2024 Women of Achievement Supporters
What is Women of Achievement?
2024 Women of Achievement Honorees!
KERENSA MABWA, 2024 Woman of Achievement
Drawing from the wellspring of her Indigenous roots, Kerensa is a community builder, facilitator, multicultural connector, and landkeeper. Blending curiosity and the gifts of the natural world with social justice and decolonizing systems, she assists people across liminal spaces to heal, expand their innate potential, and co-create transformation. With over 22 years in nonprofits, Kerensa has been at GRuB for 14 years, in many roles, from community-based fundraising and engagement to volunteer management and donor cultivation. Kerensa and her family live in Olympia, WA on the ancestral and current lands of the Salish peoples. She raises up her Ancestors, Elders, and community to teach her how to bring strength through love. On the weekend, you might find her in the garden, hiking a trail, or exploring art and music with her family.
RACHEL CORRIE FOUNDATION, 2024 Business of Achievement
The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice continues the work that Rachel Corrie began and hoped to accomplish, and carries out that work with her vision, spirit, and creative energy in mind. We conduct and support programs that foster connections between people, that build understanding, respect, and appreciation for differences, and that promote cooperation within and between local and global communities. The foundation encourages and supports grassroots efforts in pursuit of human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice, which we view as pre-requisites for world peace.
On March 16, 2003, the young American activist, Rachel Corrie, stood in front of an Israeli Army bulldozer to prevent the demolition of the home of a Palestinian family with whom she had been staying. The bulldozer driver had received, “Stop for no one” orders just half an hour before he crushed and killed Rachel Corrie.
Cindy Corrie alchemized her pain and turned it into a powerful force for change and equality for all. I lost my younger brother to addiction a few years ago and saw the unspeakable toll it takes on a mother. Instead of turning away from her child's death at the hands of the longest ongoing military occupation in modern history – the occupation of Palestine – she became an incredible agent of change advocating for the people of Palestine and for a just solution to occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing. She has created bridges of understanding between the people of Palestine and our little city Olympia. Her remarkable work has put Olympia on the map for the Palestinian human rights struggle.
Established in 1994, the YWCA of Olympia Women of Achievement Award is one of the most prestigious honors for women in the South Sound. The award honors women who embody outstanding leadership qualities, are exceptionally committed to their community or profession, and align with the YWCA of Olympia's mission to eliminate racism and sexism, to advance the political, social and economic status of all women and girls and embody our vision of a world where all people are valued, live free from oppression and thrive in a just society.
For the 30th year, YWCA Olympia seeks to honor and celebrate inspiring women during our annual Women of Achievement Celebration on Saturday, October 12th, 2024. Join us in honoring the amazing accomplishments and contributions of women in their professional work or in service to the community.