>> Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the 2025 Women's History Month Luncheon, right?
 My name is Marissa Parscott, and I'm a Program Specialist with the Community and Family Resources
 Department at the City of Bloomington, and I also serve as the City Liaison for the Commission
 on the Status of Women.
 So on behalf of the Commissioners, allow me to say that we are honored to have you all
 here with us today as we recognize our 2025 Women Achievement Award winners and enjoy
 a keynote address from award-winning author Tamara Winfrey-Harris.
 This year also marks the City's 40th Annual Women's History Month Luncheon, right?
 The event was first held in 1985, two years before Women's History Month was officially
 established by an Act of Congress in 1987.
 From its earliest days, the luncheon has served as an occasion to celebrate the work of incredible
 local women, many of whom who have been crucial to the establishment of local organizations,
 businesses, and community resources that continue to improve the quality of life in our city
 to this day.
 The Commission could not be more proud to continue this time-honored tradition, and
 again, we're really pleased to have you here.
 To get us started, I would like to introduce Commissioner Stephanie Samaras, who will be
 reading the City of Bloomington Land and Labor Acknowledgement.
 Thank you, Marissa.
 We recognize that the City of Bloomington sits on native land.
 The city, as well as city buildings, are on the traditional homelands of the Miami, Delaware,
 Potawatomi, and Shawnee people, and we acknowledge they are past, present, and future caretakers
 of this land.
 We also acknowledge that much of the economic progress and development in Indiana, and specifically
 Bloomington, resulted from the unpaid labor and forced servitude of people of color, especially
 enslaved African labor.
 We acknowledge that this land remains home to and a site of gathering and healing for
 many indigenous and other people of color, and commit to the work necessary to create
 and promote a more equitable and just Bloomington.
 We move forward knowing and acknowledging our rich, complicated, and sometimes painful
 past so that we can learn from it and create a true land of opportunity.
 Thank you, Stephanie.
 It is now my pleasure to introduce Mayor Carrie Thompson, a leader deeply committed to building
 a more inclusive, innovative, and vibrant Bloomington.
 With a background in nonprofit leadership and community development, Mayor Thompson brings
 a collaborative, solutions-driven approach to city government.
 Since taking office, she has prioritized housing solutions, economic development, community
 safety, and sustainable growth, all while fostering strong partnerships across sectors.
 Under her leadership, Bloomington is making bold moves, investing in infrastructure, supporting
 local businesses, advancing long-term plans for economic vitality, and ensuring that every
 resident has a voice in shaping the city's future.
 Please join me in welcoming Mayor Carrie Thompson.
 Thanks, Melissa.
 I love this event.
 I just love being in a community that is proud of its women.
 I love the fact that Bloomington has been doing this since before Women's History Month
 was officially a thing.
 And I really love that this is a team effort.
 And on a day that we are supporting lifting up women, I also want to lift up the many
 people who made today work.
 Can we get a round of applause for the people who prepared our food?
 Thank you for the work that you do to keep us fed and help us celebrate in these moments.
 And I know that we have city and county and I don't know if we have state elected officials
 here, but if you're an elected official, could you stand up and be recognized for being here
 supporting the women of our community?
 Thank you for the hard work that you're doing.
 And how about if we can have people, some may be able to stand, others may not be able
 to stand, but past award recipients from this banquet, can you please stand or wave?
 Make this, that's it, awesome.
 We are really honored to be able to host this every year at the city of Bloomington and
 to have at least an hour to celebrate the incredible work that women do in this community.
 Sitting here one year into my first year as mayor, my first term as mayor, I feel both
 the joy of the leadership that I have been offered the opportunity to offer to our community
 and also the weight of the work, the weight of the work that we have done and what is
 still ahead of us.
 And I'm reminded of how powerful a room like this really is.
 Some of you walked in feeling like you were arriving at a much-longed-for reunion today
 and you've been buzzing around the room, networking.
 Others of you perhaps sat in your car for 10 minutes going, "I don't know that I'll
 know anybody.
 I don't know if I'll feel welcome.
 I think I'm going to wait till the last minute, sit at a table, and then just enjoy the program."
 You were wondering if you belonged.
 And I want to tell you, you do.
 You belong here in this room and you belong in Bloomington.
 If you're here for the first time, if you're here with any hesitation at all, I want you
 to know that we need you.
 We need you in this room and we need you in our city.
 This is a room filled with women who care about their community, who are creative, who
 are curious, who value connection, who are called, who are ready, even if you don't know
 that you're ready.
 We all show up here, well-assembled, ready to network, chins up, smiles on.
 This is the work we do during the work we get paid for as women and in our time carved
 out to give back to our community as well.
 But I know that some of you came here today already exhausted from your unpaid work, after
 a sleepless night with an infant waking every hour to breastfeed.
 Maybe you drove here in a vehicle with Cheerios under the seats, graham crackers crusted into
 the car seats, hoping daycare doesn't call you early yet again this afternoon.
 Or perhaps you came here with the sports equipment in the trunk that you will have to run over
 after school, or your mother's walker that she needed to be able to transport herself
 across our parking lot to join you here today.
 This is the work that doesn't win awards, but it is the work that I bet nearly every
 woman in this room is doing in addition to her official work.
 Fifteen years ago, I stood on this stage to receive the woman of the year award.
 And what the community saw was a nonprofit leader with a vision to house our neighbors.
 What you didn't see was the 5 a.m. wake up to run on a treadmill I had shoved into the
 corner of my bedroom, which was my effort at mental health.
 You didn't see the rousing, loving, and feeding of my 4 and 6-year-old that I navigated alone
 every morning just as I tucked them into bed at night alone.
 Flying solo was the only kind of parenting that I had ever known.
 If you were here 15 years ago, you saw my then 4-year-old Caroline confidently climb
 these very stairs as I received my award, having been told by her many adopted aunties
 that she shouldn't, that she needed to sit down.
 She held the microphone from the comfort of my arms for a few minutes without wanting
 to speak herself.
 That is what you saw, but what you probably didn't see was the many people who were tugging
 at her to sit back down.
 She didn't listen, and I'm glad she didn't.
 Let me tell you what I saw.
 What I saw standing here was you, the crowd, the city that held me up and welcomed me here
 to make my home, the city where someone nominated me for an award that I was certain someone
 else certainly deserved a lot more than I did.
 I also saw the tight-knit tribe of friends that I could call too late at night if I'd
 forgotten milk and the babies were already asleep, or when life just felt heavy, as it
 sometimes does.
 I see the same thing today, but I see it with a different lens this year.
 A year into being your mayor, I once again see a room that is holding me up, but I also
 have the privilege of seeing what you are each doing to hold up our city, to create a city
 that truly welcomes all, that builds bridges, not walls, that challenges your leaders to
 lean into bigger visions of what it means to be the one safe haven in our state for
 so many who are excluded elsewhere.
 Because make no mistake, we need you.
 Not eventually, not once the timing is perfect, not after someone taps you on the shoulder
 or your kids are grown up.
 We need you now.
 In a year when many of us watched a woman once again come up short in a bid for the presidency,
 it can be easy to feel discouraged.
 A barrier was tested and not broken again.
 We find ourselves asking, what will it take?
 We see our voices aren't being truly heard on larger stages.
 We question if our leadership, so often proven, so deeply necessary, is valued.
 And yes, for many of us, that moment felt all too familiar, heavy, exhausting, riddled
 with defeat and judgment and laced with the sting of being second-guessed.
 Let me say this plainly.
 The answer is not to step back.
 It's to step in.
 And the answer is to step in together.
 When women are not at the table, critical truths are not spoken, needs are ignored, solutions
 are short-sighted, and entire communities are left in the margins.
 Mission narrows and consequences widen.
 The question is not if we are ready for more women in leadership.
 The question is how much longer are we willing to live with the consequences of their absence?
 This is the first and only office I've ever run for.
 I did not grow up envisioning myself as a mayor.
 In fact, I did not grow up imagining a future in public office at all.
 I imagined being of service, being useful, and building something that mattered.
 This leadership found me through a persistent pull toward people, toward problems that needed
 solving, toward a city I love.
 There came a moment when I realized that the voices shaping our future didn't reflect the
 hands holding it together.
 The everyday people who carry this city forward in quiet and often invisible ways.
 The world was listening to the loudest voices, not the most essential ones.
 I couldn't keep waiting for someone else to step in.
 I had to become that someone.
 But it took a lot of urging and pestering, namely from Charlotte Zietlow who's here with
 us today and a few others to get me to actually step into the ring.
 That decision was made possible by the women who came before me, by a supportive husband,
 by those who empowered me to believe my leadership could help shape our city in meaningful ways.
 In a moment when our nation is reckoning with whose stories get told, whose voices get heard
 and whose lives are considered valuable, if you're waiting for someone to urge you to run,
 to ask you to step into your next big leadership piece, I'm doing it right now.
 This is your invitation.
 This is your ask.
 I am asking you.
 We need you.
 We need women in every room where policy is debated, in every office where budgets are
 decided, in every seat where justice is decided.
 Our leadership has never been so desperately needed.
 So when you feel that the world is telling you to sit down, I urge you to stand up.
 When the messages come in to tell you to shut up, I ask you to speak up.
 We need leaders with both intellect and intuition, with empathy and efficiency, with courage
 and care.
 We need leaders who know how to navigate uncertainty with equal parts nudge and nurture.
 We need women.
 I don't know anybody else who can shower in four minutes with a two-year-old outside the
 shower door and still get to work on time.
 We are the ones who remember what it's like to sit in the classroom having to muster the
 courage to raise a hand and the confirmation that comes when we are not called on, stealing
 that inkling of a thought that we had that our idea didn't really matter anyway.
 We don't have the luxury of putting our unpaid work on a shelf to only think about what the
 world validates.
 And that means in our leadership, we think about children.
 We think about elders and the consequences not just for five years, but for 50.
 If we want our communities to reflect our values, we must be at the table.
 We've got real challenges ahead of us regionally, nationally, and globally.
 People pay affordable childcare, reproductive freedom, representation, and inclusion are
 the foundations of a just society.
 Now is the time to go bigger and expect more of the systems we live within.
 I love this job and I love this city.
 And no one person can do this work alone.
 Good government, like good community, requires many hands.
 It is a linked chain and you are a critical link.
 You belong here.
 We need you.
 You don't have to be on the ballot to be in the game.
 Like the women receiving awards today, you can lead in healthcare, in mentoring creative
 young women and non-binary people.
 You can lead inclusion in communities that matter to you.
 You can attend a public meeting, lend your voice to a cause, mentor a young woman, nominate
 someone for a role she doesn't yet see herself in.
 Be that friend who will bring forgotten groceries to the single mom in the wee hours of the
 night or simply just say yes.
 There's a place for you in this work.
 And if you came into this room comfortable today, I encourage you, before you leave,
 to meet a woman you didn't know yet before you walked in, because she may have been the
 one that hesitated and didn't feel like she belonged here.
 The women who came before us started somewhere, and so can you.
 This moment demands us.
 All you need to bring is the full weight of your lived experience and the willingness
 to act.
 When I held 4-year-old Caroline on this stage 15 years ago, she was ready to take the stairs
 on her own, but not really the microphone.
 She was ready to silence the voices who told her she didn't belong on this stage.
 Today, she has climbed many more steps and reached for several microphones to lead in
 her own way.
 No matter your gender, you can make our community stronger by supporting and seeing the women
 who have the courage and capacity to step forward.
 Whether you are prepping our next generation of leaders, helping to be their tribe for
 those who are standing on this stage today, or stepping into the ring yourself, we need
 you.
 You have what it takes to make our city and even our world more compassionate and more
 visionary and for that, I offer my very deepest gratitude.
 Thank you for being here and more importantly, thank you for stepping into what's next.
 Thank you Mayor Thompson for your remarks on moving forward together.
 Hello everyone.
 I am Landry Culp and I am the chair of the Commission on the Status of Women.
 Thank you so much for being here today, coming out and supporting what we're doing and supporting
 our award winners here.
 So the Bloomington Commission on the Status of Women is dedicated to advocating for equity
 and improving opportunities for all who embrace a female identity.
 We do this by monitoring and reviewing policies and legislation on the federal, state and
 local levels and engaging with our community to understand the needs of women.
 Our commission welcomes everyone who identifies as a woman and those who feel our women-focused
 environment aligns with their values.
 If you'd like to receive communication from our commission, please scan the QR code on
 your table.
 It's on the little folded piece and you'll fill out a brief survey and then you'll get
 emails and communication from us and get to know what's going on with us.
 So I'm humbled to participate in the awards part of our luncheon where we can learn about
 the incredible work being done by women for our community.
 With this, the commission will recognize the 2025 Women's Achievement Award winners.
 This includes the 2025 Young Woman of the Year, the 2025 Emerging Leader and the 2025
 Women of the Year.
 I'll pass it over to my fellow commissioner, Shay.
 Thank you, Landry.
 My name is Shayla George and I'm pleased to announce the Commission on the Status of Women's
 Young Woman of the Year Award.
 This award recognizes a young woman between the ages of 11 and 18 years who has already
 at a young age impacted girls and women issues in the community.
 This year, the Young Woman of the Year belongs to Jael Davis.
 I first met Jael Davis last year when we were both honored as recipients of the Outstanding
 Black Leader of Tomorrow Award, so it is no shock that she is continuing to impact the
 Bloomington community.
 As a dedicated student at Bloomington South, Jael has achieved academic excellence and
 made significant contributions to the lives of women and girls through her leadership
 and advocacy.
 As the president of the Black Culture Club, Jael has created a nurturing space that champions
 diversity and inclusion, providing a platform for voices that are often too unheard.
 Her commitment extends beyond the school walls, where she's a vital part of the women's empowerment
 politics section, encouraging her peers to engage and lead in areas that affect them
 directly.
 Whether it's improving housing accessibility with Habitat for Humanity or mentoring young
 adults, Jael embodies the spirit of this year's theme, Moving Forward Together, Women Educating
 and Inspiring Generations.
 Please join me in celebrating Jael Davis, a true role model and our Young Woman of the
 Year.
 Good morning, Bloomington, and thank you to the Commission of the Status of Women for
 this incredible honor of being named the Young Woman of the Year, and I am truly humbled
 and grateful to stand before you guys today.
 This recognition not only just belongs to all the women and people who have supported me
 along the way, to my families and mentors.
 I just want to say thank you for your love and encouragement, and your belief in me has
 been a constant source of strength, and then to my friends and community, thank you for
 your kindness and support.
 You've lifted me up in both ways that are good times and challenges, and your belief
 in me fuels my drive to continue making a difference.
 I stand here today not only as an individual who is part of a greater collective that empowers
 and uplift one another, but I also believe that many women before me, that we all each
 have the power to create positive change in a world that's around us.
 To the young people here today, you are the future.
 Your ideas, passions, and determination will shape the world we believe behind.
 With everything happening politically, from policies that impact our rights, to global
 challenges we face, we need to be the next generation more than ever.
 We need your voices, your energy, your leadership to navigate these times and make a meaningful
 impact.
 Never forget that the power to make a difference lies within you, and to keep pushing boundaries,
 keep questioning, and keep striving to make the world a better place.
 The future is yours to create, and I have no doubt that you will make it something extraordinary.
 One of my role models, Michelle Obama, once said, "There is no limit to what we as women
 can accomplish."
 Those words resonate deeply within me, and they serve as a reminder that our potential
 is boundless.
 And as women and individuals, we must continue to strive for greatness and support one another.
 Thank you once again for this incredible honor, and I promise to continue to work hard and
 to create a change in my community.
 Thank you.
 Congratulations on a well-deserved award.
 Hello, everyone.
 My name is Nicole Bennett, and I'm excited to introduce to you the 2025 Emerging Leader.
 The Commission on the Status of Women's Emerging Leader Award acknowledges a woman with a
 relatively
 short history of significant achievements and recognizes the potential for future contributions.
 This year, the Commission is pleased to present this award to Amy Olsner.
 In the mid-2010s, Amy Olsner moved to Bloomington to become the Assistant Director of Rhino's
 Youth Center.
 At this beloved after-school program for teens, Amy led the zine writing program, encouraging
 youth to share their own stories and engage with the public in creative ways.
 Following her passion for creating safe, creative spaces for youth, Amy produced the first Girls
 Rock Bloomington summer camp for girls, trans, and non-binary youth in the summer of 2019.
 Today, Girls Rock Bloomington is a music education nonprofit empowering youth ages 8 to 14 to
 engage in music in a space created by and for them.
 Through summer camps, workshops, and after-school programs, Amy, the Girls Rock team, and a
 dedicated collective of community partners teach girls, trans, and non-binary youth the
 skills they need to write, record, play, and market original music.
 To date, Girls Rock Bloomington has served over 150 girls, trans, and non-binary youth
 in the Bloomington area.
 To ensure that all young people interested in joining could afford to attend, Amy established
 the BIPOC Community Fund in 2019.
 This fund provides free and reduced prices for the programming for BIPOC girls, trans,
 and non-binary youth in Bloomington.
 The Commission on the Status of Women is very proud to award the 2025 Emerging Leader Award
 to Amy Oelsner.
 Congratulations.
 Thank you.
 Thank you so much.
 I didn't really prepare anything, just thought about it a little bit, but this is just such
 an honor and I'm really moved by what everyone has said and I feel like Bloomington makes
 it really easy to be a leader.
 As soon as I moved here, even before I started Girls Rock Bloomington, I just felt immediately
 embraced within the music community as well as the non-profit community and then, yeah,
 once I had the idea to start a non-profit, I was quite intimidated by it, really didn't
 know a lot about it, and I just felt like so many people gathered around and lifted me
 up so this is a very special, supportive community and if you're thinking of starting something,
 I'm sure there's a lot of support out there for you, yeah, and I think being a leader
 is often just noticing who is not being invited or included and just doing the work to get
 them in there, you know, whatever barriers are keeping them there, just going out of
 your way to invite everyone in.
 So thank you so much.
 All right.
 I am Marsha Lovejoy. I had the honor of receiving the 2024 Women of the Year Award last year,
 and I am thrilled to announce the 2025 Woman of the Year today.
 Danielle Benedict is a founding member of the Pediatric Sexual Assault Forensic Medical
 Exam Program, serving child victims of abuse and crime in Monroe and surrounding counties.
 Through Danielle's nearly decade of partnership with Suzy's Place and support of this program,
 hundreds of child victims of sexual abuse have received trauma-informed care and opportunity
 to heal and recover from unimaginable experiences.
 Under her visionary leadership, Suzy's Place has conducted over 1,000 child abuse exams
 and has received national recognition, inspiring similar programs across the country.
 Danielle has also pioneered the first advanced practice provider leadership structure for
 the South region of IU Health, giving advanced practice providers a voice and a seat at the
 table alongside physician.
 Danielle is a difference maker who has chosen to dedicate her gifts and talents to improving
 the lives of children and women in the community.
 I like to say, and I've heard this quote many times, you can tell who the strong women are.
 Strong women lift each other up, and Danielle has dedicated her life to doing just that.
 So now, please welcome Danielle Benedict, one of my close friends, to the stage.
 It's 2025, City of Bloomington, Woman of the Year.
 Gosh, I do child abuse exams, not public speaking, so you're going to have to forgive me here.
 But I am humbled beyond words to accept this award.
 I want to take a moment to thank my biggest fans.
 First, my husband is my biggest supporter.
 I truly believe that one of the most important decisions we can make as women is the partner
 that we choose, and I chose really well.
 Thanks to my four kids who motivate me daily to be a role model, my two oldest kids, Jude
 and Kate, sitting over here ecstatic that they got to miss school today and secretly
 hoping I don't embarrass them, and my four and one-year-old, Alex and Chloe, who are at
 daycare because I wanted to enjoy a meal today.
 And then special thanks to my amazing mom sitting here in the front row.
 She adopted me from foster care, and I have been so fortunate to have such an incredible
 woman to look up to all my life.
 And then a huge thank you to the amazing leaders I've worked with at IU Health and Susie's
 place, many of who are sitting in this room today, who have never said no to all the times
 I said, "Hey, so don't kill me, but I have this idea."
 Emily Perry, Dr. Mesher, Dr. Malone, Olivia Sarche, and Stacey Tinsley, who are the backbones
 of this child abuse work.
 The world is a better place because of all of you.
 And thank you to all the Rockstar physicians and nurse practitioners, my friends and family
 who have been alongside of me supporting me throughout this journey.
 I remember vividly the day I had an idea to start a child abuse medical clinic.
 I remember going home as a nurse frustrated by the fact that we had to send these kids
 to Indianapolis for exams post-child abuse.
 As I laid in my bed that night, I thought, "This has to change.
 I'm going to bring this service here to our community, and it's going to solve a lot of
 problems."
 But getting from that idea to now standing here with all of you was no easy task.
 It was full of roadblocks, triumphs, and hurdles.
 It houses some of the most wonderful moments of my career and also some of the most heartbreaking
 ones.
 There have been many days where I drove home after a long day of child abuse exams, and
 I cried the entire way home.
 I pulled into the driveway, and like many of you have probably done at some point in
 your careers, I wiped the mascara stains away from my eyes, I blinked a few times, and I
 walked into the house to my kids who needed my smile.
 And I'm here to tell you that as women, our ideas matter, and that with those ideas, we
 can really improve the world that we live in one small step at a time, and we can look
 back and be really proud of what we have accomplished.
 Our clinic, Riley Physicians at Susie's Place, has now helped thousands of children who have
 been victims of physical and sexual abuse.
 We recently raised over $100,000 to expand our clinic to build an entire suite dedicated
 to the medical needs of abuse victims in our community.
 Our clinic is the first in the state to be affiliated with a large healthcare organization,
 but then co-located in a child advocacy center where kids feel the most comfortable.
 Someone recently asked me, "How in the world have you done this job for 10 years?"
 And what I'm here to tell you is that what I actually do is surprisingly quite happy.
 By the time they get to us, it's the end of abuse for a lot of these children and the
 start of a new path.
 Because once they arrive and they walk through our doors, they are already starting to get
 the help and healing they need, and now there is a team of professionals surrounding them
 who have one thing in common, we believe them.
 As I close, I wanted to share with you a passage that I read recently that really inspires
 me.
 "I don't think we talk enough about the in-betweens, the part where you know you want to change
 something but you don't yet know how, don't yet feel strong enough, don't yet know what
 your first step is, please don't be disheartened, don't give up, you've done the hard part,
 now just take it one small step at a time.
 To every incredible woman in this room, including my daughter who's watching me with big bright
 eyes, go do something that makes you proud."
 Hello Bloomington.
 Thank you, thank you.
 I'm here to congratulate again our 2025 Women's Achievement Award winners.
 As you heard and saw here today, those were stories that were inspiring and I hope that
 it puts something in you in lights of fire to do exactly what all of our winners and
 our mayor said today and get involved.
 Your voice is obviously very needed.
 Anyway, my name is Ashley Hazel Rigg and I'm pleased to introduce our 2025 keynote speaker,
 Tamra Winfrey-Harris.
 If you want to look in your program, her entire bio is there, but I'm going to read a little
 bit about her for you.
 Tamra is a writer who specializes in the ever evolving space where current events, politics
 and pop culture intersect with race and gender.
 She's the author of many books and essays, including Dear Black Girl, Letters from Your
 Sisters on Stepping into Your Power, A Black Woman's Guide to Freedom, and her multi-award
 winning first book, The Sisters Are Alright, Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women
 in America.
 Tamra's essays can be found in national publications like the New York Times and the Atlantic and
 have been immortalized in a number of anthologies, including The Lemonade Reader, Beyonce, Black
 Feminism and Spirituality and Black in the Middle, and Anthology of the Black Midwest.
 Winfrey Harris is the co-founder of Centering Sisters LLC, an organization that unapologetically
 addresses the needs and issues of black women, girls and femmes.
 She's recently named president of the Women's Fund of Central Indiana.
 Please give a warm welcome to our keynote speaker, Tamra Winfrey Harris.
 Hello.
 Happy Women's History Month.
 You know, there have been many days recently where I have worried about our future, but
 the women who preceded me on this stage make me feel like we're going to be okay.
 We're going to be all right.
 Because of that, if you do me a favor, can I get you to close your eyes?
 If you can't close your eyes, maybe soften them.
 And I would like us to just take a moment to feel the energy of this space.
 To feel the joy of being in connection with other women and allies.
 To feel the power of people coming together to celebrate womanhood.
 I never feel more loved and inspired and energized and affirmed than when I am in the company
 of women.
 So let's all take a deep inhale, exhale, and let that feeling sink in.
 And now I ask that we collectively take a moment to acknowledge the women who are not
 in this room.
 Because it's important to say out loud that being able to gather on a Thursday afternoon
 at a delightful luncheon, those potatoes were good, is a privilege.
 There are many women who cannot be here because they started their work shift early this morning,
 because they don't have transportation, because they don't have child care or adult care,
 because they lack access to feminine hygiene products, because they're unsure if their
 language will be spoken here, because they're unsure if they will be accepted as women here,
 because they are enduring the effects of war or other violence, because they are incarcerated.
 So let's take a few seconds to send all the wonderful energy of this space to them, wherever
 they are and whatever challenges they are facing.
 Thank you.
 I am so honored to be in this space with you today.
 So you may not know this, well, actually did share this.
 I am a writer, yes, but I am also the president of the Women's Fund of Central Indiana.
 And at Women's Fund, we invest in systems change, advocate for women and girls, and
 build collective power for women and girls.
 We do that because we want women and girls to have the full power to decide how they
 want to live their lives.
 We're not there yet in Indiana.
 We are, in fact, I think, far from it.
 But what gives me hope is that I know history and I know women.
 I know Marie Curie and Mamie Till and Grace Lee Boggs and Toni Morrison and Martha P. Johnson
 and Frida Kahlo and Coretta Scott King and Susan B. Anthony and Belle Hooks and Bella
 Abzug and Pauli Murray and Shirley Chisholm and Madeline Albright and Harriet Tubman and
 Helen Keller and Malala and Melinda French Gates and Fannie Lou Hamer and Greta Thunberg
 and the Grimke sisters.
 I know the power of women and I will bet on it every time and twice on Sunday.
 Now, I'm going to say something that might sound shocking, but bear with me.
 I believe the women whose names I just mentioned are quite ordinary.
 You heard that right.
 Toni Morrison, a single mom with a nine to five, Madeline Albright, an immigrant, Helen
 Keller, a woman living with disabilities, Fannie Lou Hamer, a working class woman who
 was sick and tired of being sick and tired, see, ordinary.
 I bet there are countless women, even in this very room, that fit some of those descriptions.
 But oh, those women did some uncommon things.
 They were moved by passion, by lived experience, by need in their communities, by the unfairness
 they saw visited on other women to do the extraordinary.
 You've already heard that once today, do the extraordinary.
 So Toni Morrison won a Pulitzer Prize and a Nobel Prize for her ability to render the
 joys and the challenges of life, particularly African American life, through her art.
 She is known as one of the world's most gifted and enduring writers.
 Madeleine Albright became the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State
 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
 Helen Keller, I hope everyone in this room knows that she is more than the young woman
 and the miracle worker.
 She wrote 14 books and hundreds of speeches and essays.
 She campaigned for people with disabilities, for women's suffrage, for labor rights, for
 world peace.
 She was a founding member of the ACLU and an early supporter of the NAACP.
 Fannie Lou Hamer was extorted and threatened and harassed and shot at and assaulted by
 racists including members of the police while she was trying to register to vote.
 She later helped and encouraged thousands of African Americans in Mississippi to become
 registered voters and helped hundreds of disenfranchised people in her community.
 She ran for Senate and was the vice chair of the Freedom Democratic Party which she represented
 at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.
 These women, all of them, are history makers and I only say that they're ordinary so that
 you know, the women in this audience and the men know, that you have the capacity to do
 extraordinary things too.
 As Toni Morrison herself said, "I get angry about things and then go on and work."
 Right?
 And if you are in this room and you value women and girls, you have ample reason to
 be angry.
 And women and girls across the state of Indiana desperately need you to get to work and do
 something extraordinary because we are in trouble.
 The Institute for Women's Policy Research, they keep a report card for each state judging
 the health and well-being of the women there.
 In our state, Indiana has a D. Last year, Women's Fund commissioned a State of Women
 in Central Indiana report from the Polis Center at Indiana University.
 And the report featured data and community voice and makes the reasons for that near
 failing grade quite clear.
 Indiana has the third worst maternal mortality rate in the country.
 Almost half of black and Hispanic women don't have access to first trimester care during
 pregnancy.
 Hispanic barriers prevent about 10 percent of women from seeking medical care, especially
 Hispanic women, at 21 percent.
 The gender wage gap is eight cents worse for Hoosier women than the average American woman,
 and the gap widens significantly if you're a Hoosier woman of color.
 Only four of Indiana's 20 most common occupations pay at least $26 an hour.
 That's the minimum housing wage for the Indy Metro area.
 Women make up the majority of workers in fast food and retail, making less than $15 an hour.
 Young women are more likely to live in poverty than any other age group.
 17 percent of young women in central Indiana, age 18 to 34, live in poverty, compared to
 11 percent of the overall population.
 Local mothers in Indiana are more likely than other households to fall below the Alice threshold.
 That's asset-limited, income-constrained, employed.
 They are working poor and less likely to have a bank account.
 They are likely to pay half of their income in rent.
 Sixty-one percent of evictions in Marion County are filed against women.
 A hundred thousand women live in food deserts.
 Nearly one in four women in Indiana provide care to someone with health issues, including
 me.
 Black women make up 26 percent of women caregivers, and 31 percent of those are providing care
 for someone more than 40 hours a week.
 Child care needs in central Indiana far exceed available licensed spots.
 Unless you think that's an urban problem, Marion County can meet 84 percent of demand,
 while Hancock County can only meet 46.
 Indiana is among the 10 states with the highest domestic violence rates.
 One in five Indiana women have been sexually assaulted, and physical violence starts early.
 Seventeen percent of Indiana high school girls reported experiencing sexual violence in 2021.
 Indiana ranks in the bottom quarter of states in terms of female representation in our state
 house. We are one of only five states that have never elected a woman as a governor or
 a U.S. Senator.
 I'm almost done.
 Future Forward Women just released their 2025 U.S. Women's Power and Influence Index.
 Indiana is among the bottom 10 states for protecting women's rights and well-being based
 on four factors, economic status, civic engagement and political inclusion, health and public
 policy, and legal protections.
 Here's the thing. You and I, all of us in this room, we're making history right now.
 Actually we're making women's history, but actually we're making history full stop because
 As women are not a special interest group, we are the global and American majority.
 We are half the population in Indiana.
 We are 52% of the population in central Indiana.
 As the mayor said, if a community is not working for us, it isn't working.
 And any workplace, any boardroom, any hospital, any site of education, any city, any state,
 any country, any place, is not doing its job if women's well-being is not valued, proactively
 supported and protected.
 Someday, someone's going to stand here addressing another room for Women's History Month, and
 they're going to tell the story of this moment.
 And if we don't take extraordinary action, it won't be good.
 The state of women in our state is extremely vulnerable.
 And I think that's unconscionable.
 And I think it must change.
 And here are some things that you can do.
 I hope you will go to womensfund.org and download the State of Women in Central Indiana Report
 and get smart about the experiences of Hoosier women.
 And I hope you will share the information you heard today with civic leaders and healthcare
 providers and parents and educators and anyone who makes decisions that impact women and girls
 in our state.
 You also need to listen to women as they tell their own stories.
 This is really important.
 I can't stand here and represent every woman.
 And data can only reveal so much.
 And this -- because the same can be said for our personal experiences, right?
 To borrow from American poet and essayist Walt Whitman, womanhood is large and it contains
 multitudes.
 Some of us are in the C-suite and some of us are barely making it.
 Some of us are fresh faced with a lifetime ahead.
 And some of us are defiantly embracing wisdom wrinkles and elegant gray.
 Some of us have skin that is brown, some pink, and some mahogany.
 Some of us are city girls, and some of us are suburban girls, and some of us live down
 on the farm.
 Some of us learn to speak English as our first language.
 Some of us learn to speak Burmese or Spanish or Tagalog.
 Some of us are trans women.
 Some of us are cisgender.
 Some of us are mothers.
 Some of us are caregivers.
 Some of us are not nurturers at all.
 Some of us love men, some of us love women, some of us love both or neither.
 Some of us show our devotion in church on Sunday, some do it just by chanting or standing
 by the ocean, and some of us sleep in.
 Some of us are healthy, some of us are healing, others of us are dying.
 Like I said, multitudes.
 My personal hero, writer Audre Lorde said, "It is not our differences that divide us.
 It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.
 Difference is that raw and powerful connection from which our personal power is forged."
 So because of all the richness and diversity within womanhood, some of our joys are different,
 and many of our challenges are different, too.
 And we don't build a better world for women without understanding that.
 Lastly, you must advocate for women and girls.
 Now is not the time to be silent or turn away because the news is too unsettling.
 If what you heard about the lives of women in Indiana today upsets you, and it absolutely
 should, I need you all to do something.
 I need you to know what is happening at City Hall and the State House and the White House.
 Go to school board meetings, call your legislators, be a citizen, be engaged, be loud, be
 determined.
 Your sisters are counting on you.
 So on Tuesday, I was in this meeting unrelated to anything happening here today, and a woman
 named Andrea handed me this photo -- it's elephants, if you can't see it -- she handed
 me this photo and this slip of paper.
 Turns out it's an excerpt from a story by a woman named Jen Hatmaker.
 She's an author.
 I don't know anything about her, but I believe in giving women their credit and their due,
 so not my story, her story.
 Here's what Jen says.
 She says, "In the wild, when a mama elephant is giving birth, all the other female elephants
 in the herd back around her in formation.
 They close ranks so that the delivering mama cannot even be seen in the middle.
 They stomp and kick up dirt and soil to throw attackers off the scent and basically act
 like a pack of badasses.
 They surround the mama and incoming baby in protection, sending a clear signal to predators
 that if they want to attack their friend while she is vulnerable, they'll have to get through
 40 tons of female aggression first.
 When the baby elephant is delivered, the sister elephants do two things.
 They kick sand or dirt over the newborn to protect its fragile skin from the sun, and
 then they all start trumpeting a female celebration of new life, of sisterhood, of something
 beautiful
 being born in a harsh wild world despite enemies and attackers and predators and odds.
 Scientists tell us this.
 They normally take this formation in only two cases under attack by predators like lions
 or during the birth of a new elephant.
 And this is what we should do as women, when our sisters are vulnerable, when they're giving
 birth to new life, new ideas, new ministries, new spaces.
 When they are under attack, when they need their people to surround them so that they
 can create and deliver and heal and recover, we get in formation.
 It sounds like Beyonce said that, right?
 Yeah.
 We close ranks and literally have each other's backs.
 You want to mess with our sis?
 Come through us first.
 Good luck.
 40 tons of female aggression.
 I want people to talk about me that way.
 When delivery comes, when new life makes its entrance, when healing finally begins, when
 the night has passed and our sister is ready to rise back up, we sound our trumpets because
 we saw it through together.
 We celebrate, we cheer, we raise our glasses, and we give thanks.
 Let's be like elephants, like this.
 Let's stomp and kick up dust and close ranks around our most vulnerable and help them thrive.
 And let's channel our very ordinary foremothers, Marie Curie and Mamie Till and Grace Lee Boggs
 and Toni Morrison and Martha P. Johnson and Freda Kahlo and Coretta Scott King and Susan
 B. Anthony and Belle Hooks and Bella Abzug and Paulie Murray and Shirley Chisholm and
 Madeline Albright and Harriet Tubman and Helen Keller and Malala and Melinda French Gates
 and Fannie Lou Hamer, Greta Thunberg, the Grimke sisters, and the women you saw on this stage
 today.
 Let's do the extraordinary.
 Thank you.
 And I stand in solidarity with you.
 Thank you so much for your words and your wisdom, Tamara.
 We appreciate you.
 We're grateful that you're here.
 And may we all be elephants to each other and our creations.
 I'm Hannah Chudley.
 I'm on the Commission for the Status of Women.
 And I'm Carrie Stilions, also a commissioner.
 Before we close, I have one last announcement that I wanted to make.
 At the end of this inspiring program, I wanted to let you all know that Resilience Productions
 has a new play that they're doing.
 It's called "More Than Your Honor," an exciting evening with Judge Viola Taliaferro.
 Judge Taliaferro was a previous honoree of these awards, and three of her four daughters
 are here with us today, if they'd like to stand up.
 We're very grateful for Judge Taliaferro's legacy.
 And if you'd like to learn more, the play opens tonight, closes Sunday night.
 You can get tickets at the Monroe County History Center, or you can also pick up one of these
 flyers at the middle wayhouse table over there on your way out.
 So thank you so much for being here today.
 And we wanted to once again congratulate our awardees and thank all of the speakers.
 We are so grateful for the supportive environment that we've created here today.
 We would like to take a moment to recognize the sponsors who helped make this event possible,
 because it certainly doesn't happen without your support.
 Our 2025 presenting sponsor is the City of Bloomington Community and Family Resources
 Department.
 Our platinum sponsor is the City of Bloomington Office of the Clerk.
 Our 2025 gold sponsors are the City of Bloomington Office of the Mayor, the South Central Community
 Action Program, and Cook Medical.
 Our 2025 silver sponsor is Girls' Inc. of Monroe County.
 And our bronze sponsor is Girl Scouts of Central Indiana, who also donated all the Girl Scout
 cookies that you see on your tables today.
 So please take a box with you before you leave.
 Thank you so much for your contributions, and thank you for making today possible.
 We could not do this without you.
 We'd also like to express our sincere appreciation for our event partners, who made this day
 such a success.
 Thank you to Monroe Convention Center staff and caterers, Marquis Rental and Staging,
 Able Nursery, and the City of Bloomington Community and Family Resources Department staff.
 We appreciate your support and collaboration.
 I'd like to close our wonderful event today with a quote from Madam CJ Walker.
 She was a black woman who became the first female self-made millionaire.
 When she moved away from Pittsburgh, she was not finding the opportunities there that she
 had wanted.
 She ended up moving to Indianapolis and decided that Indiana was going to be the place where
 she made new opportunities for herself.
 And the quote I want to leave with you today said, "Don't sit down and wait for the opportunities
 to come.
 Get up and make them."
 We've seen some amazing examples today of women who have gone out into our Bloomington
 community and made opportunities happen for themselves and for others.
 I hope each of you goes home today feeling strengthened, inspired, and supported by the
 women and others around you in order to go out into your community and make opportunities.
 May the messages of today empower us to continue advocating for the causes we care about and
 making opportunities for ourselves, our daughters, and our future.
 Thank you.
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