Leaders often go unnoticed. Sometimes it is the small decisions or changes that a person takes in their lives, in their families or at work that can make all the difference. We believe that recognition and support is a part of our own leadership - helping inspire leadership in others. Stepping forward, initiating change, choosing to go against the grain towards something different and better, it takes courage and often leaps of faith. We want to celebrate and encourage leadership in our community. Help us acknowledge the women in our community who are making a difference!

Elaine Pitcher has been drawn to the helping professions BY SANDRA HODGE Special to Sault This Week “If you had asked me in high school what I wanted to be, I probably would have said a teacher,” recalls lawyer and Sault Area Hospital Board Chair Elaine Pitcher. In many respects, those early aspirations have materialized, although probably in much different ways than first imagined by the Riverview Public Elementary School and Sir James Dunn C&VS graduate who remembers having great teachers along the way. “I’m a big believer in people having information and knowing the facts [on issues] that are important to them. I always welcome the opportunity to educate.” To read the rest of this article click here>

Lisa Vezeau-Allen I nominate Lisa Vezeau-Allen as a great woman in our community. She is a great leader because she is innovative (she developed numerous initiatives with the Sault Youth Association that truly connected with youth and made positive changes), engaging (she motivated our entire staff and helped us to ccomplish our individual goals, all while maintaining a great sense of humor and sense of community) and determined (she truly sought out to affect change in the community and did so, using various methodologies and programs, most of them were accomplished with community partners). She is inspiring to me because she balances all of these professional successes with a rich personal life (she is married and has two young sons, one having autism, which presents extra challanges, she is engaged in many volunteer activities also), and still maintains her great sense of fun, curiosity and concern for social justice. She spoke out on issues of youth poverty and the need for involvement in building healthy lifestyles for young people (culminating in the roots to youth garden project). She raised significant amounts of money for Haiti earthquake relief through the "Hope for Haiti" fundraiser, she invented and coordinated funding for The Fresh Art Project (beginning October 2010) which will give at-risk and under-serviced youth an opportunity to learn new skills from professional artists and writers. She worked with Funding Success Youth Program, Job Creation Partnerships and FEDNOR to hire and oversee a skilled staff at the Sault Youth Association that hosted a variety of youth events and initiatives over this past year. She has recently taken a position at the Algoma University Foundation as Campaign Director and will no doubt emerge as a true leader in that milieu as well. She deserves recognition in our community for her continued efforts. Sincerely, Tiff Thompson

Nominate a Great Woman

Send us an email at info@elevatesuccess.ca letting us know about a great woman in our community. Tell us three reasons why you think she is a great leader, and how she inspires you. Give examples of how she has demonstrated positive and powerful leadership. Please provide work or home contact information for the nominee and include your own contact information. We will use this information to help highlight successful leaders in our community at the 2010 conference.