The YWCA’s 2023 Women of Achievement Award recipients are celebrated at a luncheon Friday afternoon for contributions to their community. Pictured from left are: Dr. Tracy Wilkerson, Karen Williams, Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Debby Weinstein and Empowerment Award winner Chanel Hunt.
Four local women were honored for making an impact on their communities on Friday, from a fundraising dentist to an activist educator, a dedicated healer, and a single mother chasing an altruistic dream.
The 2023 Women of Achievement Awards this year first recognized East End native Dr. Tracy Wilkerson, a pediatric dentist at Children’s Dentistry, as well as retired Glenwood High and West Virginia State University educator and lifelong activist Karen Williams during a luncheon in the halls of the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center.
A Lifetime Achievement honor was also given to outgoing YWCA CEO Debby Weinstein, while the yearly "Empowerment Award” was bestowed upon Chanel Hunt.
"We need women who are so strong they can be gentle, so educated they can be humble, so fierce they can compassionate, so passionate they can be rational and so disciplined they can be free," said Huntington Bank Vice President of Community Development Marisa Skaff, quoting Kavita Ramdas. "Congratulations to these amazing women who embody so many of these characteristics."
Wilkerson followed a unique career path from engineering to dentistry, building her practice, serving on numerous professional boards, awarding scholarships to local students and finding avenues through which to give back to women and children along the way.
"My path and my story is unique, but so is yours. We are all unique. We need to celebrate those differences," Wilkerson said. "The world needs you to be the best you and that means your authentic self. This allows you to improve your surroundings and your world."
Williams' passion poured out in classrooms for 40 years from Glenwood Elementary, where she served in the most roles one can, to West Virginia State University, where she taught English, ROTC and Education. Having attended Kindergarten at a segregated school, in her adult life she's fought as a social justice activist and voting rights advocate for the under represented, organizing rallies, caravans and holding court on various issues.
"My advice to you, shoot for the stars and ask the world to excuse your dust. I always carry a song in my heart, if I can help somebody along the way," said Williams, before singing. "Then my living shall not be in vain."
The YWCA’s 2023 Women of Achievement Award recipients are celebrated at a luncheon Friday afternoon for contributions to their community. Pictured from left are: Dr. Tracy Wilkerson, Karen Williams, Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Debby Weinstein and Empowerment Award winner Chanel Hunt.
For the newly retired Weinstein, the award is a culmination of four decades of service to YWCA, rising from volunteer in 1983, to overnight advocate for the Resolve Family Abuse Program where she worked to help women to heal and achieve peace, to various leadership roles including CEO.
One such post was as program director at Sojourner's Shelter for Homeless Women and Families. During her leadership years at YWCA, she helped develop both a transitional housing program in her friend's memory and the Shanklin Center for Senior Enrichment and Empowerment Homes for Women, intended to help elderly women who have experienced abuse.
"When you give yourself to things that matter to you, you get so much more than you're able to give," Weinstein said. "It is so enriching."
One woman who could appreciate that sentiment was Empowerment Award winner, Hunt, who once sought refuge at Sojourner's and YWCA's Alicia McCormick Homes.
Hunt was born into a Florida family that struggled with drug addiction and crime and lived in a foster home separated from her half-brother as teen. At 16, she was assaulted and later found she was pregnant before eventually dropping out of high school. In a later marriage, she was abused.
Despite being a single mother of four, she found a way to obtain certification as a pharmacy technician and packed up to find work in West Virginia, where she found temporary homes through YWCA programs.
Now, she works as a CNA, plans to enroll in nursing school and dreams of one day opening an assisted living facility.
"It's not about me winning an award, it's not about me accomplishing a goal, it's about me empowering you to accomplish yours," Hunt said. "I'm here to tell you that every opportunity that is put before you, every chance that is given, that is put into your presence, that you have the ability, the capability, to conquer it."
The annual luncheon also doubles as a fundraiser supporting YWCA Charleston programs and its mission of eliminating racism and empowering women. More than600 tickets were sold this year.
