donates most of them to charity causes. She has won awards for her volunteer efforts and time.
She is unpretentious, yet has a strength that is unspoken. She has traveled abroad and has visited exotic places and met exciting people, including her late husband Froyam. She has lost loved ones, but is a strength for those who are in the process of growing weak and dying. She is a true dame in every sense of the word. She will tell it like it is, but never hurts people. She realizes her time is winding to an end, as most people die in their 80’s and 90’s, but there is never regret in her voice when she recalls her youth, she has seen more of the world than most women her age. She is close to her children and her grandchildren, and is a great role model for all women.
Helene currently resides in Beachwood, Ohio. I asked her to write some of her service memories down for me. This is what she gave me. Attached is an interview she did for an annual report for AOPHA which had exerpts included in an award nomination. Also attached are other clips and photos of Helene. She is truly deserving of all that is good.
Jill Starishevsky is an Assistant District Attorney in New York City,where she has prosecuted hundreds of sex offenders and dedicated her career to seeking justice for victims of child abuse and sex crimes. Outside the courtroom, Jill’s fondness for writing led her to create thepoemlady.com, where she pens personalized pieces. Her mission to protect children, along with her penchant for poetry, combined to create a new children’s book called “My Body Belongs to Me”. This book is her effort to protect children before they get hurt. In a non-threatening, engaging manner, this guide teaches kids ages 3-8 that when it comes to their body, there are some parts that are for “no one else to see” and empowers them to tell a parent or teacher if someone touches them inappropriately.
As a prosecutor, Jill often encountered children who were sexually abused for lengthy periods of time and suffered in silence. One case in particular had a profound impact on her and compelled her to write this book. The case involved a 9-year-old girl who had been sexually abused by her stepfather since she was 6. She told no one. One day, the girl saw an episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” about children who were physically abused. The episode empowered the girl with this simple message: If you are being abused, tell your parents. If you can’t tell your parents, go to school and tell your teacher. The girl got the message and the very next day went to school and told her teacher. Jill wrote “My Body Belongs to Me” to continue that message. A mother of two, Jill is also founder of HowsMyNanny.com, aservice that enables parents to obtain a license plate for their child’s stroller so the public can report positive or negative nanny observations. Continuously working to keep children safe, Jill Starishevsky is taking meaningful steps in the right direction, making her an extraordinary woman.
Kate Atwood is the founder of Kate’s Club (www.katesclub.org) , a nationally-acclaimed not-for-profit organization that provides support to children and teens facing life after the death of a parent or sibling. The launch of Kate’s Club followed her own experience of losing her own mother at when she was only 12 years old after a long and courageous battle with breast cancer. Recognizing first-hand the importance of support after such a life changing event, Kate’s vision was to build a place for grieving children to have fun, develop friendships, and learn to cope with their loss. What started in the summer of 2003 at a bowling alley with just six kids and six mentor volunteers, is today a fully-staffed organization that serves hundreds of children through year-round social and emotional support programs. Kate’s Club programs are operated out of its Clubhouse in Midtown Atlanta and continues to receive public recognition for its unique approach to grief support.
Kate, 31, continues in her role as Founder of Kate’s Club, while also reaching new heights as a young leader and emerging face of philanthropy. She has spoken on various subjects as broad as overcoming obstacles to more focused themes on grief; from entrepreneurship to philanthropy. Her audiences have included national and local media outlets, school guidance counselors and administrators, high school students, Graduate school students and alumni, as well as business and community leaders. Her first book, entitled “A Healing Place: Help Your Child Find Hope and Happiness after the Loss of a Loved One” is set to be released by Penguin Books in November of 2009. She is an inspirational and dynamic leader in the area of grief support. Kate is a 2000 graduate of the University of Virginia.
Marcie Allen is President of Nashville-based sponsorship and fulfillment agency MAC Presents. Allen leverages her fifteen years of music industry experience to negotiate high profile sponsorships between the world’s leading brands and artists. Emerging as a leader in the world of music sponsorship, Allen was the first ever recipient of the Billboard Magazine Concert Marketing and Promotion Award, for her work on Jeep’s sponsorship of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s Soul2Soul Tour in 2007. MAC Presents coordinated sponsorship fulfillment on the 2008 Tim McGraw “Live Your Voice” tour, sponsored by KC Masterpiece and Kingsford Charcoal, and the 2007 and 2008 BlackBerry Presents John Mayer tour, which netted Allen her second straight Billboard nomination. MAC has produced numerous events across the country, including Vanderbilt’s Rites of Spring and Homecoming, the BlackBerry Storm Launch Party with Foo Fighters & Queens of the Stone Age, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Launch Party with John Legend, and Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds for Microsoft SAS convention. Most recently, MAC was hired to be the entertainment agency representing Kingsford & KC Masterpiece on their 2009 sponsorship of the Keith Urban tour.
Prior to starting MAC, Allen owned and operated MAD Booking & Events, which booked and produced numerous festivals. Allen’s shows included Nashville’s Dancin’ in the District, Atlanta’s On The Bricks, Washington’s DC Sessions, and the Memphis Jam. Allen also booked talent for Voodoo Music Festival, which was nominated in 2001 as Pollstar Magazine’s Festival of the Year, from 1999 to 2001. Allen also makes sure to stay active in the music community and Nashville community. For instance, she is on the Board of Directors for the W.O. Smith School, an educational institution that makes quality music instruction available to children from low income families. Marcie Allen also serves as Co-chair to their biggest fundraising event, The Birdhouse Thing. Most recently, Allen and her MAC Presents team helped to send several W.O. Smith School students to Washington D.C. to visit The White House, as part of a music education initiative from the President and the First Lady. W.O. Smith is one of many charities/non-profits Allen and MAC work with. Marcie Allen started “MAC in Music City” to make sure that her staff shares their philanthropy passions with each other and pool their resources to make a difference in their community www.macpresents.com.
Nell Diallo is a bilingual professional serving as Executive Director of International and Corporate Relations at MedShare, a nonprofit organization in Atlanta that recovers and redistributes surplus medical supplies to developing countries. Growing up in Birmingham, Ala, Nell broke away from the stereotypical path of an African-American woman and went on to get her doctorate of law in Washington D.C., where she met and married a U.N. Diplomat from Burkina Faso. She lived in Africa with her husband for 15 years holding leadership positions for various international organizations, such as USAID, and pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors.
Nell is committed to improving the plight of women and the image of Africa in the United States. She serves as president of the African Business Council, where regularly hosts delegations from African countries. She’s also been awarded numerous grants to publish and present papers about the state of women in Burkina Faso. In her position at MedShare she continues to foster international business relationships that result in medical aid to improve healthcare.
Susan Beacham is an award-winning, nationally-syndicated columnist, author, inventor, entrepreneur and sought-after motivational speaker. She founded Money Savvy Generation in 1999 after almost two decades in private banking and investment management complemented by considerable time teaching at the elementary level. Her company develops innovative products to help parents and educators teach basic personal finance skills to school-aged children. In a world of increasing financial complexity, Susan’s mission is to empower children and young adults to take control over their financial lives and financial future.
To help children better understand the choices they have for money, Susan created the beloved Money Savvy Pig® – an award-winning four-chambered bank which teaches children the power of delayed gratification through money choices and goal-setting. This patented bank is also the centerpiece of the Money Savvy Kids™ Basic Personal Finance Curriculum. This pioneering, award-winning system uses age-appropriate instructional materials to teach kids (grades K-6) about the value of money and is currently being taught in school districts across the U.S. In order to address the ‘tween and teenage years, Susan also developed the award-winning Cash Cache® Beginning Personal Finance Organizer, which has its own age-specific curriculum, Money Savvy U. Susan’s commentary has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, MONEY, Time, U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek. She has been featured on the CBS Evening News, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Today Show, Right On The Money!, The Jane Pauley Show, Rachel Ray and Dr. Phil. www.susanbeacham.com.
2007 Money Savvy Generation, All Rights Reserved
Terri Jay enjoys a solid reputation as a spiritual healer, communicator, and psychic messenger in both the animal and human world. She regularly talks to spirits in the course of her work, particularly when helping people deal with the loss of a loved one. Along with her paranormal work on the “other side,” Terri also works with people who have communication disorders such as autism, Alzheimer’s, traumatic brain injuries, people who are comatose, and babies who have just not yet learned to talk.
Terri has inspired and helped many women resolve their problems regarding financial, health and relationship issues. As a result of her amazing readings, messages and life coaching skills, she has helped women remove self-doubt and to become empowered. She is well know internationally and is an inspiration to all. She is currently holding teleseminars and seminars across the country to share her knowledge and skills with others. For more information, please go to her website: www.terrijay.com/events.
