Rad Girls founder Leah Kauffman was all set to kick off her 6th annual Rad Awards in 2020 when … well, you know. That makes this year’s first post-pandemic celebration of kickass Philly women all the sweeter.
Since 2015, Kauffman’s Rad Girls has honored 50 women — along with a handful of male allies — for their work as business leaders, lawyers, activists, storytellers, connectors and more. Another 200 were nominated. And hundreds turned out every year to applaud them at a cocktail party, with Kauffman enthusiastically and joyfully leading the way.
For this year’s Rad Awards, Kauffman partnered with The Citizen to call for nominations in 17 different categories. We received close to 200 suggestions, which we narrowed down to four nominees in each category. Now, we invite everyone — that means you! — to help us honor them, and find out the winner in each category, at a cocktail party at the Kimpton Palomar Hotel on July 17. (Reserve your spot here.)
This year’s Rad Awards nominees are:
Nonprofit leader
- Loree D. Jones Brown, Chief Executive Officer, Philabundance
- Lauren Cristella, President and CEO, Committee of Seventy
- Yocasta Lora, Associate State Director of Advocacy & Community Engagement, AARP Pennsylvania
- Rev. Michelle Simmons, Executive Director, Why Not Prosper
Attorney
-
- Morgen Cheshire, Managing Attorney, Cheshire Law Group
- Claudia De Palma, Senior Attorney, The Public Interest Law Center
- Kristen Gibbons Feden, Shareholder, Anapol Weiss
- Deborah Gordon Klehr, Executive Director, Education Law Center
Sports Pro
- Nadia Bosket, Founder, Hoop Dreams Inc.
- Shariah Harris, First Black Woman to Compete in the U.S. Polo Open
- Kiera Smalls, Inaugural Executive Director, Running Industry Diversity Coalition
- Amber Zimmerman, Elite Runner, 2024 Broad Street Run Winner
Entrepreneur
- Noelle Wheatley Blizzard, Owner and Founder, New June Bakery
- Jeannine A. Cook, Founder and Owner, Harriett’s and Ida Mae’s Bookshops
- Thu Pham, Founder, Càphê Roasters
- Beau Wangtrakuldee, Founder, CEO, AmorSui
Technologist
- Sindi Banaj and Maryem Bouatlaoui, Co-creators, Finiverse
- Leslie Chapman, Engineering Fellow, Comcast
- Dr. Marylyn D. Ritchie, Vice Dean of Artificial Intelligence and Computing, Penn Medicine
- Melissa Scott, Chief Information Officer, City of Philadelphia
Scientist
- Dr. Deborah Crabbe, Cardiologist and Professor, Medicine, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University
- Dr. Joan Lau, Chief Executive Officer, of Spirovant
- Dr. Raina Merchant, Vice President, Chief Transformation Officer, Penn Medicine
- Taci Pereira, CEO, Systemic Bio
Artist
- Kendra Dandy, Illustrator/Painter/Creative Director, Bouffants And Broken Hearts
- Bree Lowdermilk, Composer
- Natalie Hope McDonald, Freelance Illustrator, Writer and Editor
- Nicole Nikolich, Crochet Artist, Lace in the Moon
Product
- Christie Désir, Owner, Callowhill Greens and C A L L O Skincare
- Dana Donofree, Founder and CEO, AnaOno Bras & Lingerie
- Maya Nazareth, CEO and Founder, Alchemize Fightwear
- Cynthia Plotch and Jamie Norwood, Co-Founders, Winx Health
Style Influencer
- Marguerite Adzick, Founder, Addison Bay
- Erikka Banks, Director of Member Events, Fitler Club
- Shelly Horst, Co-Founder, Room Shop
- Kimberly McGlonn, Founder and CEO, Grant Blvd and Blk Ivy Thrift & Vintage
Wellness Woman
- Christa Barfield, CEO, FarmerJawn
- Alexia Doumbouya, President and Certified Doula, Cocolife.black
- Lynette Medley and Nya McGlone, Founder and CEO and COO, No More Secrets
- Martha Sharkey, Founder and CEO, Today Is A Good Day
Hospitality Star
- Cybille St. Aude-Tate, Co-owner, Honeysuckle Provisions
- Tess Hart, Co-Founder and CEO, Triple Bottom Brewing Company
- Kathryn Ott Lovell, President and CEO, Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation
- Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon, Owner, Kalaya
Connector
- Margaret Berger Bradley, Vice President, Ben Franklin Technology Partners
- Emma Copley Eisenberg, Author and Founder, Blue Stoop
- Lindsey Scannapieco, Managing Partner, Scout
- Ellen Yin, Sofia Deleon, Jill Weber, Jen Carroll, Co-founders, Sisterly Love Collective
Innovator
- Dr. Michelle Carrera Morales, CEO, Xiente
- Diane Cornman-Levy, Chief Disruptor, Women’s Way
- Danae Mobley, Executive Director, 1Philly and CEO, Coded by Kids
- Samantha Wittchen, Founder and CPO, Circa Systems; Co-founder and Director of Programs and Operations Circular Philadelphia
Storyteller
- Jos Duncan Asé, CEO, Love Now Media
- Heather Shayne Blakeslee, Founder, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Root Quarterly
- Errin Haines, Editor-At-Large, The 19th
- Yowei Shaw, Podcast Host, Proxy
Activist
- Jude Husein, Director of State Advocacy, Pennsylvania State Senate
- Farrah Parkes, Executive Director, Gender Justice Fund
- Mariangeli Alicea Saez, Owner, Cantina La Martina
- Kendra Van de Water, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Youth Empowerment for Advancement Hangout (YEAH Philly)
Rad Ally
- Sean Betman, Clinical Social Worker/Therapist, Member of the Masculinity Action Project
- David S. Cohen, Attorney, Professor of Law, Drexel and Board of Directors, Abortion Care Network
- Jalen Hurts, Quarterback, Philadelphia Eagles
- Wil Reynolds, Founder, Seer Interactive
Rad Girl of the Year
- Hillary Do, Founder and Executive Director, Philly BOLT
- Dalila Wilson-Scott, EVP, Chief Diversity Officer & President, Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation
- Dr. Ala Stanford, Founder, Dr. Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity (ASHE) and Professor of Practice in the Department of Biology in the School of Arts and Sciences, Penn Medicine
- Angela Val, CEO, Visit Philly
We’ll name one winner in each category at the party on July 17. Expect applause, smiles and roars. As Kauffman said last month when we opened the 2024 nominations, “There will always be an appetite for the joy and recognition and celebrating the achievements of these women.”
Become a sponsor of Rad Girls. We can use you! Please contact us for more information about ways to be a part of the celebration.
MORE ON THE RAD AWARDS