Our 2023 Leadership Award Winners!
We are delighted to celebrate our three 2023 Leadership Award winners.
We celebrate women* leaders in any way we can because we know the work is hard and often without immediate reward. The work these three women are doing is essential to creating an equitable world and building just, inclusive, and representative democratic societies. Our award winners will be honored at our Making Waves Gala on Saturday, June 3, 2023, in Seattle.
*Those who identify as women, trans, non-binary, or gender expansive.
Our 2023 Center for Women & Democracy Leadership Award winners are Emily Pinckney, Judge Andrea Jarmon, and Aparna Rea.
Emily Pinckney |
Emerging Women of the Year
Emily Pinckney is a woman leader who is at the start of her career and has already shown her leadership abilities and demonstrated that she has only just begun.
She works as a policy and impact strategist, scientist, problem-solver, and community organizer at the cutting edge of equity and environment. She currently works as the Breaking Barriers Collaborative Project Coordinator at Climate Solutions. Highlights of her 15-year career include serving as the Executive Director for 500 Women Scientists where she worked with women worldwide to fight for abortion access and reproductive justice for all genders.
She has also served on Governor Inslee’s environmental task force, the Sustainable Tacoma Commission, and the boards of Communities for a Healthy Bay, Care about Climate, Urban League, Washington Build Back Black Alliance.
Judge Andrea Jarmon |
Leadership (Re)Defined
Judge Andrea Jarmon is a woman leader who comes from a nontraditional background and through her initiative and actions, exemplifies that women can lead where they land.
She was elected to the King County District Court in November 2022. Her previous positions include serving as an administrative law judge with the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, city prosecutor for the City of Seattle and City of Auburn, and prosecutor for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office in the Criminal, Sexually Violent Predator, and L&I divisions. Judge Jarmon’s journey to the bench started as a homeless youth using public transit and shelters for safety.
Later, as a young mother experiencing domestic violence, she represented herself as she navigated the court system. She entered the legal profession to give voice and representation to people with stories like hers. From all accounts she has succeeded. Using the words of someone who has witnessed her work, she embodies the belief that when leaders especially women leaders rise and stand for others, they stand for their own success, everyone rises, and an equitable world is possible.
Aparna Rae |
Women Leader of the Year
Aparna Rae leads where she lands and demonstrates the power and tenacity of women’s leadership in democratic societies.
In her own words, she is an educator by training, innovator by chance, and a disrupter by choice. As the founder of Moving Beyond, she works with companies who demonstrate a strong commitment to reshape their companies to fully align with the goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion. She started her career as a 4th grade English-Spanish dual language teacher before starting her PhD at the University of British Columbia, which brought her to the Pacific Northwest.
Among her many accomplishments, she created a program at Neighborhood House in South King County which increased on-time graduation rates of high school students. She also co-founded Project Feast, a non-profit organization that empowers refugee and immigrant cooks by preparing them for culinary careers and food entrepreneurship. She also co-founded Future for Us, a professional organization for women of color.