Wisconsin Women of Color Network’s 2009 Women of Achievement Awardees
Exemplifying the very best
Exemplifying the very best
By Jonathan Gramling
The Wisconsin Women of Color Network, Inc. (WWOCN) has been bringing women from different cultural, ethnic and racial communities
together since the first Wisconsin Minority Women’s Employment Conference was held in 1982. Since that time, it has evolved into an
organization that empowers women, links them with vital resources and honors their excellence in public and private industry.
On October 3, 2009 WWOCN will be honoring five women who have made a difference in their own communities as well as the community at
large at its Annual Employment & Training Conference at the DoubleTree Hotel. The 2009 recipients of the WWOCN Women of Achievement awards
are Brenda Brown, Rachel DiAnne McKinsey, Lilliam Post, Alice Skenandore and Kabzuag Vaj.
Brenda Brown – Brenda has been making an impact on the quality of life in Dane County while also raising a family. Since 2003, Brenda has
served as administrator of the Division of Business Management at the Department of Transportation for the state of Wisconsin. She formerly
held positions as associate director of the Dane County Department of Human Services where she lead the department’s cultural competency
initiative to improve service delivery for families of color living in Dane County.
She has also actively participated in many community service efforts. She served as treasurer for the Wisconsin Association of Black Public
Service Employees (WABPSE) and has been active in the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WCADV). Brenda is an associate
minister at Mount Zion Baptist Church.
Rachel DiAnne McKinsey – A graduate in Physics from Southern University A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Rachel has been a dynamo
since coming to Madison in 2004. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Medical Physics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and
Public Health. She is conducting two research projects, one of which is ‘Using Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast MRI for Cerebral Perfusion while
Studying Alzheimer’s Disease.
Rachel is a member of several professional organizations including the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, the American
Association of Physicist in Medicine and the National Society of Black Physicist.
While her research and studies are more than a full-time load. Rachel has been very active in the community. As a member of local graduate
chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Rachel has tireless worked on the 2009 Social Action Luncheon Planning Committee, the projects and
programs chair for two years, the social action chair for the Wisconsin State Council and the 2009 Nominating Committee chair among other DST
duties. In 2008, Rachel was named the Madison Alumnae Chapter Soror of the Year.
Outside of her work with DST, Rachel has also volunteered with the AIDS Network at their Camp Bingo, the Women in Science Committee, NSBP,
Expand Your Horizons, the Academic Center for Excellence and the American Cancer Society.
Lilliam Post – Lilliam has been a motherly influence in the Latino community since the 1990s. During her professional career, Lilliam has worked
as a teen educator at Centro Hispano, a parent coordinator for the Epilepsy Foundation of Southern Wisconsin and Family 360 and counselor of
battered women for UNIDOS.
Most recently, Lilliam worked as a social worker for Centro Guadalupe, which was located in the Catholic Multicultural Center in South Madison.
When the center was closed down earlier this year, Lilliam was a stalwart in continuing to provide services to the individuals and families who
had depended on Centro Guadalupe. She was also instrumental in the reopening of Centro Guadalupe as it provides limited services.
Lilliam’s impact can’t just be contained in programs. Her gentle, yet frank manner in which she tells people what they need to hear and not what
they want to hear has helped many Latinas develop a strong perspective on their lives. Like the mother of a large family, Lilliam is always there
to lend a helping hand or a consoling word while making sure that everyone else’s needs are met before she meets her own.
Alice Skenandore – A member of the Lac Courte Oreilles band of the Ojibwe, Alice has been a practitioner of “traditional midwifery” and has
worked with over 750 Native American, Amish, Latino, African American and Asian women in giving birth naturally. She is a mentor midwife to
other women in Green Bay and supports five women who have developed their own midwifery practices.
Alice also founded Wise Women Gathering Place, a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote Peace, Respect and Belonging through
skill-building, sharing knowledge caring support of the community. Her community work has contributed to preventing adolescent pregnancies,
preventing domestic violence and promoting healthy relationships.
As a part of Wise Women, Alice created Discovery Dating, a program designed to reduce adolescent pregnancies. After five years in one
community, the 157 participants who participated in Discovery Dating had five pregnancies as opposed to the 136 youth who didn’t participate
and had 32 pregnancies.
Alice has given much of her time through Wise Women as well as a volunteer with the Green Bay Family Violence Center and the Oneida Nation
Elementary School. Alice has truly practiced her motto of “Peace, Respect and Belonging.”
Kabzuag Vaj - In the past 10 years, Kabzuag has worked on ending violence against women and children. In 2003, she helped create Freedom,
Inc., a non-profit organization that provides services to women and children from low-income to no-income communities of color in Madison.
She has created programs that specifically address root causes of violence against women and children in the Hmong community. More recently,
she has been part of a team of Hmong women activist/advocates working to address root causes of abusive international marriages (where men
from this country go back and marry younger girls from other countries). Kabzuag also works on ending murder-suicide in the Hmong community.
Kabzuag has participated in several groups including INCITE! Radical Women of Color Working to End Violence, National Coalition Against
Domestic Violence, Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Advisory Board of Creative Intervention-San Francisco and the Madison
Equal Opportunity Commission.
Kabzuag’s work has a great positive impact on the Hmong women because they now have a leader who stands up for them and who consistently
advocates for them. Hmong culture allows Hmong men to marry more than one wife, and as such, Hmong women have traditionally been
considered second class citizens in their community. Hmong women are also generally considered outcasts if they leave their husbands. Hmong
women are being educated about their rights as Americans and as human beings, as well as their power and ability to advocate for themselves
and speak up when they are treated unequally by others.
In the last 19 years, the domestic violence movement in Wisconsin has changed tremendously to include many marginalized communities.
Kabzuag has been in the forefront in getting Hmong women to participate in her programs and also in getting funds for these programs. She
continues to work hard every day that her work has been recognized by various groups in Wisconsin. The plight of Hmong women has been
made “public” through Kabzuag’s initiatives.
For more information about WWOCN and the Annual Employment & Training Conference, visit their website at www.womenofcolornetwork-wis.
org.
The Wisconsin Women of Color Network, Inc. (WWOCN) has been bringing women from different cultural, ethnic and racial communities
together since the first Wisconsin Minority Women’s Employment Conference was held in 1982. Since that time, it has evolved into an
organization that empowers women, links them with vital resources and honors their excellence in public and private industry.
On October 3, 2009 WWOCN will be honoring five women who have made a difference in their own communities as well as the community at
large at its Annual Employment & Training Conference at the DoubleTree Hotel. The 2009 recipients of the WWOCN Women of Achievement awards
are Brenda Brown, Rachel DiAnne McKinsey, Lilliam Post, Alice Skenandore and Kabzuag Vaj.
Brenda Brown – Brenda has been making an impact on the quality of life in Dane County while also raising a family. Since 2003, Brenda has
served as administrator of the Division of Business Management at the Department of Transportation for the state of Wisconsin. She formerly
held positions as associate director of the Dane County Department of Human Services where she lead the department’s cultural competency
initiative to improve service delivery for families of color living in Dane County.
She has also actively participated in many community service efforts. She served as treasurer for the Wisconsin Association of Black Public
Service Employees (WABPSE) and has been active in the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WCADV). Brenda is an associate
minister at Mount Zion Baptist Church.
Rachel DiAnne McKinsey – A graduate in Physics from Southern University A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Rachel has been a dynamo
since coming to Madison in 2004. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Medical Physics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and
Public Health. She is conducting two research projects, one of which is ‘Using Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast MRI for Cerebral Perfusion while
Studying Alzheimer’s Disease.
Rachel is a member of several professional organizations including the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, the American
Association of Physicist in Medicine and the National Society of Black Physicist.
While her research and studies are more than a full-time load. Rachel has been very active in the community. As a member of local graduate
chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Rachel has tireless worked on the 2009 Social Action Luncheon Planning Committee, the projects and
programs chair for two years, the social action chair for the Wisconsin State Council and the 2009 Nominating Committee chair among other DST
duties. In 2008, Rachel was named the Madison Alumnae Chapter Soror of the Year.
Outside of her work with DST, Rachel has also volunteered with the AIDS Network at their Camp Bingo, the Women in Science Committee, NSBP,
Expand Your Horizons, the Academic Center for Excellence and the American Cancer Society.
Lilliam Post – Lilliam has been a motherly influence in the Latino community since the 1990s. During her professional career, Lilliam has worked
as a teen educator at Centro Hispano, a parent coordinator for the Epilepsy Foundation of Southern Wisconsin and Family 360 and counselor of
battered women for UNIDOS.
Most recently, Lilliam worked as a social worker for Centro Guadalupe, which was located in the Catholic Multicultural Center in South Madison.
When the center was closed down earlier this year, Lilliam was a stalwart in continuing to provide services to the individuals and families who
had depended on Centro Guadalupe. She was also instrumental in the reopening of Centro Guadalupe as it provides limited services.
Lilliam’s impact can’t just be contained in programs. Her gentle, yet frank manner in which she tells people what they need to hear and not what
they want to hear has helped many Latinas develop a strong perspective on their lives. Like the mother of a large family, Lilliam is always there
to lend a helping hand or a consoling word while making sure that everyone else’s needs are met before she meets her own.
Alice Skenandore – A member of the Lac Courte Oreilles band of the Ojibwe, Alice has been a practitioner of “traditional midwifery” and has
worked with over 750 Native American, Amish, Latino, African American and Asian women in giving birth naturally. She is a mentor midwife to
other women in Green Bay and supports five women who have developed their own midwifery practices.
Alice also founded Wise Women Gathering Place, a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote Peace, Respect and Belonging through
skill-building, sharing knowledge caring support of the community. Her community work has contributed to preventing adolescent pregnancies,
preventing domestic violence and promoting healthy relationships.
As a part of Wise Women, Alice created Discovery Dating, a program designed to reduce adolescent pregnancies. After five years in one
community, the 157 participants who participated in Discovery Dating had five pregnancies as opposed to the 136 youth who didn’t participate
and had 32 pregnancies.
Alice has given much of her time through Wise Women as well as a volunteer with the Green Bay Family Violence Center and the Oneida Nation
Elementary School. Alice has truly practiced her motto of “Peace, Respect and Belonging.”
Kabzuag Vaj - In the past 10 years, Kabzuag has worked on ending violence against women and children. In 2003, she helped create Freedom,
Inc., a non-profit organization that provides services to women and children from low-income to no-income communities of color in Madison.
She has created programs that specifically address root causes of violence against women and children in the Hmong community. More recently,
she has been part of a team of Hmong women activist/advocates working to address root causes of abusive international marriages (where men
from this country go back and marry younger girls from other countries). Kabzuag also works on ending murder-suicide in the Hmong community.
Kabzuag has participated in several groups including INCITE! Radical Women of Color Working to End Violence, National Coalition Against
Domestic Violence, Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Advisory Board of Creative Intervention-San Francisco and the Madison
Equal Opportunity Commission.
Kabzuag’s work has a great positive impact on the Hmong women because they now have a leader who stands up for them and who consistently
advocates for them. Hmong culture allows Hmong men to marry more than one wife, and as such, Hmong women have traditionally been
considered second class citizens in their community. Hmong women are also generally considered outcasts if they leave their husbands. Hmong
women are being educated about their rights as Americans and as human beings, as well as their power and ability to advocate for themselves
and speak up when they are treated unequally by others.
In the last 19 years, the domestic violence movement in Wisconsin has changed tremendously to include many marginalized communities.
Kabzuag has been in the forefront in getting Hmong women to participate in her programs and also in getting funds for these programs. She
continues to work hard every day that her work has been recognized by various groups in Wisconsin. The plight of Hmong women has been
made “public” through Kabzuag’s initiatives.
For more information about WWOCN and the Annual Employment & Training Conference, visit their website at www.womenofcolornetwork-wis.
org.
Brenda Brown
Rachel DiAnne McKinsey
Lilliam Post
Alice Skenandore
Kabzuag Vaj