This year’s ATHENA Awards Ceremony was different, as it made its virtual debut via Microsoft Teams. The ATHENA
Leadership Award and ATHENA Young Professional Award are presented to
individuals who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in their career and
assisted the advancement of women in their professional communities. Businesses
from the surrounding area, including Platinum sponsor Bravura, contribute
towards scholarships and the overall execution of this ceremony, truly
exemplifying community service and practicing all that the ATHENA award stands
for. This year Harford County is presenting awards for both the ATHENA
Leadership Award and the Athena Young Professional Leadership Award.
Finalists for the Athena Leadership
Award included:
- Dawn Hamilton; VP of Product Management at Freedom Federal Credit Union
- Sharon Markley Schreiber; COO at Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore
- Rose-Pesce-Rodriguez; Research Chemist at DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory
- Robin Tomechko; CEO of Harford Family House
- Cynthia Womack-Ross; Principal at Edgewood Elementary School
Finalists for the Young
Professional Leadership Award included:
- Sara Garbarino; Senior Director of Resource Development at The Arc Northern Chesapeake
Region - Kenricka Gardner; VP of Remote Services at APG FCU
- Jennifer Holbrook; Senior Large-Account Underwriter at Harford Mutual Insurance Group
- Alison Imhoff; SafeHouse Director at SARC
- Michelle Williamson; Fourth Grade Educator at Harford County Public Schools
- Meaghan Yurek; Communication’s Specialist at Chesapeake Employer’s Insurance Company
Every year the ATHENA Awards hosts a keynote speaker who highlights a theme related to the award. This year
Harford County was happy to welcome Rachel Druckenmiller, founder and CEO of
Unmuted, a company on a mission to humanize the workplace by building resilient,
connected, and compassionate leaders and teams. Druckenmiller centered her
speech around the idea of unmuting oneself. She began her speech by describing
herself during the start of adulthood; an overachiever and all around “good
girl.” She expressed that she prided herself on being driven and successful,
but still somehow felt unfulfilled. After years of soul-searching, she realized
that up until then she had only been letting people see the put-together version
of herself. In times of need Druckenmiller would refrain from asking for help
in fear of portraying herself has weak, inadequate, or incompetent. She bottled
up all of her feelings, and in doing so fell victim to a painfully silent lifestyle;
one that would soon take a major toll on her overall personal growth. After coming
to terms with the fact that she had been struggling with self-care, self-doubt,
and self-compassion, Druckenmiller now 32 years old decided to dedicate her
life to reconnecting with herself. Through the ups and downs of her life
experiences she has chosen to advocate for her herself, strengthen
relationships, share when she’s struggling, and most importantly express her
thoughts and feelings with confidence and courage! Today she uses her journey
to teach and encourage others around her to take back control of their lives.
She teaches her students how to turn adversities into perfect opportunity to
live life more fully and intentionally.
Living intentionally is something that all of the ATHENA award contestants can relate to. Each of these
women have shown the community just how full their hearts and minds truly are.
With that said, we would like to congratulate the winner of the ATHENA Leadership
Award, Robin Tomechko; and the winner of the Young Professional Leadership
Award, Sara Garbarino.
Briana Harris | Media Specialist