As former Miss Arkansas winners, Ebony Mitchell and Cori Keller are well acquainted with what young women can achieve if given the right opportunities and support. As co-chairs of the 27th annual Women’s Foundation of Arkansas Power of the Purse fundraising luncheon in October, the two hope to give other women that same chance at success.
“We’ve had such great influential mentors in our lives through the Miss Arkansas organization and just women in our communities we’ve looked up to,” Mitchell says. “I don’t think either of us would be sitting here today if it wasn’t for those women empowering us to do more and to try new things.”
“Everything we’ve ever advocated for and worked toward is giving women opportunities to be independent and successful,” Keller adds.
Since its founding in 1998, WFA has been doing just that as the only statewide foundation focused solely on women and girls. Through research and programming, the organization strives to understand the realities and obstacles women and girls face so cycles of poverty and inopportunity can be replaced by women who are healthy, educated and financially secure.
WFA CEO Anna Beth Gorman says wealth isn’t just a “yacht in your backyard,” but rather being able to own a home, own a business, get an education, invest in retirement and access medical care when needed.
“These factors are all indicators of wealth and, for a host of reasons, are still difficult for women to navigate,” Gorman says. “Our vision is one where a woman in our state can easily navigate attaining any of these, and by doing so isn’t just changing her economic status, but is changing the next generation.”
Programs like Girls of Promise and Women Empowered are in place to help young women navigate these areas.
Mitchell and Keller both mention Girls of Promise and the Tjuana Byrd Internship Program as the WFA programs that speak to them most.
Keller, who works as a physician liaison at Baptist Health, says the STEM programs resonate because that’s the arena she works in. While most women in health care hold traditional roles like physicians and nurses, Keller points to other ways women can enter the field like she did.
“It’s cool [in the STEM health care sector] to see how I can directly impact patient care without having to be the one administering the care,” Keller says.
“The Tjuana Byrd Internship Program is really cool because they focus a lot on minority women getting into the STEM fields where you don’t traditionally see a lot of women of color present,” Mitchell says.
While the Girls of Promise program also focuses on young women getting into STEM fields, the Women Empowered initiative collaborates with stakeholders throughout the state to close the gender and racial wealth gaps by assisting young women with asset building and access to capital.
“We are committed to measuring impact in ways that reflect both the scale and depth of our mission,” Gorman says. “We track quantitative metrics — such as the number of women and girls served, the geographic reach of our programs and the dollars directly invested into their economic advancement — while also valuing the power of qualitative insight.”
As for future goals, the organization aims to expand its statewide presence, delve deeper into research and ensure all initiatives have diversity, equity and inclusion at the center.
Power of the Purse is the organization’s largest fundraiser, but it’s also an opportunity to honor Arkansas women who stand out in community leadership. This year’s Woman of the Year honorees are Elizabeth Burns Anderson in business, Gayatri Agnew in public service and Dr. Sherece West-Scantlebury in philanthropy.
“[Choosing women from three categories] just shows the diversity of women,” Mitchell says. “The modern woman can be so many things. I think it shows young women who are participating in scholarship programs that they can be whatever they want and can succeed in any of those sectors.”
“Women are no longer siloed to traditional roles,” Keller adds. “I think the awards are a good representation to show that women can be leaders in all areas.”
Keller praises WFA for practicing what it preaches by selecting her and Mitchell as the event’s youngest co-chairs to serve in this role.
“They speak through their programming, but they’re also living it out by having us be the chairs and giving us the opportunity to rise to the occasion,” Keller says.
“Influential people in life connect the dots for you,” Mitchell says. “And that’s what we’re hoping to do with this foundation and with this event, to take our connections and the young women we know and plug them into things like this to make a difference forever.”
POWER OF THE PURSE
Benefiting the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas
Oct. 1, 11 a.m. | Statehouse Convention Center
Info: womensfoundationarkansas.org/power-of-the-purse
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JASON MASTERS
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