BPW/Tallahassee News...Read All About It!
April 17, 2012: Tallahassee, FL – Congratulations to Jessica Lowe-Minor, the recipient of the 2012 Voice For Equality Award from Equality Florida. For years, Jessica has been known as a leading voice in Tallahassee for women, the LGBT rights and basic fairness in public policy. As the Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Florida, she’s been leading the fight for fair districts in Florida and has proven herself to be a passionate and effective advocate.
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April 2012: Tallahassee, FL – Progressive Majority, Washington D.C., has officially announced their endorsement and support of Lisa Sprague in her campaign for Leon County Sheriff. Progressive Majority’s mission is to elect champions by identifying and recruiting the best leaders to run for office. The National Organization seeks to elect a new breed of candidates, leaders willing to stand up and fight for what matters. Progressive Majority’s National Board of Directors voted to endorse Lisa Sprague’s campaign for Leon County Sheriff for the 2012 election cycle. It’s her strong support of progressive values, ideas, and policies that make her the ideal candidate worthy of their organization’s support. Progressive Majority is proud to count Lisa Sprague among their endorsed candidates for the 2012 election cycle.
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April 2012: Tallahassee, FL - Tallahassee Zontian and District 11 Area 4 Vice Director Pam Ridley has been named as a finalist for the Tallahassee Democrat Volunteer of the Year Award for her work with Refuge House, which serves battered women and their children and victims of sexual violence. The Refuge House nominated Pam because of her incredible dedication, energy, and heart for service.
Click Here For Info About Zonta Club Of Tallahassee
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“Support the Girls”: A Huge Success
On March 3, 2012, we held one of our signature fundraisers to benefit the BPW/Florida Breast Cancer Fund. We raised over $1500, and we could not have done it without everyone's participation. We were able to double the amount of money raised last year.
“Support the Girls” Breast Cancer Walkabout is a unique fundraiser used to help replenish the BPW/Florida Breast Cancer Fund. Local businesses and citizens join BPW/Tallahassee members in submitting decorated bras prior to the event. The bras are displayed in participating businesses, and from 5-7 p.m., patrons walk from business to business, networking with business owners, enjoying light appetizers and beverages, and dropping tickets in the voting bags. It ends with a reception loaded with food, music, mingling, door prizes, and the anticipated announcement of the winning bra.
The 2012 winning bra was the “S&M” bra decorated by Rena Crump, owner of Cabello’s Hair and Nail Studio Featuring Midtown Spa (link: http://www.cabellostudio.com/) One cup of the bra was covered in Skittles while the other cup was covered in M&M’s. Hence, S&M. Her decorated bra will travel to BPW/Florida State Conference to represent BPW/Tallahassee in the statewide contest. Go Rena!
This year was a blast, and we hope to make next year’s event even better. If you attended the event, we’d like feedback. Please take a moment to complete this survey. Click HERE For Survey
Click HERE For Local News Coverage of "Support the Girls"
The Florida Federation of Business & Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc. Breast Cancer Fund was established by Past State President Suzanne Dalton (1990-91). To apply for a $250 Grant from the BPW Breast Cancer Fund, the Guidelines and Application can be downloaded HERE. If you have any questions, please email bpwtallahassee@bpwtallahassee.com.
In Memory of Robert 'Hawk' Seymour
One of our BPW members and friend Catrina Seymour unexpectantly lost her husband to a heart attack on Wednesday, January 25th. In memory of Robert 'Hawk' Seymour and to show our love and support to Catrina, BPW would like to offer our members and friends the opportunity to bring meals to the family. For those who want to contribute a monetary donation, BPW has set up an account for Catrina to assist with funeral expenses.
Click here to help the Seymour family.
Business & Professional Women/Tallahassee Take Home Nine Awards from State Conference
Tallahassee, FL (May 25, 2011): – Business & Professional Women of Florida held its annual State Conference “Mind, Body, & Spirit” in Hollywood, FL on May 20-22, 2011. Five members of the local Tallahassee chapter were in attendance to receive nine prestigious awards on behalf of the organization. They are:
- Most Innovative and Successful Fundraiser (Support the Girls event to raise money for the BPW/FL Breast Cancer Fund in February of 2011)
- Susan B. Anthony Award (Most New Members Under the Age of 35)
- Plus 10 Recruiter (awarded to Deanna Mims of MarketDone)
- Plus 10 Recruiter (awarded to Christy Crump of Crump & Associates)
- Best Website
- Best Newsletter
- Most Well Rounded Programming
- Local Organization of the Year
- Glass Ceiling Award (awarded to Lisa Sprague, Leon County Sheriff candidate and owner of Sprague Consulting and Investigations)
- Most Money Raised for Breast Cancer Fund for 2010-2011 (Support the Girls event held in February of 2011)
Business & Professional Women/Tallahassee’s mission is to achieve equity for all working women in the workplace through advocacy, education and information. Our goal is to be the leading nonpartisan, grassroots advocate for working women. We welcome female and male members who support our mission!
Lisa Sprague Honored with Prestigious Glass Ceiling Award
Lisa Sprague, member of the local Tallahassee chapter of Business & Professional Women, has been chosen as the 2011 recipient of the prestigious Glass Ceiling Award for her achievement in rising to the top of the traditionally male-dominated profession of law enforcement.
According to a dissertation on women in law enforcement by a doctoral candidate at Pepperdine University in 1997:
Women felt that clearly the glass ceiling still exists and a lot of this had to deal with gender and not qualifications. Females in the department felt that they had to constantly prove themselves. Sexual harassment is prevalent and is at times not addressed even though the department has a written policy. For the women who want to make it in the ranks and be respected, some simply ignore the harassment and allow things to happen and not report them as they felt they could manage them, deal with them and move on with their careers.
In 2009, the US Department of Labor statistics revealed that women work force participants accounted for 59.2 percent of the total work force. When those statistics were broken down by occupation, the disparity of women to men in protective service occupations was made apparent: Only 21 percent of women held such positions and of those, only 13 percent were employed as sworn patrol officers.
Ms. Sprague is extremely deserving of such an award. She has consistently risen to the top in her chosen profession with each agency and company she has worked for. Her accomplishments in law enforcement include the following:
- President and CEO of Sprague Consulting & Investigations, a company she formed in 2010.
- She holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from University of Miami and a Master of Criminal Justice from Columbia College in Missouri.
- Lisa has thirty years experience in Law Enforcement.
- She is the immediate past president (2008-2009) of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, the world’s voice in campus public safety and security (www.iaclea.org).
- She has been an advisor and instructor for numerous law enforcement academies and an adjunct instructor for Florida State University School of Criminal Justice and the National Sports Arena Security Center.
- Annually, she presents, publishes articles and conducts workshops on a wide range of professional topics for various associations, conferences and groups in America and internationally.
- She maintains several professional membership affiliations and is frequently called upon to provide management and technical assistance to Higher Education Institutions.
- She is well versed in Emergency Planning and has been involved as both a Regional and State Planning Chief for the State of Florida Emergency Management Division Incident Command System.
Additional accomplishments she has earned this year include being named one of the “Top 25 Women You Need to Know” by the Tallahassee Democrat and she also announced her intent to run for Leon County Sheriff 2012.
Business & Professional Women of Tallahassee commend Lisa on her accomplishments and hope that her experiences and perseverance will pave a way for more women to rise to the ranks as talented law enforcement officers. The Glass Ceiling award is sponsored by the Florida state chapter of Business & Professional Women and is given annually to women who have broken the “glass ceiling” in traditionally male dominated professions.
Business and Professional Women/Tallahassee
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