To ensure the safety and security of our 2021 honorees, chairs, presenters and attendees due to lingering Covid-19 variants, Women’s eNews has decided to forego an in-person gala to instead bring it to you virtually for the second consecutive year.
Here is the list of our second outstanding group of honorees.
Please join us in celebrating each them on October 19th at our virtual gala:
Devika Bulchandani is the Chief Executive Officer of Ogilvy North America and Global Chairwoman of Advertising. She is responsible for driving all aspects of Ogilvy’s core business across the United States and Canada which spans Advertising, Brand & Content, Public Relations & Influence, Experience, Growth & Innovation, and Health. She also supports Ogilvy’s advertising business across the global network. Ms. Bulchandani is deeply devoted to social causes that promote equality, diversity and inclusiveness. She is a founding member of Times Up Advertising, where she has tirelessly championed equality for women in advertising, particularly for women of color. To mark International Women’s Day in 2019, Devika brought together her industry peers for a discussion in partnership with NYWICI, AAF and Bloomberg Media that featured the pioneering women of Madison Avenue. In 2017, she was named “Working Mothers of the Year” by She Runs It and is also a previous recipient of the AdColor Innovator Award.
Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas is an American film producer and the President at Goldsmith-Thomas Productions. As one of the few female Hollywood film producers, she has represented such prominent artists such as Julia Roberts , Jennifer Lopez , Jennifer Connelly , and Susan Sarandon. Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Jennifer Lopez currently serve as co-presidents of film and television production company Nuyorican Productions. In June 2021, Netflix announced a multi-year first look deal with Nuyorican Productions to produce a slate of films, television series, scripted and unscripted content, with an emphasis on projects that support diverse female actors, writers and filmmakers. Ms. Goldsmith-Thomas’ previous list of films include: 2002: Manhattan Love Story (Maid in Manhattan); 2003: Mona Lisa’s Smile (Mona Lisa Smile); 2004: My Boyfriend’s Ex-Girlfriends (Little Black Book); 2007: Seduction of a Stranger (Perfect Stranger); 2008: Kit Kittredge: An American Girl; 2009: Bandslam – Get Ready to Rock! (Bandslam); 2018: Manhattan Queen (Second Act); 2019: Hustlers
Sydney Montgomery, is CEO of S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting, which specializes in helping first-generation and minority college and law school applicants. At 27, Ms. Montgomery is one of the only prominent women of color in the law school admissions consulting industry. A graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law, Sydney works to dismantle systemic racism in education, pushing counselors and universities to be culturally competent through published articles, speaking engagements, and the College Equity Index. She also empowers women, especially women of faith, to be ambitious in pursuing higher education and entrepreneurship that benefits social good. Ms. Montgomery is a co-founder of College Equity First, Inc., a member of the Board of Advisors to the Institute for Anti-Racist Education, and she volunteers her time with Law School Transparency. As a professional member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association, she is the Chair of the Graduate School Committee and a member of the Ethics Committee.
Nahid Shahalimi is a human rights activist, artist, filmmaker, and an international consultant on gender. Currently living in Munich, Germany with her two daughters, she was forced to leave Afghanistan in 1985. It was the witnessing of the destruction of her country under the Soviet occupation as a child that ignited within Nahid the passion to devote her life to promoting peace, tolerance, respect and acceptance. From 2014-2018 Nahid travelled 19 times across Afghanistan collecting inspiring stories of hope and courage from women who are great testaments of resilience, which she collated in her book, ‘Where courage bears the soul: We the women of Afghanistan’: Tales of courageous & inspiring Afghan women published in 2017 by Elisabeth Sandmann Publishing. This is continuation of a creative global series Nahid began in 2009 with “We The Women”: a collection of inspiring stories of courageous and resilient women from around the world told through 3 creative pillars involving portrait paintings, books and documentary films. Nahid recently finished working on “We the Women of Afghanistan: a silent revolution,” a multiple-award winning documentary film. Nahid is also the founder of the international campaign, “Stand Up For Unity” which promotes unity through diversity. The campaign travels around the world raising awareness by gaining endorsements from renowned figures including His Holiness Dalai Lama and others.
Lisa Sharkey SVP Director of Creative Development at HarperCollins Publishers, is a champion of powerful, poignant, and persuasive storytelling. Over 50 of the books she has published have become bestsellers, including those written by women who have accomplished extraordinary things and changed the world by telling their stories. They include: The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, a former ABC journalist who tells the riveting true story of Kamila Sidiqi and other women of Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban’s fearful rise to power; Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall, a gripping New York Times bestselling memoir of a courageous former member of Utah’s infamous FLDS polygamist sect whose powerful courtroom testimony helped convict controversial sect leader Warren Jeffs in September 2007; and Beauty Sick, by Rene Englen, Ph. D., an award-winning Northwestern University psychology professor who reveals how the cultural obsession with women’s appearance is an epidemic that harms women’s ability to get ahead and to live happy, meaningful lives. In addition, Ms. Sharkey mentors military veterans who are transitioning into civilian life, many of whom are women.
Cynthia Richie Terrell is the founder and executive director of RepresentWomen, a founding member of the ReflectUS coalition, and an outspoken advocate for institutional reforms to advance women’s representation and leadership in the United States. Ms. Terrell and her husband Rob Richie helped to found FairVote – a nonpartisan champion of electoral reforms that give voters greater choice, a stronger voice, and a more representative democracy. Terrell has worked on projects related to women’s representation, democracy, and voting system reform in the United States and has worked extensively to help parliamentarians around the globe meet UN goals for women’s representation and leadership. Terrell has also worked on political campaigns as campaign manager and field director for candidates for the U.S. presidency, U.S. House and U.S. Senate, for governor and for state and city-wide initiative efforts, including a state equal rights amendment in Iowa and a city campaign for fair representation voting.
Mary Kim Titla is a member of the San Carlos Apache Nation located in southeastern Arizona. Ms. Titla is a Native American youth advocate, former TV broadcaster and a former school administrator. A 20-year veteran TV News Reporter, (notably for KVOA in Tucson, where in 1987 she became the first Native American television journalist in Arizona, and later KPNX in Phoenix) she spent most of her career working for NBC affiliate stations in Arizona. In 2007 she was inducted into the Cronkite Hall of Fame at Arizona State University. She estimates telling as many as 5,000 stories during her career and has received awards from the Associated Press, Arizona Press Club and the Native American Journalists Association. Currently, she serves as Executive Director for United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY), a national non-profit organization promoting youth leadership, citizenship and personal development among Native American youth. She also serves as a journalist for Women’s eNews’ new podcast series, ‘Indigenous Women Leaders Speak Out.”
For our full list of Honorees and Gala Chairs, please click here.
The final seven will be announced in the coming weeks!
