5 inspirational women of the San Fernando Valley
Congratulations to Ginny Hatfield of Valley Village Neighborhood Council for being named as one of the inspirational women of the San Fernando Valley by Gregory J. Wilcox in the Los Angeles Daily News! Full text of the article is below:
Growing up in Porter Ranch, Vahid Khorsand realized that the San Fernando Valley was rich in inspirational women.
But as he forged a career in investment management after graduating from Pepperdine University, he also realized these women were overlooked when it came to public recognition.
So two years ago he created an annual award called “Inspirational Women of the San Fernando Valley,” and the first class of seven women were honored last year.
Now the 2016 class of five women has been announced and they will he be honored next month.
Kohrsand’s goal was getting at least 50 nominees a year. He hit that mark on his second try.
“I’m very excited. Last year we had under 50 nominees and this year we had 59,” he said.
Another goal was giving the event more of a Valley-wide appeal.
The award’s infrastructure is handled by the United Chambers of Commerce and this year it expanded the selection committee to include more members from the East Valley.
“This year the nominees were spread out (more) between the East and West valley,” he said.
The five women selected this year have brought some sunshine to soldiers, promote wellness, helped give a neighborhood its own identity, encourage others to undertake endeavors that better their communities, helped develop community leaders and created an educational program for young black boys.
Khorsand, a partner at the Woodland Hills-based investment research firm BWS Financial, pitched the idea to the chamber group’s board in 2014 and it decided to back his plan.
“The valley is full of inspirational women flying under the radar,” said Khorsand, the event’s chairman.
He said that in response to feedback from last year’s event, next month’s luncheon will include “words of inspiration” from each of the five honorees. Last year’s class was too big for that.
The luncheon is sponsored by Wells Fargo.
The chamber’s selection committee sought nominees from a wide array of industries, including, business, social services, healthcare and medicine, education, community advocacy, and non-profit groups.
Here are this year’s nominees.
• Carolyn Blashek is the founder of Encino-based Operation Gratitude, a non-profit that sends care pages to soldiers, first responders and emergency care givers.
Each year the organization sends out more than 150,000 packages filled with snacks, entertainment, hygiene and hand-made items plus personal letters of appreciation. Each package contains donated product valued at $75-100 and it costs the organization $15 to assemble and ship the goods.
It was formed in 2003 and has shipped more than 1 million care packages since then.
• Susan DuBrin is an Encino Chamber of Commerce past president, chairwoman of the Health Wellness Committee and founder of its Disaster Preparedness Committee. Since 1999 she has formed partnerships with the Red Cross, Providence Health and Services and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to host numerous Blood Drives.
DuBrin also co-founded the Encino Disaster Preparedness Committee, which sponsors CPR classes throughout the Valley. The committee’s aim is to help equip community emergency response teams and train the members.
• Ginny Hatfield helped forge a community’s identity. In 2003 she was a founding member of the organizing committee that worked to help Valley Village establish its own neighborhood council. She was also elected a charter council board member and has been re-elected seven times. She has served for 13 years as the board’s vice president.
Hatfield also uses her position to mentor others. More than 60 residents have served on the Valley Village board since its inception.
• Veronica Padilla is the head of Pacoima Beautiful. She works to develop a community of leaders, engaging youth and adults in activities that give them the tools they need to better their lives and their communities. Some major projects that the organization has created under her leadership include the development of Bradley Plaza, a project in collaboration with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation that transformed an under-used street into a vibrant public space adjacent to the San Fernando Gardens public housing development,
• Deanna Thomas is an academic advisor to graduate and undergraduate students at DeVry University. She is also the founder of Young Ambassadors Leadership Academy, an educational program for African-American boys aged six to 16.
The three-month-long program focuses on community service, career perspectives and college tours, an etiquette day and financial literacy training.
The five women will be recognized at a lunch on May 5 the Hilton Woodland Hills, 6360 Canoga Ave. Tickets are $50 and they can be obtained by calling (818) 981-4491 or emailing executive director Marian E. Jocz at [email protected].
The event starts at 11 a.m. and Daniella Guzman, anchor of NBC4 Southern California, will serve as the emcee.