Women of Distinction 2023 Nominees
Below is information about the distinguished work of each 2023 Women of Distinction nominee. Take time to review them carefully, then use our online form to make your selections. Voting will close on Friday, December 2 at 11:59 PM.
Dr. Tomarra A. Adams
Dr. Adams earned a doctorate in social work at the University of Louisville where she taught in the Department of Pan-African Studies while serving as an Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the early 2000s, Dr. Adams served as interim director for the UofL Multicultural Center. She has dedicated her career to the success of students both in and out of the classroom. Spalding University has benefited from her passion to build a diverse community that is dedicated to the promotion of peace and justice. Today, she is the chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer for Bellarmine University.
Kim Baker
Kim is president of Kentucky Performing Arts. She is a wife, mother of three girls, and a role model and champion for women and girls in both her professional and person lives. She is a breast cancer survivor and fought that battle with grace and courage. Kim has been awarded the 2019 Arts Innovation Award at Louisville’s Annual Awards in the Arts Celebration, as well as the 2019 Today’s Woman Most Admired Woman in the Arts. In 2020, she was celebrated as one of Louisville’s most admired CEOs at Louisville Business First’s annual award ceremony. Kim was also a participant in the Community Foundation of Louisville’s Alden Fellows.
Judge Vicki Carmichael
A graduate of Indiana University Southeast and the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, Vicki has served in a variety of legal positions, including the JAG Corps; as a staff attorney for Judge Charles M. Leibson on the Kentucky Supreme Court; as a public defender for Clark County, IN; in private practice; as a college instructor, and was elected three times to the Clark County Circuit Court No. 4. As the judge of the Jeffersonville City Court, she started an Alcohol Court Program and a Victim Impact Panel for DUI offenders, feeling it was important to help offending individuals realize the impact of their actions. In Clark Circuit Court No. 4, she was responsible for all juvenile defendants and was involved with three school districts in Clark County to combat juvenile truancy. She founded the Family Recovery Court to address the impacts of substance abuse in the whole family, especially when it involved Children in Need of Services (CHINS). She has also dedicated time to veterans who have substance use disorders and presides over Bravo Team of Southern Indiana Veterans Treatment Court. Vicki helped start Teen Court in which current high school students act as judges in real juvenile offenses.
She is past president of the Indiana Judges Association, which required collaboration with the Indiana legislature, and has attended and taught many courses in judicial education. She is a graduate and past board chair of Leadership Southern Indiana and active in the American Cancer Society, including previously serving as president of the Clark County chapter and chairing committees. She has been active in the local Clark-Floyd County Pro Bono group as well as with other nonprofits.
She supervises a large staff and is always looking for ways they can improve their knowledge and skills. She is an excellent role model for women and girls alike.
Nancy Chazen
Nancy is the executive director for the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), Louisville Section, and the Section’s first executive director to lead the organization and its nearly 700 members in advocating for women, children, and family issues. Nancy has re-energized the organization through member engagement, increased membership, stronger community partnerships, and improvements in its infrastructure and management.
Nancy has also championed the role of women and girls at the school level and through mentoring young career women. She was The Temple’s Religious School Cooking teacher for more than two years, managed a JCPS middle school office, presided over two elementary schools as PTA president and other PTA roles, and had a decade-long career as an advertising account manager. Nancy is a member of the Junior League of Louisville’s Community Advisory Board and Highland Commerce Guild Board. Nancy’s proudest accomplishment is raising two teenage daughters to be considerate, helpful, thoughtful, empowered, and strong-minded.
Gretchen Hunt
For more than 22 years, Gretchen has fought against gender-based violence, proving herself instrumental in creating prevention strategies both in Kentucky and nationwide. Her leadership has allowed marginalized communities’ issues to be aired and created policies to ensure the protection of women and individuals with limited English proficiency, marginalized and unknown of their rights.
A graduate of Boston College of Law, Gretchen has used her legal career and prowess to advocate for immigrants, children, and domestic violence survivors. As an immigration attorney for The Center for Women and Families, she founded and managed a legal clinic for survivors of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault and human trafficking, and got the first U-visa approved as an immigration attorney in the U.S. Later, with the Kentucky Cabinet of Health and Family Services, she provided training and technical assistance on domestic violence, child abuse, human trafficking and immigrants rights both statewide and nationally, and she founded and co-chaired the Lexington Human Trafficking Task Force. In her work with the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Gretchen provided legal representation to 13 area rape crisis centers and founded and co-chaired the Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force.
She spent nearly four years in the Kentucky State Attorney General’s office as director of the Office for Victims Advocacy, securing more than $5 million in federal and state grants to address human trafficking, a sexual assault kit initiative, and training and victim advocacy efforts. She also founded the Survivors Council of the Office of the Attorney General and doubled the number of victim advocates. Prior to her current role as executive administrator of Louisville Metro’s Office for Women, Gretchen served as executive director of Emerge Kentucky, providing aspiring female leaders with cutting-edge tools and training to run for elected office and elevate themselves in our political system.
Mattie Jones
Mattie started working for Black women and girls in the 1950s, pushing for women and girls to have fair access to voting and employment rights for more than 60 years. She is a founding member of the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Oppression and has never stopped working for equality for all – both in Louisville and nationally. She was with John Lewis on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday and worked directly with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other leaders of the civil rights movement. She is still leading her—and our—community today at the age of 89.
Dani Kannapell
Dani founded Impact 100 Louisville, recognizing the opportunity to bring change to Louisville by gathering a group of 100 women who, annually, each give $1,000 and make grants of $100,000 to worthy initiatives and/or nonprofits. Within three years, they have amassed 450 members and granted more than $900,000. Dani has done myriad other things in her 82 years that have helped many, but founding Impact 100 Louisville has truly changed local philanthropy for the better. One grant helped fund a laundromat in Smoketown, while another supported a new commercial kitchen for La Casita Center.
Maria Smith
As CEO of Harbor House of Louisville since 1996, Maria has been an advocate for adults with disabilities and their families, making employment a reality for people considered by many to be “unemployable.” Through her understanding of the unique family dynamic of adults with disabilities, much-needed education and respite are now available to caregivers throughout the community. Maria is transitioning Harbor House to become an intergenerational community where seniors, adults with disabilities, and children will come together to share life under one roof. A magna cum laude graduate of Bellarmine University, Maria was inducted into the school’s Gallery of Distinguished Graduates in 2003, followed in 2017 by her induction into the Male High School Hall of Fame. She is also a graduate of Leadership Louisville and Leadership Network, a proud Kentucky Colonel, and a member of both the Downtown Rotary Club and Kentucky Derby Festival board of directors. Maria and her husband of 39 years, Pat, reside in Crestwood and enjoy cycling and traveling, especially to see their children and families.
Cecelia Tandy
Cecelia Tandy helped spearhead legislation that authorized distinct licensure for the esthetics profession in the state of Kentucky, which did not exist before 2003. Instead, individuals interested in skincare training were required to complete a cosmetology program even if they did not have an interest in the full breadth of beauty education. As a licensed esthetician in Indiana, Cecelia began her quest to create a solution for those who desired to specialize in esthetics by establishing training and licensure solely for estheticians in the state of Kentucky.
In 1998, as a constituent, she worked with State Representatives Eleanor Jordan and Mary Lou Marzian to sponsor and introduce the first legislation for a separate esthetics licensure in the state through House Bill 738. She recalls sitting before the Kentucky Licensing Committee and hearing a member refer to the legislation as the “face washing bill,” an insult to a professional in the field. However, at that moment, Rep. Jordan leaned over and said to her, “Cecelia, you’re going to have to educate these people about what esthetics is all about.” Esthetics is, in fact, a driving force in the multibillion-dollar beauty industry in the United States.
After many years of connecting with legislators and educating them on the importance of separate licensure for estheticians, House Bill 517 was introduced by State Representative, Fred Nesler in February 2003 and the bill passed on March 11, 2003.
Tina Ward-Pugh
Over the course of more than 20 years, Tina has served the people of Louisville as director of Louisville Metro’s Office for Women, an entity assisting in the lives of domestic violence survivors on a daily basis; ninth district councilwoman on Louisville Metro Council; Louisville first ward alderwoman; global partnership strategist for WaterStep, and associate director of Coalition for the Homeless. Tina earned a master’s degree in social work from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 2022, she ran for Jefferson County Clerk to serve the people and make the county clerk’s office more accessible for vulnerable communities to vote. She is an activist for women’s rights, fair housing, and the LGBTQ+ comMattiemunity. Tina has a proven work ethic and commitment to serving our community.
Carla Wallace
Carla has been a warrior for women, the LGBTQ+ community, and racial justice for decades. She is a civil rights activist, co-founder of Louisville’s Fairness Campaign, and co-founder of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ). There are few people in our community who have devoted their life to justice, and Carla is one of those people. Her efforts have brought many positive changes to our community, including the passage of Louisville’s fairness ordinance.
Vicky Weber
Vicky’s career journey began by assisting and promoting the office of the first female county commissioner in Jefferson County, an experience that opened her eyes to the importance of small business to economic development for the county and region. After working as assistant director in the newly created Louisville Metro Government’s Office of Economic Development, she served as president of the Jeffersontown Chamber of Commerce where membership grew from 99 to more than 900 under her leadership. As Kosair Charities’ senior vice president of marketing and communications, Vicky helped elevate the organization’s community recognition.
Vicky currently chairs the Spirit of Louisville Foundation and the Jeffersontown Economic Development Authority, and she previously served as board chair for Gilda’s Club and on the board of Women 4 Women. She has received the Salute to Catholic School Education Alumni Award, Most Admired Woman by Today’s Woman magazine, and Women 4 Women Spirit of Louisville Award.
