Betty Ferguson became a member of the Metro-Dade County Commission in 1993. She is past president of the Miami-Dade Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, president and founder of Unrepresented People.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the first Hispanic woman and the first Cuban-American to be elected to U.S. Congress. She was first elected to office in 1982 as a state legislator. After serving four years in the Florida House of Representatives, she served four years in the Florida Senate. As a teacher and business-woman, she maintains her Florida teaching certification.
After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School and the University of Miami, Marian Shannon returned to Booker T. Washington, where she worked as a teacher and guidance counselor throughout her career. She is one of only three women to have served as president of the Florida State Teachers Association, and in that position oversaw its merger with the Florida Educational Association. She is active in Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, the Black Archives, History and Research Foundation, and the Charles Williams foundation.
Dr. Simpson was the first board-certified Black pediatrician in the state of Florida. She is the senior attending physician of the Department of Pediatrics at the Miami Children.
Businesswoman Rosario Kennedy served as the first Hispanic woman on the Miami City Commission, 1985-1989. She helped found several community organizations, including the Women.
Metro-Dade County Commissioner Natacha Millan has also served on the council of the City of Hialeah. She is Community Relations and Marketing Director for Pal-Dent, and was formerly Assistant Executive Director for the YWCA of Greater Miami. She serves on the boards of the South Florida Regional Planning Council, the Juvenile Welfare Board, the Public Health Trust, and the Alliance for Aging.
Educator and poet Maud Newbold is principal at Frances S. Tucker Elementary School. She is a former Teacher of the Year at West Laboratory School and a former Administrator of the Year in the South Central district. She helped start Delta Sigma Theta Sorority's program to minimize teenage pregnancy. She has served as a board member of the Miami Code Enforcement Board and the Coconut Grove Local Development Corporation.
Evelyn Shea has helped lead efforts to improve the status of women in business and the professions for decades. She is a natural leader and organizer. She was state president of the 5,000 member Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs in Florida. Shea was elected chairwoman of the Dade County Commission on the Status of Women and served on the board of directors for the YWCA. She also led the Community Coalition for Women's History as president, treasurer and vice president. She helped publicize "Women's History Month" while serving on the coalition. She also helps lead her condo association and was elected to its board of directors.
Leome Culmer is a third generation Overtown resident, with an intimate knowledge of the community’s people and their accomplishments. Since infancy, she has been a member of St. Agnes’ Episcopal Church, where she is presently historian, a Vacation Bible School teacher, and a member of the executive board of St. Agnes’ Branch of the Episcopal Churchwomen. She has been a member of the Miami Memorial Committee, and was the first African-American to serve on the local and state boards of directors of the Children’s Home Society of Southern Florida. Mrs. Culmer is a charter member of the Black Archives, History and Research Foundation of South Florida, of which she currently serves on the Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees.
Marivi Prado is a successful businesswoman who has been actively involved in community activities. She is the President and owner of Marivi Prado and Associates, a full service marketing, advertising and public relations agency founded in 1988. Ms. Prado is also the founder and President of Women of Human Rights International, a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization that focuses on denouncing human rights violations and injustices, promoting human rights and acting as a link between women’s groups at the local and international levels. Marivi arrived in Miami in 1960. A graduate of the University of Miami, she has been calling Miami her home for 39 years and has been actively involved in community organizations. Her affiliations include Dade County’s Planning Advisory Board, Archdiocese of Miami Community Peace Task Force, Dade-Monroe Mental Health Board, Coalition of Hispanic American Women (CHAW), Kiwanis Club of Key Biscayne, CAMACOL, Latin Business and Professional Women’s Club, AYUDA, Inc. and Habitat for Humanity. She has been widely recognized in South Florida as a business and community leader. She has been the recipient of many awards for her leadership. The Latin Business and Professional Women’s Club, Latin Builders Association, the Children’s Re-source Fund and the International Association of Human Rights Agencies have honored her.
As organizing chair of Generations United of South Florida and President of the Miami Women’s History Coalition, Roslyn Berrin has worked to unify folk of every age, gender, and ethnic origin. She has been a business executive and community activist in Miami-Dade County for almost 50 years. She was one of the first women realtors specializing in the sale and purchase of commercial, industrial and investment properties. She lobbied for equal opportunities for women in the work force during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Roslyn Berrin has served as President of the Dave and Mary Alper Jewish Community Center. She has also served as President at the Flagler-Grenada Jewish Community Center and as Vice-president to the Greater Miami Jewish Community Centers. Roslyn Berrin is active in the Alliance for Aging. She chairs its Intergenerational Committee, which brings together elders and young people in mutually beneficial endeavors (e.g., Foster Grandparents, Visiting Pet Partners, Oral History Interviews).
Claudia C. Kitchens, Executive Director of the Woman's Fund, is a tireless worker in the field of domestic violence. She has spearheaded creative programs to help victims, such as the transitional housing for homeless abused women and children, Inn Transition, North and South; the Dade Alliance Against Domestic Violence; the Teen Dating Violence Intervention Program; the Victim Emergency Relief Fund; and the Miami Coalition for the Homeless. She currently sits on the board of Kristi House, serving victims of sexual abuse. She has served as State Director of Kids Voting Florida, a national project for better understanding by children of the voting process and as President of the Junior League of Miami, coordinating volunteers and representing the organization in the business and civic community.
Cindy Lederman, Judge of the Juvenile Court, is a community leader and advocate for the rights of women and juveniles. She has initiated and expanded the Miami-Dade County Domestic Violence Court; founded the Girls Advocacy Project, a model intervention program for girls in the Juvenile Detention Center; and spearheaded the opening of the Head Start Facility for maltreated children. She serves on boards and councils studying deviant peer contagion; violence and victims; gender bias; education, youth and families; and has written a concept entitled Judicial Decision Making to Ensure Permanency Planning for Substance Exposed Newborns. Judge Lederman's court has been designated as an Infant and Young Children's Mental Health Pilot site, and she has written many articles and publications based on her work.
Linnea Pearson, Ph.D. Unitarian minister, religious scholar, and community activist, focuses on women and children and peace. She heads the National Conference for Community and Justice Task Force on Domestic Violence and serves on the Board of the Miami-Dade Victim Services Center. She has advocated for the farm worker, the environment, and, she is the current leader of the local branch of Women in Black. Among her publications are Separate Paths: Why People End Their Lives and Dreams on Fire: Embers of Hope, Reflections from the Pulpit following the Rodney King Uprisings in Los Angeles.
Rosa Sugranes, founder and Chair of the Board of Iberia Tiles, is the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Council Chair. She is a member of the United Way; the Executive Committee of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, chairing the English +1 committee; the FIU Board of Trustees; the State Transportation Commission; and she is Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Miami Branch. She has received the Small Business Person of the Year award from the Small Business Council of America.