Making a Difference for All!

For the 18th consecutive year, Business Life is proud to introduce you to a collection of remarkable women who are making a difference in our communities. This annually featured article never stops inspiring.

Women-owned businesses are on the rise, more and more women are starting businesses for themselves and opportunities for professional women continues to expand.  Burbank is an excellent example of a city that recognizes the value of a woman in leadership.  At Business Life’s recent photo shoot on the steps of Burbank’s historic City Hall, we were honored to have Burbank Mayor Marsha Ramos and City Manager Mary Alvord meet us and speak to this year’s Women Achievers.  Each of these remarkable women have made a positive difference in their community and beyond.

An indication that women are moving forward and becoming more vital to our cities is evident by the size and strength of various women’s civic and service organizations.  During the past 18 years of featuring nearly 300 women in our magazine, we noticed few other acknowledgements throughout our community spotlighting the specific value of women in our society.  Today, we are seeing further evidence that the forward motion of women’s status for their contributions on all fronts in our community is gaining momentum, as we notice familiar names finally being recognized and honored by others in our region.

Some examples of this include the Family Service Agency of Burbank that hosted The Women of Vision; the Mary Alice O’Connor Award Dinner honoring those that supported their outreach programs. The first Women in Los Angeles Award event for Armenian American women in corporate, small business, nonprofit and Science/Law was hosted by the Armenian American Chamber of Commerce. For the 8th year, the Women in Business Awards were presented by area legislators – State Senator Jack Scott, Assemblyman Paul Krekorian and Assemblyman Anthony Portantino. Businesswomen and civic leaders were recognized for their contributions to the economic vitality of Southern California. The 28th Medal of Excellence event by Women at Work with this year’s theme Planning for Success. Women at Work is a career and job resource center located in Pasadena.  Glendale’s  Commission on the Status of Women recognizes outstanding women by spotlighting outstanding women with their annual “Jewel of Glendale Awards” that will be held in March 2008..

At the Long Beach Convention Center, California First Lady Maria Shriver unveiled an impressive speaker lineup for The Women's Conference 2007, to be held October 23 at 8 a.m. The ever-growing roster of remarkable speakers taking center stage will include Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who will join Governor Schwarzenegger for a conversation on environmental leadership. Shriver, in her fourth year hosting the annual event, shaped this year's conference theme —Remarkable Lives. Remarkable Legacies. What's Yours? — to encourage women to think about their own legacies. The Women's Conference is leading by example by striving to establish its own legacy as a conference with a conscience, by putting an even greater emphasis on service and community giving. Estimates predict a sold out event of over 13,000 attendees this year. Information is available on their web site: www.californiawomen.org..

Business Life once again gave its women the option of responding to a series of questions. A group which does not wait for an analyst or crisis to direct them are the women featured by Business Life. Below are their answers, each edited by our editors.

MARGO BOTTCHER
President, Soroptimist International Glendale

Margo and Bob Bottcher own PB Construction Co., Inc. in Pasadena. They specialize in kitchen and bath remodels and single home construction in the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys.

Margo is President of Soroptimist International of Glendale, which celebrates their 65th anniversary this year. Soroptimist is made up of professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls in local communities and around the world.

Margo joined Soroptimist five years ago. She is proud of her club’s commitment to public awareness programs regarding human trafficking, sexual slavery, domestic violence and breast cancer. Margo is also proud of her club’s fundraising efforts. They have raised over $135,000.00 during the last four years.

Soroptimist International of Glendale is known for their “Bras for a Cause” fundraiser. The 5th Annual event will be held March 1 at Oakmont Country Club. This year’s theme is “Bras for a Cause Goes on Vacation.”

GRACE CHASE
Vice President – Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce
Vice President at Large – Glendale Character & Ethics Project
Treasurer – Crescenta Valley Committed to Athletic Needs (CV CAN)

Grace serves on the Glendale Character & Ethics Committee. The Character and Ethics Project is a community-wide effort emphasizing basic, non-partisan ethical values through various programs with schools, youth organizations, businesses and civic and religious groups. The C & E Project embraces character-building and ethical behavior as a way of life.  The organization hopes that by implementing these programs throughout the community, they can increase awareness and acceptance no matter what the demographic factors are. The organization uses schools and the business community to get our message across.

Grace believes that women, whether in the workplace or in their community, strive for an environment that is safe, free of prejudice, and inclusive. Grace says that involvement in community groups comes from a need. Whether that need is tangible or intangible….that is the driving force for most participation.

Grace’s participation in each organization that she is involved with stems from the desire to serve the community in which she lives and to contribute in whatever way she can. She believes that her involvement with community organizations has given her many experiences that she believes she has benefited from. 

Grace learned about community involvement from her father who immigrated from Italy in the 50’s and immersed himself in the American society by serving his community through civic organizations and his church. “As long as I can remember he served others in a volunteer capacity and this, in my eyes, was what every person should do.” Grace’s father mentored her through example, and she hopes to be a good example to others.

DR. SUSAN B. CLIFFORD
President, Zonta International Pasadena
Pasadena City College, Dean, Health Sciences Division

Dr. Susan Clifford is the current President of The Zonta International Club of Pasadena, a women’s service organization to advance the status of women worldwide. She also serves as the Dean of Health Sciences at Pasadena City College, a division offering nine different healthcare career opportunities for students.

She is in her first year as Zonta President, and third year as division dean, having previously been a professor at PCC and the Dean of Academic Services at Fullerton College.

The goals that Dr. Clifford hopes to achieve for Zonta of Pasadena are to clarify the Club’s purpose and provide the membership with a variety of ways to participate in advancing the purpose, realizing it is volunteer time and the work should be fun. Her goal for the Health Sciences division is to provide a productive and fulfilling learning environment for students and staff, enjoying the value of working in an educational setting.

SHARON COHEN
Zonta of Burbank
Library Services Director, City of Burbank

Sharon Cohen has a Masters degree in Library Science and has been employed as a librarian by Burbank for the past 30 years.  In addition to serving as Library Services Director, she also is staff liaison to the Burbank Sister City Committee and an active member in the Burbank chapter of Zonta International, currently serving on the Board of Directors.

Zonta International is a global organization of executives and professionals working together to advance the status of women worldwide through service and advocacy. Locally, the Burbank chapter contributes to the Family Service Agency and specifically supports their Families in Need project, a service where these families can request assistance with necessities that could not otherwise be afforded. Zonta also supports adult literacy tutoring through the Burbank Public Library, provides annual scholarships for graduating seniors, and much more.
Burbank Sister City Committee is dedicated to promoting better communication, goodwill and cultural awareness between the City of Burbank and its designated Sister Cities. Currently, the Committee has two active student exchanges with Ota, Japan and Incheon, South Korea.

Sharon’s career path was determined early on when I began volunteering in her high school library. She knew then that she wanted to be a librarian, and 40 years later she has no regrets. She feels her career has been a challenging one, constantly requiring that she stay abreast of the many changes that have occurred within the profession.

LYNNE EODICE
Soroptimists International Pasadena/Altadena

Lynne Eodice is the Managing Editor of Double Exposure, a monthly online photography magazine. She is also the author of Photos That Inspire, a how-to photography book that is an imprint of Wiley publishing. She works from her home office in Altadena, California.

Lynne’s mentor in the photo industry was Ron Leach, who is now the publisher of Shutterbug magazine.  Leach helped Lynne achieve success by hiring her for her first job at a major photography magazine, and has continued to help and encourage her during the course of her career. At one time Lynne worked in the garment industry inspired by her interest in fashion. During that time, her husband gave her a 35mm camera as a gift, and Lynne fell in love with photography.  She her job at the California Mart downtown. Her first photography job was working for a weekly newspaper taking pictures, and eventually she began to write feature stories as well.

Lynne join Soroptimists International while working for a newspaper in Sierra Madre. I was drawn to this organization because of their mission, “Women Helping Women in Local Communities and Around the World.”  Her definition of success is feeling as though she has made a positive difference in her field and has achieved some recognition for her contributions. She believes that success means feeling fulfilled and happy on the job, as well as in one’s personal life.

EDITH M. FUENTES
Past Region Governor
Soroptimist International of the Americas-Camino Real Region

For the past 14 years Edith Fuentes has been responsible for administration, enforcement, and application of city zoning code and municipal ordinances at the City of Glendale Planning Department. She prepares reports, recommendations, and does presentations to different boards and commissions and City Council. Edith hopes to be able to continue in a leadership role in fulfilling the department’s mission of enhancing the quality of life and actively pursuing the vision of the community to make the City a better place to live, work, and play.

Edith believes that whether you agree or not, the greatest social concern for women today is “gender equality”. She believes there continues to be a barrier or separation on gender equality. Edith’s mother Belen was a Unit President for the Social Welfare Administration in the Philippines, and was Edith’s primary mentor.

Edith feels that success is the attainment or achievement of one’s goal or aspiration, and she feels at this point in her life that she has achieved success. She is happy with her career and profession: she feels she has a great family, good health and great friends. She could not ask for anything more.

CHRYSTAL TODD JOHNSON
President, Pasadena-Altadena Links

Chrystal Todd Johnson is a realtor with Realty Executives Arcadia.  Also, she and her husband Jim own and operate a two small businesses: Premier Marketing and Promotions and Lexington Holdings, Inc. in Pasadena.

Civically, Chrystal was recently elected to the position of president of the Pasadena-Altadena Chapter Of The Links, Incorporated, which is a social service/volunteer organization of pre-dominantly African-American women working to better their communities through four main program facets: The Arts, National Trends and Services, International Trends and Services, and Services to Youth.

Locally, Chrystal’s chapter recently voted to adopt an academically struggling school in Altadena and they hope to make contributions (hands-on as well as monetary) that will create a positive difference in the community. Chrysal says their program will focus on stimulating artistic and cultural creativity and a thirst for learning that will address the issues of low academic performance and apathy often found among minority children in public schools.

FRIEDA JORDAN, PH.D
President, Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry
Director of Molecular Typing at Foundation Laboratory

Dr. Frieda Jordan is the co-founder and president of the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry, whose goals are to educate communities throughout the world about the importance of donor registries, identify patients in need, and recruit donors for transplants that will save the lives of patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening blood diseases. Prior to her current position, Frieda worked at Cedar-Sinai and the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Research Center in London.

In her career as a biochemist, she has seen many families lose loved ones because they couldn’t find a bone marrow or stem cell match. Dr. Jordan believes that achieving success means giving people hope out of desperate situations. “We have established an internationally recognized resource that has, indeed, saved lives. In just seven years the ABMDR has registered over 14,000 donors, identified 695 stem cell matches, and facilitated transplantations for seven patients in Armenia, the United States and Europe.”

Dr. Jordan received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from London University, and has since been an active and successful scientist in the field of immunogenetics. She conducted workshops and co-authored many international publications in her field, and is a member of both the British and American Societies of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics.

PATRICIA KELLY
President & CEO, Limerick Inc.

Patricia always dreamed of owning her own business, and she admired women who succeeded. She recommends to other women that they educate themselves on how to build a successful business. She attended UCLA Anderson School of Management for Management Development for Entrepreneurs.

Patricia’s definition of success is to be a good mother, a good grandmother, a good employer, a good friend, and to support her community in any way it needs.  She enjoys helping people, and providing the Workplace Lactation Program to help women and children all over the world.

Patricia is a Board Member of the Kids’ Community Dental Clinic. She became
involved after Mayor Ramos brought the need to her attention.  She was able to bridge her involvement with projects that help children and women with helping families reach their nutritional goals.  Her work in providing Limerick Company Sponsored Workplace Lactation Programs and their resources has been a great source of pride for her.  Limerick also supports the Wayuu Taya Foundation for Latin American indigenous people. The foundation provides education and medical treatment to both the children and mothers. The mothers knit totes while the children are in school. Limerick sells the totes and gives a percentage of the sale to the foundation.

BARBARA RICHARDSON KING
President, North Arroyo Coalition of Concerned Citizens
Marketing Manager, Westlyn Realtors Pasadena

As a realtor and businesswoman Barbara’s goal is to provide the highest level of service to her clients and her business. She strives to stay updated on all aspects of the real estate and financial markets, focusing on how her company can use technology to position itself on the cutting edge of the industry.  In her role as President of the North Arroyo Coalition of Concerned Citizens, she believes the group’s formation to address the misuse of single-family residences to accommodate transitional housing was essential for a healthy community. Illegal parking, increased traffic, drug use, robberies plagued the area. The group learned that many other California communities faced the same problems, and they rallied together to bring their information to the attention of city government.

Barbara believes the greatest social concern for women is balancing home, career and community—and doing it with grace. Sometimes, switching back and forth can be challenging. Barbara is encouraged that more women are officers of major corporations and organizations. She believes that women must function in the corporate world with strength and with a decisive style. She believes family is the foundation of our society, and without harmony in the home, a woman’s career and community endeavors are done in vain.

Barbara considers success to be of a spiritual nature and personal maturity. She doesn’t believe success is determined by materialism. However, she does believe everyone must set financial goals and stay the course to accomplish a comfortable lifestyle.

ROBERTA H. MARTÍNEZ
Executive Director, Latino Heritage

Roberta Martinez says the mission of Latino Heritage is to “honor our elders, to preserve our collective past, to help educate all involved in our projects and to provide positive educational outreach for all in our community.”  The organization provides positive educational outreach on the history and culture of Latinos in the San Gabriel Valley while working in collaboration with other groups in the area. Roberta says the organization also works to increase public awareness of the diversity that exists within the Latino population.

Since a key element of the organization’s work is in the examining of ways the Latino Community interacts with others, there is a natural opening for anyone who has interest in sharing how different groups can work together and learn about each other.

Roberta is proud that Latino Heritage always works toward a Board that reflects the diversity of the community; and believes that has helped the Board continue in its diversity.  Each of the board members has specific skills that contribute.
Roberta says she refocused her career several times; employed in various careers, including work as a teacher, historian, group facilitator and event/television producer. She appreciates that her career has always included an aspect of learning new skills and finding different modes of sharing information with others.

ROBIN MCCARTHY
Executive Director, Women at Work Pasadena

Ask Robin McCarthy what the most important issue in business is and she would gladly tell you that it is women’s position in the business world. The reason? Robin McCarthy is the Executive Director of Women at Work, a non-profit job and career resource center committed to helping women reach their full employment and earning potential. For the past 28 years, Women At Work has provided career assistance to over 100,000 women and men in the greater Los Angeles area through various services including: resume and career counseling, occupational testing, and a career resource room that boasts thousands of available jobs.

Robin, a Loyola Marymount University alum, brings to Women at Work an extensive knowledge of the non-profit world, having worked for two of the nation’s largest, the American Red Cross and the YMCA. With knowledge from these two organizations and others, Robin envisions a bright future for Women At Work that includes expanding client bases, resources, and awareness for women’s work issues. As a mother of two, she is no stranger to the many obstacles placed before mothers and women in the workplace and is hopeful Women at Work can help and remove these obstacles for many.

A firm believer in giving back and helping others, Robin is active within the community, as a member of the Foothill Workforce Investment Board, Pasadena College Technology Committee, Community Women of the San Gabriel Valley and Cancer Breakfast volunteer.

MARY MCCORMICK
President & CEO, MBI Media- Covina
Vice President of Public Policy, National Association of Women Business Owners, Los Angeles Chapter

As one of the first television news camerawoman on the West Coast, Mary McCormick has held positions as an editor, camera operator, microwave engineer, field producer, national producer, and director. Her responsibilities included covering stories locally, regionally and nationally, including ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC Nightly News.

Mary’s mentor and manager Phil Sturholm fought for her to have the right to carry a film camera. Mary recalls that at the time she began, it was an all white, middle-aged male bastion that believed a camerawoman wouldn’t be able to stand the strain of the work required.

As the new Vice President of Public Policy for the National Association of Women Business Owners – Los Angeles Chapter, Mary feels that woman have strength in numbers and can now speak with a larger voice than even five or 10 years ago. She believes that women should be engaged in health care reform, the environment, and business issues.

When she first created MBI, the company differentiated itself through its ability to listen and convey information in an extremely effective and creative manner. The company’s programs have consistently demonstrated the ability to raise positive public awareness for each of its clients through developing strong media messages, corporate communication programs, and the coordination of public meetings.

DR. MARIA A. ROCHART
Founder and Executive Director, New Horizons Family Center, Glendale

New Horizons Family Center is a 501(c)(3) family service agency established in 1994.  Dr. Maria Rochart’s goals are to continue expanding the center’s programs for low-income, high-risk children from south Glendale and Atwater Village; and to establish a presence in neighboring under-served communities.

Dr. Rochart began the center thirteen years ago after her father found himself in the fortunate position of being the sole ticket holder to name all six first-place horses at Santa Anita Race Track. Realizing the improbability of such a win, he felt it his duty to share some of his good fortune with needy children whose lives were overshadowed by overwhelming odds. That was how the center began—with a single gift that has changed so many lives over the years.

After starting with a modest budget of $100,000, along with dedication and hard work, the center now operates programs at three locations and manages an annual budget of nearly $2.4 million. “To me, success is equated with the satisfaction of knowing that I manage an excellent agency that serves the entire community. I am proud to know, that on a daily basis, we really do make a difference in many lives.”

Dr. Rochart served as President of the City of Glendale’s Commission on the Status of Women, and regrets that in 2007 the “glass ceiling” for women continues to exist.

DR. SONJA L. YATES
Executive Director, San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity

Dr. Sonja L. Yates has held the position of Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity, San Gabriel for three years, and served in administrative capacities since 1974, primarily in the field of education.

Addressing the tremendous need for affordable housing in the 28 foothill communities her organization, it is Dr. Yates’ goal to work enthusiastically and collaboratively with the Board of Directors to secure properties suitable for development of simple, decent homes and to rapidly raise funds to build as many homes as possible to meet the urgent need for affordable housing.

Dr. Yates believes that success comes from “being ready for the next opportunity!” Her advice is to prepare oneself with appropriate formal education, with a willing and open spirit, with healthful habits that generate lots of energy, and with operative mental “antennae” to connect people with opportunities to be part of the solution in meeting organizational needs.

San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity is one of the region’s foremost developers of affordable homeownership units. Last year, the organization celebrated a highly successful Campaign that raised over $1.1M to build 11 more Habitat homes on Kenwood Street in Glendale. This fall, they break ground for these condominium homes, and marketing to make this opportunity known to future home buyers is currently underway.

Dr. Yates invites all Business Life readers to support San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity’s noble work by donating online at www.sgvhabitat.org.