VIVIAN O. LEE “There is always a solution to a problem. If you see a stumbling block, it does not have to be a barrier.”

Vivian Lee was the first African American to be admitted to the University of Washington School of Nursing, the first to receive the Washington State School Nurse of the Year Award, the first African American registered nurse to be hired by the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Seattle.

She ran the first Federal Regional Office on Women’s Health, which funded 144 clinics, launched numerous reproductive health research projects, and influenced national policy about women’s health care. She was a delegate to White House conferences on Civil Rights and Children, Youth and Nutrition.

PHYLLIS GUTIÉRREZ KENNEY“I have enormous faith in the people of Washington State. They can be tough on their elected officials, but that’s because they believe that we, as a state, can and will be better.”

Phyllis Gutiérrez Kenney, the first Hispanic women elected to Washington State Legislature, turned her attention after 12 years of legislative service to training a new generation of Hispanic women politicos. She personally helped many of the Hispanic women who last year broke through the electoral glass ceiling to become the first Hispanic city council women in Yakima, Toppenish, Wenatchee, Renton and Seattle.

Phyllis’ leadership began long before—founding day care, educational and health clinics for migrant workers and rural families in Southeastern Washington.

14th AnnualKicking Up Our Heels

Celebrating Washington Women

Making History

2016 Women of the Year

JEAN GODDEN “Paid parental leave is good for our workers, good for our children and good for our economy.”

Jean Godden served 12 years on the Seattle City Council, giving new leadership to gender inequality and launching the efforts to conduct the first major study on the gender gap in the City of Seattle. Before her term ended last year, she helped implement the first parental leave for women—and men—west of the Mississippi. Those efforts prompted dozens of others including the King County government and private companies like Amazon and Google to implement parental leave as well.

Godden also had a distinguished career in journalism, overcoming overt sexism to become the first woman editorial page editor at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Her leadership in Seattle, throughout her career, will continue to have far reaching impacts for years to come.

NANCY MUNRO“I truly believe that diversity of thought brings symmetry and creates amazing wisdom. I may be the first woman president of the AGC but I won’t be the last.”

Nancy Munro is the first woman elected president of the Associated General Contractors of Washington. She takes on leadership as the Washington economy rebounds from the recession, with new construction leading the growth across our region. Nancy, as one of the most accomplished people in her industry, has her hand on the helm of its largest trade organization.

She has served on the board of the AGC for two years, and also on the board of the AGC Education Foundation. For 25 years, she has led MidMountain Contractors, a Kirkland-based heavy-civil contractor active since 1998 in the Associated General Contractors, Inc.

CAROL EVANS“When you look at our history, the chiefs were men, but women were movers even without the title.”

Carol Evans is the first woman elected to be the chairperson of the Spokane Tribe. Located northwest of the city of Spokane, the Tribe, under Carol’s leadership, is seeking approval for the largest economic development project in Eastern Washington. The proposal will develop a casino, hotel and retail shopping on land it owns west of the City of Spokane.

Two years ago, Carol was only the second women elected to the Spokane tribal council, the first being her mother three decades earlier. An accountant by training, Carol has served as the financial director for the Spokane Tribe since 1985, where she has worked to build a sustainable economy for her tribal community.

JENNIFER MUHM & MALORIE CATCHPOLE“We wanted to make something that was for girls where they could still be feminine and still be girly, but reclaim these topics because they’re not gender-specific.” In their day jobs, Jennifer Muhm is a legislative policy staffer at King County Public Health and Malorie Catchpole is a regulatory business lawyer. They both have little girls who love trains, space travel and dinosaurs—none of which could be found on little girls’ clothes racks. So began the successful Kickstarter business buddingStem, a company aimed at bringing gender equity to clothes for girls.

While other companies have followed, these Seattle entrepreneurs have tapped an idea that is not only successful in the market place, but also relevant to girls who care about science, technology, engineering and math—think trains, frogs, dinosaurs, and rockets.

LYNN PETERSON“We must not build transportation projects for vehicles only, we must build transportation projects for safe, healthy and economically vibrant communities for people.”

Lynn Peterson, the recent past commissioner of the Washington Department of Transportation, is known for her quick handling of the Oso slide response, and her ability to work dozens of red hot political projects. For three years she did this important work, while overseeing 6,800 employees, 18,600 miles of highway, 3,700 bridges, airports, railroads and ferries.

Prior to coming to Washington State, Lynn led several of Oregon’s statewide transportation initiatives, including the Willamette Valley Passenger Rail Plan, Oregon’s 10-year Energy Action Plan including the Electric Highway that stretches from British Columbia to the Baja Peninsula, and acceleration of the commercial fleet turnover to alternative fuels.

TERESA TAYLOR“I love our city and want to ensure that current and future families have the same opportunities that mine has enjoyed.”

Teresa Taylor, who works in the economic development office of the Lummi Nation, which is her tribe, is first Native American woman to win election to the Ferndale City Council. Winning against an incumbent, Teresa’s affirmative approach to governance has helped her get quickly up to speed in one of Whatcom County’s growing cities.

Teresa has long worked in economic development, both for her tribe and her family. She is owner of the wholesale business Washington State Fireworks, a leader in the Native Caucus of the Washington State Democrats, and a Master Gardner who demonstrates her passion in her yard.

14th AnnualKicking Up Our Heels

Celebrating Washington Women

Making History

WE’RE LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD WOMEN...CARE TO BE ONE?

Join us and become a member of the Center for Women & Democracy—we have the most affordable membership of any similar organization, and we’re particularly looking for women who don’t already belong to lots

of other boards, who would prefer to meet by conference call and who will enjoy attending CWD events.

Come to one of the monthly Food for Thought dinners: Join us Thursday, April 21 to spend an evening with Dona Sarkar, a Seattle-based engineering manager at Microsoft, an author, a fashion blogger and designer. She joined Microsoft in 2005 and currently works on the HoloLens team, bringing the ability to easily build holographic apps to the masses. But she is so much more than a “geek.”

Locate a woman in college or on her way up the ladder and make sure she sees our Leadership Institute application process for the June school at Seattle University. More than 500 young women have gone on to Fulbrights, elected office in their 20’s, starting their own business, running an international program in another country, or becoming the most creative parents after graduating from our leadership class. Don’t you wish you were taught at age 20 or 24 how to ask for a raise?

Think about traveling with us to another country next year as we learn from our Global Networking missions. Up to 35 women travel to learn from women leaders in other countries like Cuba, Chile, South Africa, the Baltics, Morocco, Vietnam, Rwanda, and Iceland where we have traveled in the past. In fact, it was after last year’s Iceland mission that CWD began its efforts to increase women on corporate boards (Iceland has almost 50 percent women on many corporate boards). Participate in our half day trainings for mid-career professional woman on a Saturday afternoon, at an accessible price. Become part of our cohorts who are

strategizing about how to get more women like us on public and private boards of directors. At the same time build your professional network with women leaders across the professional spectrum.

Consider getting involved as a Board member of CWD. If you have attended our events, traveled with us, been a frequent attendee at our Kicking Up Our Heels event at the Governor’s Mansion, then consider applying for our Board. Four seats are up this year and we’ll hold an open house/prospective board reception in late March. If you are interested, please see a CWD Board member for more information.

Check out all these opportunities on our website: www.womenanddemocracy.org or get in touch with one of our Board members.

www.womenanddemocracy.orgLead Where You Land. Center for Women and Democracy was founded to advance women’s leadership, participation and representation in local and global affairs and we have been fulfilling this mission for the past decade. We invite you to explore and discover the Center’s on-going activities that bring our core principal “Lead Where You Land” to life.