Day to shine for the 25 Women You Need to Know

They are business owners, educators, attorneys, philanthropists, volunteers, former elected officials, community leaders and so much more, but more importantly, they’re women who make a difference in the Tallahassee community.

They were all gathered Monday for a reception at the FSU Alumni Center Ballroom on Tennessee Street to honor the Tallahassee Democrat’s 25 Women You Want to Know.

Berneice Cox, a 2013 honoree, said she was excited to be in the presence of women who were honored in the past and make a real difference in the community as she too was joining their ranks. The 25 Women program “has been a huge improvement to women in the community,” Cox said. “It’s wonderful to have the encouragement and support from other women.”

“Recognition is nice, but I know its place,” Cox, who is an advocate and lobbyist at The Bacall Group, added. She explained that acknowledgment is often a catalyst for people to use their talents to benefit everyone city-wide. “It does allow other doors to open, both professionally and in the community,” she said.

Honoree Laura Reeves helped choose inductees last year. Now, she is on the other side of the fence after being nominated by her daughter. She said the whole experience has been surreal. “It does feel like it is happening to someone else,” Reeves said.

Reeves is the president of Business and Professional Women/Tallahassee. She said in her organization there are several previous honorees who she has had the privilege to spend a lot of time around. “I’ve been saturated with that kind of personality and civic-mindedness,” Reeves said. “These are women that are compulsive, almost, about philanthropy. They cannot, not be doing something.

These women are “unsung heroes in their own right,” said Club 25 president and 2008 honoree Pam Ridley. “Brave, ambitious, hard-working and involved in the community, it’s a big, big thing,” Ridley said of the women who were inducted, and have been in the past.

She said each year the anticipation grows as nominees start to come in. This year, 140 nominees were whittled down to the final 25. “It’s very exciting to see ‘who’s it going to be this year?’ ” Ridley said, adding that the women represent a valuable cross-section of the community.

Club 25, made up of past honorees from the Tallahassee Democrat’s 25 Women You Need to Know, added 25 more members Monday night as former honorees gave thanks to those who give back to their community each and every day. Now there are 175 in total.

In the past, the group has planted trees throughout the city, provided scholarships to local students and taken on community projects. But instead of starting new projects, Club 25 inherits existing projects and uses the wealth of talented individuals and ideas to improve and usher them into really making a difference.

The past year was a busy one for the group. It collected toiletries for The Shelter, hosted development-assistance programs at the Boys and Girls Club of the Big Bend, collected $1,000 to help fund milk warmers at the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Foundation and held a career fair at the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of the Big Bend.

Club 25’s first president Judi Taylor said she was proud to see a new batch of exemplary women from the Tallahassee community come into the group. This is “one impressive group of women,” Taylor, who served in 2010, said with a smile. “We’re growing.”

Joanne Brown, who served as the Club 25 president in 2011, said since the group’s start as a small gathering to honor those who were selected, the organization and the recognition of women from the community has taken off. “These are just too successful of women not to make a difference,” Brown said.

Reeves said to see philanthropy recognized, and the resource Club 25 members offer to the community is overwhelming. She said the event, and the group, has formed a way for a “powerhouse” of women to become trailblazers for the next generations.

“It’s nice for all of the women who have pioneered every opportunity for women in the 40s, 50 and 60s and to now see their daughters and granddaughters taking it even further,” Reeves said.

Christy Crump will start as Club 25 president later this month. She said five new community projects on tap for the coming year have been presented by members.

Each year the group strives to find one project that takes time and energy, one that requires raising money and one that requires collecting something.

“One person can certainly make a difference,” Crump said. “But when you take a group of dedicated, determined and extremely powerful women and you put us together, we can change lives.

“We’re taking all of our expertise and our time and what we have to offer and we’re just building on what is already there,” Crump said.

Success and giving back are requirements for induction into the group, but “you always have to keep in mind that the people who are coming behind you, you’re building the road for them,” Crump said. “You’re putting the footsteps in the sand for someone to walk behind you.

“Those women are putting those footprints even deeper in the sand for the women who will come behind them,” she added.