BIG Announcement!
We are thrilled to announce that Women Who Succeed is bringing Dr. Bernice King to speak to our group on April 21, 2022, at the Eccles Theater! We are thrilled to have Dr. King come and have a conversation with our very own Kathi Garff on the main stage. We will be inviting students, community leadership, and members to join us for this once-in-a-lifetime event. Thank you to Scott Keller, Pete and Nicole Mouskondis, and TwoFerry as our initial sponsors for this event! All proceeds from the event will be used specifically to expand our scholarships, college mentors, internships, and networking events for Women Who Succeed. Tickets may be pre-purchased for $15 and $10 for students. If you are so inclined, we welcome sponsorships and the opportunity to purchase additional tickets that can be given to students across the state.
In addition, as March is our “Founders Month” we are extending that to dovetail with this amazing event. We’ll be hosting a “Women Who Succeed Founders Social” prior to Dr. King speaking in the O.C. Tanner Lounge at the Eccles Theater from 3:30-4:30 pm. This networking event is exclusive to members of Women Who Succeed to celebrate our first year and all that you as powerful, influential, intelligent women accomplished on behalf of girls and young women across the state of Utah.
Members Spotlight
Sui Lang L. Panoke
Sui Lang is a visionary leader, social entrepreneur, and international trainer and facilitator with a passion for empowering today’s leaders to rethink, create, and innovate. She has recently been named, Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Zions Bank. In this role, she is responsible for directing the bank’s strategic vision, developing a comprehensive DEI strategy, and delivering a plan of action to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion across the bank and the communities that it serves.
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Kristin Audrus
Kristin is a community champion who advocates for women, children, and refugees within and beyond Utah. She is also Chief Culture Officer to her husband and six children.
Kristin serves as a board member for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Intermountain Area and for UnDEfeated, an organization serving underprivileged youth and single mothers in Uganda. In addition, she holds advisory roles with the First Lady of Utah, Neighborhood House, The Younique Foundation, Utah Valley University, and Women Who Succeed. Nonprofits count on Kristin for her social media and marketing savvy as well as her supernatural ability to get stuff done.
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Kirsten Novilla
Kirsten is a mentee with Women Who Succeed, and her mentor is Gina Alfred. Kirsten is an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University studying Public Health with an emphasis in Health Science. She has enjoyed her time in the Public Health major and is eager to use public health principles on her journey to medicine. She is working hard to one day become a pediatrician and open her own pediatric practice. Kirsten was born and raised in Utah but has had the wonderful opportunity to go outside of the U.S. and serve an 18-month ecclesiastical service mission in the Philippines where she learned various leadership and basic health and safety skills.
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Your Dollars Have Impact
Our network continues to grow, and we are excited to announce as we wrap up this calendar year, we are 150 women strong and, in the process, received $95,646 in membership donations. Additionally, we are grateful that we can add the following to our current list of Women Who Succeed Sponsors: The JW Sawyer Family, Young Living, and Mountain America Credit Union. Support from our community partners makes this impactful work possible and opens many doors for continued collaboration.
As we look into the New Year, there are several amazing opportunities to engage in our mission:
- Dr. Bernice King Event Sponsorship: Help Women Who Succeed kick off our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion by sponsoring the important welcome of Dr. King to the Eccles Theater on April 21, 2022. Tickets for you to join us at this event will also be available in early-February. Mark your calendars, you won’t want to miss this very special event!
- Ken Garff Hole in One Challenge Sponsorship: $3000 is all you’ll need to hold your spot at our first ever Women’s Only flight at the Ken Garff tournament at Thanksgiving Point in May 2022. Golfers mark your calendars and perfect your swing!
For more information about how you, or your company, can support our efforts with a financial donation do not hesitate to reach out to Jennifer Bean at jenniferb@sieutah.org.
Diamonds on Ice Update
We are sorry to announce that Diamonds on Ice has been postponed again due to the recent spike in COVID cases. Although we have been excited to host you in person and want to continue raising funds and awareness around the good work we are doing together, we remain attentive to the public health issues affecting our community. While we act out of an abundance of caution, we hope that you and yours stay healthy and well!
Partnership with ShePlace!
I’d like to invite you to our new digital platform for Women Who Succeed! This private group will allow us to connect between events, share successes and challenges, and highlight achievements by our mentees. Thank you to our newest members Jacki Zehner, CEO, and Madison Limansky, COO of ShePlace for this amazing opportunity. It takes less than a minute to join (here) through our community host, ShePlace. This community platform was created with a mission to create opportunities for women+ to connect, inspire, support, and educate one another. We are excited to partner and collaborate with organizations that are working for the advancement of women+ and girls more broadly.
When joining the platform, you will have instant access to ShePlace’s community members, as well as virtual and in-person events. Following your signup, you will receive an email invitation to our private group Women Who Succeed. We encourage you to introduce yourself and connect with the 450+ others that are sharing the platform. Please reach out to me or m.limansky@sheplace.com for any support in getting set up.
Looking forward to a great year ahead!
Opportunity Alert! SheTech
Help high school girls discover their path in tech! If you know a girl in 9-12th grade who is trying to figure out what educational or career path she should pursue, send her to SheTech Explorer Day to get hands-on experience with STEM fields, work together with inspiring mentors, interact with the technology community, and be inspired about all she can achieve. This is a free, unforgettable career exploration day with the tech community that will help her discover her destiny and give her the tools to get started. Register now at www.shetechexplorer.com.
We HEAR Her Podcast
Our Women Who Succeed have been busy sharing their stories, insights, and lessons learned in our We HEAR Her Podcast Series. Listen here and subscribe to our weekly episodes released on the following platforms:
Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-hear-her/id1593067124
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/0gF5UkGzoYEYU6LjYqk9Mn
RSS https://rss.com/podcasts/wehearher/
Members Spotlight cont.
Sui Lang L. Panoke cont.
Sui Lang is also the founder of Rethink International, a global social enterprise and international training organization designed to challenge people to rethink how and what they think. She has trained thousands of leaders around the world leading in politics, business, government, higher education, nonprofits, international NGO’s, and the media on a wide range of leadership and communications topics. Areas of expertise include global leadership, personal empowerment, developing women leaders, diversity, equity, inclusion, unconscious bias, strategic communications, power speaking, branding, civil discourse, and building cultures of inclusion in the workplace.
Sui Lang also founded the Rethink Tank, a social think tank that hosts power conversations bringing together people with diverse points of view for the purpose of building bridges across social, cultural, racial, and political differences. She also founded Women Politics Media, a global leadership and media training organization that seeks to democratize the media landscape by training women, people of color, and emerging young leaders to use the media as a vehicle to impact public policy.
Sui Lang currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association 2016-21, Advisory Board of YWCA Utah’s Real Women Run 2018-21, is an Ambassador for the Utah Women & Leadership Project 2017-21 and is a member of the Ken Garff Foundation’s Success in Education: Women Who Succeed Mentoring Program 2021. She earned her MPA from American University with a Certificate in Women, Policy, and Political Leadership, and was awarded the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Women & Politics Institute upon graduation. She received her BS in Political Science from the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics after completing her first year of undergrad at Brigham Young University’s Hawaii campus.
Sui Lang is the proud mother of an intellectually curious teenage daughter who is taller, smarter, and much more mature than she is. After living on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. for 13 years, they have moved back to Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood in Salt Lake City, Utah where they reside together with their red toy poodle, Rue.
Sui Lang said, “Over the years working in women’s empowerment and leadership development circles, I have learned that the most effective way to propel a young women’s leadership path forward is intentional, strategic, and meaningful mentorship. It just takes one young woman and one mentor to change the world. Reflecting upon my own experience with Women Who Succeed, I originally went into this with the intent to invest in young women and a few months later I am truly humbled to be a part of a program that not only sets up young women for success but invests in its mentors as well. The network of women leaders across Utah’s public, nonprofit, and corporate community that I have been able to connect with through Women Who Succeed has been a game changer for my own personal and professional development. Love you Women Who Succeed!”
A fun fact about Sui Lang is that her childhood dream was to become a “Fly Girl” on “In Living Color” – If you don’t know what that is – google it! Sadly, that dream never happened for her, so as an alternative, she pursued a career in politics which has been equally, if not more, “colorful”! And, while living in Hawai’i in the late 1990’s she was featured on MTV’s The Grind, filming 13 shows in 3 days on the beautiful beaches of the island of Oahu. She said she will never give up her passion for Hip Hop Dancing!!!
Kristin Andrus cont.
With over 100,000 combined followers on social media and live cooking segments on Utah’s Studio 5, Kristin has built a platform for awareness and impact. Her musings on marriage and motherhood and her collection of 250 free home workouts offer love, light, and laughter for her social media community.
In November 2020, Kristin launched #sistergoods, an Instagram campaign that raised $30,000 in its first week to supply menstrual care products to schools, shelters, and foster care facilities throughout Utah. #SisterGoods has since spread to more than 60 communities across the U.S. Kristin is currently leading the charge of the Utah Period Project bill this upcoming legislative session ensuring free period products are supplied in all public and charter school bathrooms.
Kristin said the following about why she joined Women Who Succeed, “I originally joined Women Who Succeed because I admire and look up to Erin Trenbeath-Murray so much. I love what she has focused on in her career and the partnership with the Ken Garff Success in Education Foundation was the perfect match. I am a huge believer in the power of mentorship as it has changed my life and others I work with. I love joining together with like-minded women who care about the community and lifting our girls here in Utah. I’m so grateful for the MANY connections and friendships I have already formed in this amazing program!”
A fun fact about Kristin is that she was a synchronized swimmer from the age of 8-18. She practiced at 5:30 AM every morning before school as well as after school. During her high school summers, she lived away from home to train. She ended up on the junior national team traveling the world and competing. At the age of 18, she decided to end her career of Synchronized Swimming and go away to college which brought her to Utah!
Kirsten Novilla cont.
Kirsten has a love for learning and has taken up opportunities to learn new skills, including working as a Research and Teaching Assistant. As a Research Assistant, she has been able to work with professors and fellow students to publish several research papers that focus on family as well as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). As a Teaching Assistant, she developed the ability to connect with students and learned how to better teach and explain difficult class concepts in different ways. Her passion for helping children has fueled her desire to participate in service activities, including the Provo Mentoring Program where she learned and grew alongside her kindergarten mentee as she helped her mentee improve academically as well as socially and emotionally.
In her free time, Kirsten loves adventures outdoors and spending time with her family taking walks, or watching movies.
