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Featured Images: On the left Meg Dowd and Dorota Gasienica-Kozak on the right. (PHOTO CREDIT: Women’s Business Council)
Dorota Gasienica-Kozak, Meg Dowd, and SELF! LV Women’s Reentry to receive the prestigious award, given annually to local leaders and organizations that strive to empower, inspire, and uplift women.
Lehigh Valley, PA: The Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Women’s Business Council will present the ATHENA, ATHENA Young Professional, and the Organizational ATHENA Awards during their Annual ATHENA Awards Celebration on Tuesday, October 25, 2022, at Northampton Country Club in Allentown. The event will begin at 5:00 p.m. and includes a cocktail reception, hors d’oeuvres, and awards program honoring the recipients. The evening will also feature Director of Fig Lehigh Valley and comedian Kate Hughes for a special performance and a roundtable conversation with awardees.
The prestigious ATHENA Award, presented annually by the Chamber since 1981, actively shares ATHENA International’s mission to support, develop and honor women leaders, inspire women to achieve their full potential, and create balance in leadership worldwide. The ATHENA and ATHENA Young Professional Awards honor individuals who demonstrate excellence, creativity, and initiative in their business or profession, who provide valuable service by contributing time and energy to improve the quality of life for others in the community, and who actively assist other women in realizing their full leadership potential. The ATHENA Organizational Award recognizes businesses and organizations that support, develop and honor women leaders.
ATHENA Leadership Award
Dorota Gasienica-Kozak
Partner and Chair of the Adoption and Assisted Reproductive Technology Law Practice Group King Spry Herman Freund & Faul, LLC
Dorota has built her legal practice in family, adoption, estate, and assisted reproductive technology law, helping to form, guide, and protect families through some of the biggest moments of their lives. From gestational agreements to termination proceedings, Dorota and her team work to ensure a worry-free experience, guiding clients through the often-intricate legal processes of family-building. Her practice also includes family law litigation, where she represents clients in all matters related to custody and divorce.
Dorota frequently speaks and publishes articles on legal topics and volunteers with the Bradbury Sullivan LGBTQ Community Center pro-bono clinic. She is a former Chair of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors and currently serves as Chair of the Board of the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.
Dorota has been recognized for her contributions to her community and profession as a Girl Scouts Take the Lead honoree, a YWCA “Woman of the Year,” and a Woman of Influence by Lehigh Valley Business. She has also been named a Rising Star honoree by Super Lawyer Magazine.
Dorota earned dual degrees from DeSales University in Politics and Criminal Justice. She graduated from Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law, where she made significant contributions first as Staff Editor and then as Executive Editor of the Environmental Law and Technology Journal. She is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
ATHENA Young Professional Award
Meg Dowd
Corporate Affairs Manager
Just Born Quality Confections
Meg tries to bring sweetness with her wherever she goes! She has dedicated her career to improving our community and truly believes it is her calling to leave the community better than the way she found it. As Corporate Affairs Manager for Just Born Quality Confections, she is committed to helping Just Born fulfill its purpose of “Bringing Sweetness to People’s Lives” by supporting the Lehigh Valley with grants, donations, and volunteer efforts. She finds joy in giving back to her community by serving on various boards and committees and is especially proud to serve as the Chair of United Way Emerging Leaders. Recently, Meg graduated from Moravian University with her MBA and was humbled to have her classmates nominate her to win the “Humanitas Award.” This award is given to a student who epitomizes values of integrity and character, enriches the classroom experience, and demonstrates principles of servant leadership.
As much as Meg loves her work at Just Born Quality Confections, perhaps her other great calling is working with the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Philadelphia Region as a Camp Counselor for Ronald McDonald Camp. This camp is like a traditional summer camp, but it is so much more. RMC is a place where kids with cancer and their siblings can enjoy a week of fun, friendship, and freedom from being different. In 2022, she celebrated her 13th year of being a camp counselor.
ATHENA Organizational Award
SELF! LV Women’s Reentry
SELF! LV Women’s Reentry is a 501 c3 nonprofit founded in 2018 to help women reentering into society. The SELF! mission is based on the lived experience of the Founder and Executive Director, Brenda “Luna” Fernandez, who spent 10 years incarcerated at the young age of 23. Such life lessons inspired her to start SELF! Lehigh Valley. SELF! is a comprehensive program for women coming home from incarceration. One of its elements is to coach individuals to effectively integrate into society by becoming viable community members.
During the 2020 pandemic, SELF! services were expanded to support the growing need of our community. SELF! not only serves women returning home from incarceration but also domestic violence survivors, un-shelter, youth, and crisis intervention. One accomplishment of the organization is the SELF! House. Residents are welcomed with a warm handoff from the jail or prison. They are brought to the home where they have a private room for the first time in a very long time. At the house, the women receive individualized case management, housing assistance, peer support, parole compliance, and other programs. The work done at the house is difficult and exhausting; however, the outcome is extremely satisfying.
SELF! and its executive director have been recognized by the Allentown Human Relations Commission, Congresswoman Susan Wild, and State House Representatives, with proclamations by Senator Pat Browne and Senator Lisa Boscola. The organization served as the 2021 Grand Marshall of the Allentown Fall parade. SELF! was elected as the 2021 Nonprofit of the Year by the Golden Latin Awards, and Brenda participated in a panel discussion with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Brenda is the successful outcome of SELF! LV, proving the impossible is possible. She has redefined the term re-entry by being the example of completing the journey of her true SELF!
About the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber’s Women’s Business Council: The Women’s Business Council strengthens the Greater Lehigh Valley by empowering, recognizing and inspiring women in business and the community. The Women’s Business Council provides information and a networking forum for women in management, professional and private enterprise. The Chamber’s mission is to improve the economy and quality of life in the Lehigh Valley Metropolitan Area. With nearly 5,000 members who employ more than 220,000, the Chamber is the largest in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and in the top six nationwide. Our thirty-plus affiliated chambers, councils and committees are On Every Main Street with more than 1,500 community focused volunteers who actively contribute, at the grass roots, to develop and achieve their respective and collective goals.
About the Chamber: The Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce’s mission is to serve as the voice for business by continuously improving the economic climate and creating growth opportunities for the Greater Lehigh Valley region. We accomplish this through business-to-business networking events and marketing products, affinity programs and exclusive, money saving member benefits, training programs, government affairs initiatives and public policy advocacy, and community development enterprises. With nearly 5,000 members who employ more than 200,000 individuals, The Chamber is the largest in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and in the top six nationwide.
Information provided to TVL by:
Danielle Joseph
Executive Vice President, Diversity Councils
https://www.lehighvalleychamber.org/
