The Women's Resource Center's 2018 Renaissance Legacy Luncheon is Tuesday, March 20, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., at The Westin Sarasota, 1175 N. Gulfstream Avenue. The annual event celebrates outstanding women or "Wonder Women" in the Sarasota community. This year's Wonder Women are Teri A Hansen, president and CEO of the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation; Emily Walsh, publisher of the Observer Media Group; and Janice Zarro, a lawyer, consultant, and former executive director of the Women's Resource Center. Tickets are $100 and $200 (patron), and available for purchase at MyWRC.org/Renaissance. Sponsorship opportunities are available. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Kaylea Schule at 941-256-9721 or events@mywrc.org.
"We look forward to celebrating these wonderful, trailblazing women," says Ashley Brown, president and CEO of the Women's Resource Center. Brown explains that Wonder Women are "women leaders who have made outstanding contributions in volunteer and/or professional activities in the areas of business, community leadership, education, healthcare, entrepreneurship, or lifetime achievement."
Teri A Hansen manages the daily work of the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation. Hansen has more than 25 years of experience in philanthropic leadership. Prior to joining the Barancik Foundation, she was president and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation. During her 13-year tenure the foundation awarded nearly $200 million in grants and initiatives. Hansen volunteers her leadership nationally, statewide, and regionally. She serves on the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce board and also on the Ringling College of Art and Design board and its trustee committee, the Florida Philanthropic Network board, for which she is secretary/treasurer.
Emily Walsh is the publisher of the Longboat, East County, Sarasota and Siesta Key Observers; Season and LWR Life magazines, and YourObserver.com with the Observer Media Group, a family-owned multimedia company. Previously, Walsh ran the Observer's digital operations and served as social editor. Walsh serves on a number of boards, including the Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center, the Ringling College Library Association, the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce and the Kiwanis Club of Sarasota Foundation. Walsh is a member of Leadership Florida Cornerstone Class xxIV, and her awards and achievements include being named one of Sarasota Magazine's "100 Most Powerful People" in Sarasota in 2007, Editor & Publisher's "25 Under 35: The Next Generation of Publishing Leaders" in 2012, First Step of Sarasota's "Caring Heart of the Year" in 2012 and the American Jewish Committee's Civic Achievement Award in 2016.
Janice Zarro is a lawyer, consultant, and former executive director of the Women's Resource Center of Sarasota County. She is a former counsel to both the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and to the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. Zarro is a board member of the Venice Symphony, Designing Women Boutique & Estate Services, and she serves on the advisory committee of the Canandaigua National Trust Company. In 2013, she received the International Women's Forum Women Who Make a Difference Award and was also inducted in the Sarasota Florida Community Video Archives Hall of Fame.
The 2018 Renaissance Legacy Luncheon committee is chaired by member Jamie Aymerich. Its members include Tiffany Birakis, Johnette Cappadona, Tamara Davis Chapman, Grier Ferguson, Dylan Howell, Niki Kottmann, Eleni Sokos and Kelly Davis Strausbaugh.
For more than 37 years, the Women's Resource Center has been dedicated to engaging, educating, enriching and empowering women of all generations and socioeconomic levels. Today, WRC serves thousands of women and families in Manatee and Sarasota counties. Its vision is to provide unique strategies and programs that strengthen women through life's transitions and provide balance, confidence and determination, which not only meet their immediate needs, but also provide hope for the future. To learn more, visit www.MyWRC.org.
Videos