Medina Oyefusi, a winner at the 2025 Rad Awards ceremony, summed up the feeling in the room. Oyefusi recalled an adage her mother used to tell her:

“If you have 10 apples, then you have nine to give.”

The crowd of more than 200 women and allies at the Fitler Club on July 30 erupted in applause when she spoke. So many of the women there were driven by a desire to support others. They gave out joy and love; they gave each other their connections and offers to help in whatever way needed. They gave out inspiration — just by being in the room.

Leah Kauffman founded the event in 2015 to honor Philadelphia women who are groundbreakers in business, law, science, athletics, the arts …. Ten years later, The Philadelphia Citizen and Kauffman partnered to host the event for the second year in a row.

Among the new cohort of winners: a doctor treating rare diseases in children, an attorney fighting for those who have been wrongfully convicted, a scientist pioneering a synthetic cornea treatment, a former lacrosse coach increasing the representation of Black women in sports.

Watch the 2025 Rad Awards

The 2025 Rad Award Winners

You get it; the list of everything these amazing women (and one male ally) have accomplished goes on and on. But what was even more inspiring at the awards ceremony? The desire of everyone in attendance to help the next generation of radical women.

In speech after speech, the winners thanked the women behind the women — and promised to stand behind the next generation of rad women. Dozens of guests contributed to the event’s Rad Rolodex, which asked women to share their contact information, what they need and what they can help others with, so that the more than 200 attendees can stay in touch after the event. Dozens more made connections IRL, posing for selfies, sipping drinks in the garden and hitting the dance floor. The joy was contagious.

“The reason why I’m here — and the reason why I have the ability to try to help some folks in our community — is really because I have mentors and role models, many of whom are amazing women who are physicians and scientists at a time when they were often the only ones sitting at the table,” Rad Girl of the Year Dr. Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas said in her acceptance speech.

“It brings me great joy that now, when I look around at my trainees and my lab, there are so many amazing women who are coming up through the ranks.”

Here’s who took home the 2025 Rad Awards, and why:

Artist of the Year: Ebony Roberts, Director, United We Heal Film Festival

Ebony Roberts has leveraged her artistic challenge to make change and help others chase their short filmmaking dreams. In 2020, Roberts released her first short film, United We Heal, about the social justice protests happening around the country. Her work features dancers and poets — recruited via social media DMs — and offers a look at the trauma Black people in America have faced as the result of white supremacy and a vision for a more equal future.

Then, she launched a festival named after her film to highlight the work of Black and Brown filmmakers creating short stories about social justice in their communities. The festival, now in its fourth year, recently featured 11 such films — plus an opening concert with Philadelphia musical artists.

Connector of the Year: Medina Oyefusi, Programmatic and Public Events Manager, Mural Arts Philadelphia

Medina Oyefusi has mastered building networks that support and create opportunities for artists and entrepreneurs — and not just in her prominent role at Mural Arts. In 2020, Oyefusi launched I Buy Black Too, a bar crawl of six Black-owned food and beverage establishments and 26 independent artists. Last year, she produced the multi-week event series Live at Love, featuring DJs, musicians and local artists as vendors. As the founder of Stumble Media Group, she’s worked to create events and build relationships that platform underrepresented creatives and business owners.

There’s more to her C.V., but suffice it to say Oyefusi builds community and gives artists access to launch or grow their careers. No wonder she’s also been tapped as community advisor for Philadelphia250, the org planning the city’s Semiquincentennial.

Attorney of the Year: Marissa Boyers Bluestine, Assistant Director of the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

As the first Legal Director and former Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, Marissa Boyers Bluestine oversaw the team that worked to reverse 14 wrongful convictions — and free innocent Pennsylvanians. During this time, she also partnered with law enforcement on training to prevent future wrongful arrests and convictions.

Today, Boyers Bluestine is the Assistant Director of the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at Penn’s law school, where she teaches conviction integrity while working with prosecutors nationwide to develop conviction integrity units — thereby keeping more innocent people free.

Scientist of the Year: Dr. Amelia Zellander, CEO, BioLattice

Bioengineer Amelia Zellander is solving one of the most common problems for the most common transplant recipients: a two-thirds rejection rate for the 51,000 Americans who receive donor cornea transplants every year. (That’s one transplant every 10 minutes.)

One day, such problems could disappear with Zellander’s proprietary synthetic corneas, which don’t require refrigeration or donor management — luxuries that are common to the U.S. but much less so in the rest of the world, where 12.7 million people await the procedure. Zellander, whose company, BioLattice, is based in University City’s B+labs, has already created an artificial cornea prototype and achieved the crucial “proof of concept.” Her next step: FDA approval, for which she’s currently raising funds.

Activist of the Year: Louisa Mfum-Mensah, Vice President of Partner Experience, Urban Affairs Coalition

Louisa Mfum-Mensah’s work as an activist has had a wide-reaching impact. She got her start with voter outreach, then advocated for educational equity, developed youth programs in underserved communities, budgeted and planned Philly’s 115,000-volunteer MLK Day of Service. Along the way, she took on roles with Global Citizen, the Mayor’s office under Jim Kenney, Boys’ Latin charter school and others.

In 2021, Mfum-Mensah joined the Urban Affairs Coalition to multiply her previous efforts — supporting dozens of nonprofits that work to improve our region’s quality of life.

Nonprofit Leader of the Year: Jill Fink, Executive Director, The Merchants Fund

For the past seven years, Jill Fink has championed equity and community wealth-building as the leader of a 170-year-old Philadelphia charity that makes small grants to small local businesses that are facing financial hardship. Fink experienced The Merchants Fund (TMF) firsthand as a grant recipient on behalf of Mugshots Coffeehouse, a Fishtown B-Corps she founded in 2004.

Fink went on to spend five years as a TMF board member before becoming the organization’s leader working to boost Philadelphia’s economy, grow jobs, support energy-saving strategies, nurture business leaders, maintain family ownership, and improve and create revenue streams. The organization gave $645,641 to 101 small businesses last year when 44 percent of their grant recipients were immigrant-owned, 52 percent were women-owned and 66 percent were minority owned. Fink is also leading the movement to invest TMF’s endowment into companies that align with their values.

Athlete of the Year: Tina Sloan Green, Founder, Black Women in Sports Foundation and Former Women’s Lacrosse Coach, Temple University

Tina Sloan Green is an exceptional and groundbreaking athlete in her own right as the first Black woman to play for the U.S Women’s National Field Hockey Team and an inductee to the U.S. National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. The Philly native recently won the NCAA’s highest honor, the Theodore Roosevelt Award, for her storied career.

But in addition to her accomplishments on the field, she deserves recognition for her work coaching and uplifting other athletes, especially women of color. Under her coaching, the Temple University women’s lacrosse team made it to 11 NCAA Final Four appearances and multiple national championships. Post retirement from coaching, Sloan Green founded the Black Women in Sports Foundation, a nonprofit aiming its sights on increasing representation of Black women in all aspects of sport, from youth to college, coaching to administration.

Entrepreneur of the Year: Lindsey Scannapieco, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Scout

Lindsey Scannapieco has long been a leader when it comes to repurposing buildings for community centered uses. But this spring she did something truly amazing: She saved the University of the Art’s iconic Hamilton and Furness halls for arts-centered development, beating out a New York-based developer in the process.

Scannapieco and her firm Scout — who did similar work with the Bok building in South Philadelphia — are currently retooling the buildings to create makerspaces and artist workshops, a pop-up courtyard bar and artist housing. It’s all part of her dream to keep artists on the Avenue of the Arts — and just kind of thoughtful, people-centered development Philly needs more of.

Innovator of the Year: Christine Cox, Artistic and Executive Director, BalletX

When you think of innovation, a few industries come to mind — tech, healthcare, biotech. But Christine Cox’s leadership proves that you can drive transformational change beyond big, bro-powered, money makers. Cox is Artistic and Executive Director and Co-Founder of BalletX. She has been integral to making Philadelphia a prime location for contemporary ballet. The company is currently celebrating its 20th year. Under Cox’s leadership, BalletX has hosted 140 world premieres that make classical dance accessible and exciting.

Cox has also helped pioneer the company’s Dance eXchange, in-school outreach for third and fourth graders in five District schools. She also ensures women choreographers lead at least 50 percent of every BalletX season. Her dancers receive annual salaries, 52 week contracts and paid vacation — a rarity in U.S. dance.

Storyteller of the Year: Jo Piazza, Author, Journalist, Podcast Host of Under the Influence

In her acceptance speech (delivered via video because the prolific author is once again on book tour!) Jo Piazza explained why she thinks of herself as a storyteller — not an author, not a journalist, not a podcaster. “I try to tell stories in mediums that really work for that story,” she said.

And she’s succeeded. The Citizen tapped into her sharp storytelling in Philly Under Fire, a podcast intimately exploring the gun violence epidemic. She’s created other podcasts too. Her ongoing Committed series takes a hilarious and heartfelt look at long-term couples. Under the Influence tackles the thorny issues of social media. Piazza has written a dozen books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her latest, Everyone is Lying to You, is “the kinds of storytelling that I hope will change the world,” she said.

Rad Ally of the Year: Le Thomas, Former President, Philadelphia Black Pride

Le Thomas spent more than a decade leading Philadelphia Black Pride, one of the country’s first Black Pride initiatives. In this role, he addressed health, social and economic disparities facing the Black LGBTQ+ community. He built a uniquely Black and queer Pride celebration and year-round programming. Thomas confronted racism and discrimination in both the Gayborhood and the nation.

Some example of Thomas’s work:

• • Uplifting the work of Dr. Rashidah Abdul-Khabeer, who transformed Philly’s response to the AIDS crisis
  • Hosting panels that give a platform to Black, trans women in the city
  • Distributing grants through the Michael Hinson Fund to support the next generation of LGBTQ+ leaders

In the spring of 2025, Thomas stepped down to become Philadelphia Black Pride’s grants and funding manager. He remains committed to growing and supporting Philly’s Black LGBTQ+ community.

Rad Girl of the Year: Dr. Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, Attending Physician with the Metabolic Disease Program and the Division of Human Genetics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

This year, Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas made a major breakthrough in treating genetic diseases in children. KJ is an infant with a CPS1 deficiency, a genetic disorder that causes a dangerous ammonia build-up when a child eats protein. The disease can result in mental and developmental delays. About half of infants with CPS1 deficiency die within the first week of life. Those who survive inevitably need liver transplants.

The 2025 Rad Girl of the Year saw another way. The physician and a researcher and her team used CRISPR technology to edit baby KJ’s genes. They partially reversed his condition and reduced the potential for brain damage. In the process, KJ became the world’s first baby to receive this cutting-edge treatment.

SEE: More photos from a truly special night

Thank you to the 2025 Rad Awards Sponsors:

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