From a school principal to an entrepreneur to a deacon, six local changemakers will be honored at the second annual Bethesda Magazine Women Who Inspire Luncheon on Sept. 26.
Inspiring women from across Montgomery County were nominated by readers, selected by the magazine staff and profiled in the September/October issue. The Women Who Inspire Luncheon brings together the six women highlighted as well as prominent members of the community.
The event will include networking, lunch and a panel discussion with this year’s honorees. It is being held at the Marriott Downtown Bethesda at 7707 Woodmont Ave. Tickets are $126.75 and can be purchased here.
This year’s winners represent a variety of backgrounds and fields:
- Cynthia Bryant is a professional mediator and chair of the board of trustees for the nonprofit The Seeing Eye. Bryant has retinitis pigmentosa (RP), which breaks down cells in the retina until those with the condition can only see shadows of light. Her goal is to “build a bridge” between several different communities.
- Simona Cabana, president and CEO of Java Nation, came from Belarus in 2016 when she was 20. Now, as the leader of the local coffee company, Cabana has expanded Java Nation to four county locations, a commissary and a roastery.
- The Rev. Anne Derse is a deacon at St. John’s Norwood Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase. Derse was a U.S. diplomat and Foreign Service officer for more than 30 years. After retiring and becoming a deacon, she’s become a proponent of interfaith engagement and cooperation and has been the impetus for projects helping asylum-seeking families.
- Marissa Mitchell is FOX 5 DC’s main morning anchor and co-host of the news and lifestyle show Good Day DC. She’s spent hundreds of her off-duty hours donating to charitable causes–from women’s empowerment to raising awareness for missing Black youths.
- Karyn Onyeneho is the senior adviser for federal policy on genomic data sharing and chair of the Data Access Committee at the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging (NIA), and one of the nation’s leaders in human genetics and experimental nutrition, focusing on the BIPOC community.
- Rosario ‘Paola’ Velasquez is the principal of Jackson Road Elementary School in Silver Spring’s White Oak neighborhood. Originally from Peru, the principal has helped her school achieve a four-star rating according to the Maryland State Department of Education, making it one of only four Title 1 elementary schools in the county with a four-star rating.
