YWCA Jamestown Board President Sue Kellogg stated “The YWCA Board of Directors is excited to continue our 25+ year tradition of honoring outstanding women and their important work in our community. Our 2023 award recipients are an amazing group of women!”

“We are overwhelmed with joy for the number of nominees we received this year for the Women Of Achievement Celebration. We are inspired and awe struck by the work the nominees and winners have accomplished in our community to help advance inclusion and empower women,” said Amanda Gesing, YWCA Jamestown executive director.

Nominees include: Betsy Rowe Baehr, Kristine Bailey, Leslie Bianco, Sue Glena Blake, Danielle Bonovitch, Kelly Borrello, Gianna Coleman, Courtney Curatolo, Kim Davis, Jaclyn Haskell Ferraro, Kathryn Freeman, Faith Graham, Leigh-Anne Hendrick, Camille Hodnett, Tracy Hultin, Beth Litton, Brianna Loomis, Nichole Mason, Korinda Messenger, Bethany Nash, Rachel D O’Brian, Briana Postle, Carri Raynor, Cindy Reidy, Tamu Reinhardt, Dr. Vicki Sapp, Kacey Shelters, Jade Shirey, and Kayleigh Sieber.

The 2023 Women of Achievement recipients are:

Sukanya Burman

Annika Spitzer — Rising Star Award. Annika is a 19-year-old student at St. Bonaventure University who is dedicated to advancing and promoting diversity and equality. Annika attends and coaches the Now Gen Leadership camp to mentor young girl leaders and communicators. She is a part of the Women Speakers Collective and has participated in local activism for the rights of women.

Sukanya Burman — Power the Future Award. Burman is highly trained in Indian classical dance (Bharatanatyam/Kathak) and modern dance. She has demonstrated the commitment to the success of women and people of color through professionalizing these dances and creating paid opportunities for dancers of color and women/women identifying dancers. As a recent recipient of the state Council for the Arts and state Choreographers Initiative awards, Burman has been able to create paid professional dance opportunities for members in the community. In 2023, she was also one of five inductees across all of New York into NYS DanceForce, which ensures funding for new professional dance activities in the area for the next several years. Burman works to lift the voices of women of color and advocate on their behalf for various professional/promotional opportunities and has great potential for a high leadership role

Leigh-Anne Hendrick — Catalyst for Change award. Hendrick is a secondary school teacher in the Chautauqua Lake School District where students apply to take her honors course on the Holocaust and Genocide. She is working to bring cultural competency programming to the county as the director of the Holocaust and Social Justice Education Program, sponsored by the Hebrew Congregation of Chautauqua. In her role, Hendrick organizes workshops, symposiums, speakers and leads a multi school student and educator trip to Washington, D.C. each year. This year, participants included students from Jamestown, Dunkirk, Pine Valley, Brocton and Silver Creek. This year, more than 100 students, teachers and adults had the opportunity to visit the National Museum of African American History & Culture and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Tamara M. Dickey — Shattered Ceiling award. Dickey’s career history and current trajectory demonstrate that she is a female leader in a predominantly male field. She was the first black female elected to the Jamestown City Council’s Ward 3 seat before she took on a promotion which caused her to travel in her career. Dickey also served as the first female black healthcare finance director at UPMC Chautauqua, St. Lawrence Health System, and Geisinger Health. In addition to leading in a predominantly male field, Dickey is active in the community, philanthropically supporting several organizations that promote the prevention of racism and strive for equality. Over the past 20 years, Dickey has been a mentor to many black, brown and other families in the Jamestown area. She does this by assisting them with economic, social, religious and other resources. She more specifically has helped many with college enrollment, employment and advancements in their jobs through outreach efforts. She is affiliated with the Save the Children, JRC, The Jamestown GospelFest, Healing Word Ministries, 10th Street Homeowners Group, Juneteenth, and area churches.

Patricia Graves — Impact Award. Originally from New York City, Graves recently moved back to the Jamestown area and works at Project Management Institute in the Global Talent Department. Graves volunteers her time and efforts to continue her personal mission to help her community strive for social justice and progress. She serves as the Community Engagement Liaison for the Black/African American community of Southern Chautauqua County for the I.D.E.A Coalition. She is a member of the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation. She also co-founded the Association of Corporate Pro Bono, a professional organization for attorneys and non-attorneys who run in-house pro bono programs to increase access to justice through the delivery of pro bono legal services. She also serves on several boards/committees including the New York City Bar Pro Bono Committee and the Jamestown Juneteenth Committee.

Tamara Dickey

The Women of Achievement dinner and celebration will be held on Thursday, AUg. 24, at the Chautauqua Harbour Hotel in Celoron. The public is invited to join us in celebrating nominees and award recipients at 5:30 p.m. for hors’ d’oeuvres and plated meals at 6:30 p.m. with a presentation and basket giveaway to follow. Tickets can be purchased for $50 in advance of the event at www.ywcajamestown.com/woa. Sponsors include Alliance for Nonprofit Resources and UPMC Chautauqua as well as Evergreen Health, Jamestown Psychiatric, Lane’s Women’s Health, M&T Bank, Southern Chautauqua Federal Credit Union, The Chautauqua Center and Water Street Brass. For more information visit www.ywcajamestown.com/woa or call 716-488-2237.

Patricia Graves

Leeann Hendrick