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Tameika Isaac Devine was age 29 when she ran for office for the first time. She became the first African American female and the youngest person on the Columbia City Council. She recalls winning that election by less than 200 votes. “If those 200 people did not vote, I wouldn’t be here today.” Now some 18 years later, Tameika Isaac Devine continues in her 5th term on the Columbia City Council. She is the founding partner in her law firm, Jabber & Isaac, PA. She is also an author and public speaker. Isaac Devine launched The Possibilities Institute, a business through which she offers life coaching. She describes her personal passion as “helping working moms conquer overwhelm in order to perform their best at work and at home.” She also serves as Co-Chair of the National League of Cities’ Youth Education and Families Council, and as a board member for Women in Municipal Government and the national Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials.

When Darla Moore began business school at George Washington University, she said she “didn’t know what a balance sheet was.” After graduating with her MBA, she moved to New York City and began in banking. She became one of the nation’s most successful business leaders. She was the first woman on the cover of Fortune magazine and was listed as one of Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.” University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business was the first business school in the nation to be named after a woman. As part of what she calls a 30-year plan, Darla Moore is now helping to transform Lake City, her home town. Her latest investment is a regional education and training center through collaboration among The Darla Moore Foundation, Francis Marion University, Florence-Darlington Technical College and school districts. “It is a seamless, flexible doors-open to all high schools and adults to come in and not have to go to different places.”

Betty Jo Rhea served as Mayor of Rock Hill for 12 years and as a member of the City Council for 8 years. She was referred to as “the people’s mayor.” When she took over as mayor, unemployment stood at over 17% and textile mills had declined from 13 to only one. Under her leadership, the community started business parks and attracted several international companies to Rock Hill. She fostered a sports complex that has since paved the way for a city now known for being an amateur sports mecca. From baseball and softball, the city has added facilities including soccer, tennis, and cycling. After retiring as mayor, Betty Jo Rhea has hosted a local television show called “City Minutes” for nearly 20 years, interviewing a variety of individuals in the Rock Hill community. She remains a steadfast champion of the arts, historic preservation and beautification.

T. Lilly Little Water began her life's passion of advocating for Indigenous People at age seventeen. “It’s something intangible and inexplicable that drives me. It feels like there are also a 1000 ancestors in my heart that are constantly giving me a nudge in this way or that way. They always give me direction.”

Malissa Burnette is an award-winning attorney and advocate for equal rights for all. She is co-founder of the Burnette Shutt & McDaniel law firm in Columbia. She waged a legal battle to change the rules and allow women to attend The Citadel. She successfully challenged a rule that barred young girls from playing football. More recently, she and Nekki Shutt, another of the firm’s founding partners, were lead counsel in the case that made same-sex marriage legal in South Carolina.

Fresh out of Newcomb College at Tulane, Ann Timberlake came back to South Carolina and instead of taking up civil rights or the war, she said she “wanted to save trees.” She became one of South Carolina’s leading conservation advocates. As a founding member of the Sierra Club in South Carolina, she helped lead campaigns to establish the Congaree National Park and the Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness. She also advocated for the Chattooga River as to be designated as a “Wild and Scenic River.” After working as a sales representative for the Pillsbury Company, Timberlake opened a full service, neighborhood grocery, The Purple Cow, in downtown Columbia. In 2003, she returned to conservation and political work as the founding executive director of the new Conservation Voters of South Carolina. She now consults and lobbies as the principal for Timberlake Communications, LLC.

Shortly after Cathy Hughes joined The Times and Democrat in Orangeburg in 1972, she got a call from the society editor who said, “Cathy, The Times and Democrat’s on fire.” Hughes and her husband rushed to the paper and along with staff members watched as smoke came out of the building. Undaunted, the staff published the paper the next morning. She learned early on the value of leadership and a committed staff. She has been with the newspaper for 48 years, becoming publisher in 1999, the first woman to lead the enterprise. In 2017, she was named Lee Enterprises Group Publisher, and her responsibility has grown to management of seven newspapers in seven states from her office in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Hughes is a summa cum laude graduate of University of South Carolina, with a BA in journalism. She has been active in many community and statewide organizations and was honored with the Order of the Silver Crescent for significant contributions, leadership volunteerism and lifelong influence within a region or community.

Dr. Shaniece Criss “The world will tell you what success looks like, but truly success looks differently for different people.” The words of Dr. Shaniece Criss. She has defined her own success by fulfilling purpose in three main areas: government, media, and academia. And she has succeeded in all three. She was the first African American female to be elected to the Travelers Rest City Council in the Upstate. She is an assistant professor of Health Science at Furman University. And as a public health practitioner, Dr. Criss served as producer and host for a national television show for the Ministry of Health in Guyana, South America, during her Peace Corps service. She received her Doctor of Science degree from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. At the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, she was awarded a Presidential Public Service Fellowship. She serves on the board of directors for Prisma Health, Public Education Partners, Dining for Women and SC YMCA Youth in Government and Teen Achievers.

“Follow your passion. Don't ever forget to take care of yourself. That's critically important. I think as women, we don't always do that very well.”

Keisha Hawes was age 31 when she had a heart attack. She was a wife and mother, who was holding down several part-time jobs in the Charleston area to help to make ends meet. She has taken the experience of her heart attack as a way to “serve another purpose.” She said, “when I was stuck on the fact of suffering a heart attack, I actually suffered. I continued my suffering. When I took a moment and I stopped and I said, ‘no, let's look at this from the lens of you survived a heart attack. So now, what is the purpose in your survival? How can you repurpose this to now be a benefit to people?’ " Hawes has been tireless in her work to benefit people. She was the first American Heart Association national spokesperson from the state of South Carolina, and she has lobbied for better health care overage, research and treatment of women’s issues. She is a PreK teacher, actor, voice-over artist and a youth pastor, as well as an active community volunteer.

As president, CEO and owner of Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Lou Kennedy runs a global company out of West Columbia, South Carolina. She and her husband helped establish the Kennedy Pharmacy Center Innovation Center in conjunction with the USC School of Pharmacy. She received South Carolina’s Order of the Palmetto in recognition of a lifetime of service. Kennedy said, “I turned 50 a couple of years back and since that big birthday milestone, I really have focused on what I could do, not only in job goals but also in the community and for other young ladies and children who may be don’t have as many opportunities that I had. I’m trying to make a difference. I’m way too involved in probably way too many things, but it’s good to give back and its especially good to give back in your hometown.”

Pastor, Maranatha Free Church of Jesus Christ

President & CEO, Central Carolina Community Foundation; Former Chair, Richland County Library

President, Micco, LLC; Chairman of the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport Commission

District Director, Office of U.S. Representative William Timmons (SC-04)

President, The Maritime Association of South Carolina

Founder, ETV Endowment; Executive Producer, South Carolinians in WW II

President and CEO, Auntie Karen Foundation; Producer, songwriter, author

Jennifer Gutierrez-Caldwell is the Director of Youth Services at Pendleton Place.

Inez Tenenbaum practices law at Wyche, P.A. in Columbia and Greenville. She is the former Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the former Superintendent of Education for South Carolina.