YWCA to honor 6 women in 2019 as high achievers
“I just hope that, hearing my story, somebody says, ‘I can do this’ and go out and be the strong woman they want to be.”
Sue Zazon said she felt inspired after attending the YWCA’s Women of Achievement Academy induction ceremony for the first time 25 years ago.
Now, Zazon, president of Huntington Bank’s central Ohio region, and five other central Ohio women are among those being honored, the YWCA announced Tuesday.
The women are being recognized for work that the nonprofit group says fulfills its mission of eliminating racism and empowering women. A formal induction ceremony for the 34th class of honorees will be held on April 3 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Zazon oversees many of Huntington’s initiatives that try to help under-served populations, including efforts to provide funding to build affordable housing. She also works with her daughter to remove stigmas around talking about domestic abuse.
The other 2019 inductees are:
• Trudy Bartley, associate vice president of local governmental and community affairs at Ohio State University. Bartley previously was executive director of Partners Achieving Community Transformation, which created a plan to redevelop the Near East Side neighborhood, where she grew up. She’s on the board of Katie Smith, 2019 inductee into the YWCA’s Women of Achievement Academy
United Way of Central Ohio and has advocated for women to get involved in government and politics. “Women are ‘get it done’ kind of individuals, and I think we need to see more of that now,” Bartley said.
• Darci Congrove, managing director of GBQ Partners. Congrove is the first female managing director in the 65-year history of the Columbusbased tax and accounting firm. She also previously chaired the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio board. Congrove said that when she became managing director at GBQ in 2010, a few other Columbus companies elevated women to leadership positions for the first time. “It sent a message, particularly to younger women, that there was room to make that happen,” she said. “You kind of have to see it to be it.”
• Dr. Malika Haque, a pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and a clinical professor of pediatrics at Ohio State’s medical school. In her 40-year medical career, Haque has focused on delivering high-quality care to those “who are hurting and have nowhere to go,” she said. She has worked in community health clinics across Columbus since 1973, and in 2010 she created the Noor Community Clinic, where volunteer healthcare professionals deliver free services to patients who are uninsured or underinsured.
• Barbara Siemer, a community advocate. The former high school English teacher has helped homeless and low-income families for decades. In 2011, she launched the Siemer Institute for Family Stability, which has assisted more than 30,000 families and 60,000 children in 57 cities in an effort to prevent homelessness so that children have a better chance to succeed in school.
• Katie Smith, head coach of the New York Liberty women’s professional basketball team. The former All-American at Ohio State University was a seventime WNBA All-Star and was inducted in 2018 into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, but her impact also can be felt beyond the record books. She volunteers with the Ohio Dental Association and the Ohio High School Athletic Association and tries to empower young women through talks at local high schools and athletic banquets. “I just hope that, hearing my story, somebody says, ‘I can do this’ and go out and be the strong woman they want to be,” Smith said.