Schneps Media salutes Brooklyn’s Power Women
The annual awards night honors formidable ladies who help shape the borough
BY COURTNEY DONAHUE
Save the date!
Schneps Media will host
its eighth-annual Power
Women Awards and Networking
Event on March 14 to
honor and celebrate the ladies
whose contributions, work,
activism, and heart have had
a positive impact in Brooklyn
— and we’re inviting you to
join us!
The event honors top Kings
County women for their outstanding
leadership and contributions
to the community.
This year’s festivities,
at Sirico’s Caterers in Dyker
Heights, will be co-hosted by
Lisa Evers of Fox 5, and will
include an interactive business
expo, followed by a dinner
and awards ceremony.
The night is a great way to
thank the wonderful women
who give their all to this borough,
said the event’s organizer.
“There is so much talent
and there are so many successful
women who give back
to the community,” said Lori
Pedone. “This is an opportunity
for them to network with
each other and be recognized
for all that they do.”
The beautiful night is
made possible by our wonderful
sponsors, Dime Bank,
JP Morgan Chase, MetroPlus
Health Plan, Northwell
Health, The Avondale Care
Group, Broadway Stages, and
DMV Service Centers LLC /
JSA Tags Inc.
This year’s event will feature
a new award, the Global
Leadership Award, which
will be presented to Elizabeth
Melendez Fisher, the founder
of the Selah Foundation, a national
organization that focuses
on ending sex traffi cking
and exploitation.
Fisher says her passion
started with a resolve to help
victims of sex abuse. When
she was planning an event
and looking for a charity to
give to, she learned about
the horrifi c level of sex traffi
cking in America, and how
it impacts local communities.
She became interested
in helping, and has since become
a crusader whose aim is
to educate, prevent, and help
children and women affected
by this. She adds that the root
of sex traffi cking is often a
child who has suffered sexual
abuse.
Fisher founded Selah
Freedom in 2011, and later
founded the global arm, Selah
Way Foundation.
Selah Freedom’s initiative,
Prevention, arms kindergarten
through 12th-grade children,
parents, and caregivers
with the knowledge they need
to recognize and avoid traffi
cking through materials
that are placed in schools and
community centers. Fisher
says the curriculum also
teaches those who may be victims
of abuse and traffi cking
to safely disclose what they’re
experiencing. The program
is currently in Brooklyn and
throughout the tri-state area.
The Protection program
trains law enforcement personnel
to recognize signs of
traffi cking — and Fisher says
this is particularly important
for offi cers to learn because it
isn’t always easy to spot.
She says, for instance, a
young child could be riding in
the back of a car with an adult
in the front. She trains the offi
cers to recognize if it looks
questionable — for instance,
if the child looks scared —
and to intervene.
“A young girl or boy in the
back of a car with an adult
that looks questionable, they
should stop the car, take a moment
with the child, take a
moment with the adult,” said
Fisher. “If they know what
they’re seeing, they won’t
miss it. The key to stopping
traffi cking is intervening before
it gets out of control.”
COURIER L 36 IFE, FEB. 15–21, 2019 M BR B G
Our 2019 honorees
Our 2019 Power Women are remarkable ladies who
have had a positive impact on Kings County, so buy
your ticket today at www.brooklynpaper.com/powerwomen
and join us as we cheer on the efforts of these
fabulous women:
Global Leadership Award
Elizabeth Melendez Fisher
Founder and Chief Executive Offi cer, Selah Foundation
Receiving the Global Leadership
Award is a true honor,
she says, because it’s a chance
to make more people aware of
her cause — and could spark
that same passion in someone
else.
“It means more to me than
you would ever understand,”
said Fisher. “My passion is
training other people. Speaking
about sex traffi cking, you
open people’s eyes. Nothing
makes me more excited than
when I can have a platform,
because that’s the only chance
you have to awaken leaders. It
takes my breath away.”
One hundred percent of
the proceeds from the evening’s
raffl e will go to the Selah
Foundation.
And don’t miss the Brooklyn’s
Power Women issue, on
stands March 8, where you
can read about the important
work all of our honorees
do everyday to make the borough
a better place.
Eighth-annual Power
Women Awards and Networking
Event at Sirico’s Caterers
(8023 13th Ave. between
80th and 81st streets in Dyker
Heights) March 14, 6–9 pm.
Tickets $150 and available
at www.brooklynpaper.com/
powerwomen .
Hall Of Fame
Margarette Tropnas, LMSW
Program Director, Urban Resource Institute
President, UNA-USA Brooklyn Chapter
Adjunct Lecturer, Hunter-Silberman School of Social
Work
Lifetime Achievement Award
Sylvia Mariamoff
The Attitude Lady
Dynamic Duo Award
Michelle Lee and Monica Holowacz
Broadway Stages
Honorees
• Cristen Agostinacchio
• Josephine Augello
• Natacha Aurelien
• Dr. Kim Best, PhD
• Angela Blum-Finlay
• Sonia Bonilla
• Jessica Burdo
• Carrie Anne Cavallo
• Raisa Chernina
• Caroline P. Cohen
• Pamela Esposito-Amery
• Danielle Fairbairn-Bland
• Barbara Felker
• Hon. Alice Fisher Rubin
• Paula Ingram
• Cloe’ Luv
• Onida Coward Mayers
GLOBAL REACH: Elizabeth Melendez
Fisher will be honored for
her work with the Global Leadership
Award at the Power Women
Awards on March 14.
Elizabeth Melendez Fisher
• Ingrid Murray
• Regina Myer
• Michelle Neary
• Margarycel
E. Nunez
• Karen Overton
• Caroline Pardo
• Dr. Ionie Pierce
•Elise Pettus
• Tere Pettitt
• Briget Rein
• Bonnie Schwerin
• Susan Siegel
• Pat Singer
• Gail L. Smith
• Melanie Wiener
• Ana Zen-Ochoa
POWER WOMEN AWARDS
HOSTING LIVE: Lisa Evers of Fox 5 will co-host the night’s festivities.
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