Five women were honored last night at the 20th annual Women in Leadership Awards ceremony hosted by the City of West Hollywood, the city’s Women’s Advisory Board and the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
The awards recognize the achievements of local women in the community. Members of the West Hollywood City Council and members of the Advisory Board joined Chamber of Commerce President Genevieve Morrill and Chair Keith Kaplan to welcome attendees at the event, which was held at Phyllis Morris at 655 N. Robertson Blvd.
Those honored were:
· Paulinda Schimmel Babbini — Founder and president of the Ovarian Cancer Circle/Inspired by Robin Babbini, a nonprofit dedicated to women of all ages and heightening the awareness of this form of cancer. The Circle is committed to raising funds for medical research, networking community and regional seminars and extending educational outreach to high schools and colleges.
· Sara Sugarman Brenner — CEO and founder of Lulu & Georgia, an online home décor shop that provides rugs, accessories and furniture for modern, urban women, and vice president of Decorative Carpets, her family’s business, which is a carpet and rug company specializing in custom rugs for interior designers and luxury hotels. She was the recipient of the Phyllis Morris Award bestowed in memory of the legendary furniture designer for excellence in design and entrepreneurship.
· Sandra Fluke — An attorney who has devoted her career to public interest advocacy for numerous social justice causes, such as gender equality, education affordability, LGBTQ rights and workers’ and immigrant rights;
· Barbara Hamaker — Communications manager and advocate for affordable housing for the West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation and a community activist and civic leader for more than 30 years.
· Vivian B. Seigel — CEO of JVS Los Angeles (Jewish Vocational Services), which is one of the largest nonprofit career counseling organizations in the state, serving more than 30,000 clients each year. She has been committed to working to help people of all ages, abilities and ethnicities achieve independence, dignity and stability.
luca d. – we have virtually no residents of color in west hollywood to begin with. then you want (a) *women* of color (can probably count them on one hand), who (b) have achieved significant successes in our city.
some day…just not yet.
My Wife tells me that she read that Ms. Hamaker is part Native American.
Apparently she works hard for WEHO’s seniors/disabled etc. We should give her stripes for her work in making our community diverse.
how sad that there are no women of color. guess nothing changes, but i’m sure they’ll have a lovely luncheon.