Meet the finalists of YWCA Knoxville's Tribute to Women awards

The YWCA of Knoxville and the Tennessee Valley has announced the finalists for its 37th annual Tribute to Women Awards Gala.

These awards honor East Tennessee women across industries for their accomplishments and impact on the community. 

The awards recognize women who exemplify the YWCA mission: empowering women, eliminating racism, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.

The nominations were scored by out-of-state judges who are leaders at YWCAs across the country. The judges used a four-question rubric to select the honorees in each category. Those honorees will be announced at a ceremony Oct. 6. 

The categories are arts and culture; business and industry; community enhancement; education; emerging leader; racial and social justice; and science, technology, and environment.

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The event starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Mill & Mine, located at 227 W. Depot Ave. Tickets are $150 and can be purchased at ywcaknox.com. The proceeds fund YWCA services across East Tennessee. 

Meet the YWCA Tribute to Women finalists

Arts and culture

Becky Hancock is the executive director of the Tennessee Theatre. Her role demands overall strategic and operational responsibility for the theater, its staff, programs and mission.

Rose Weaver is a preschool teacher at Blossom Center for Childhood Excellence who leads through the arts. Finding the value in artistic self-expression, she engages youth to express themselves creatively.

Felecia Outsey is a producer and artist developer at Divine Urban eXpressions Cultural Arts N Dance Productions. She leads a monthly "Love is the Answer" community showcase to provide youth and families impacted by trauma and violence with a creative outlet for expression.

Business and industry

Ali Fraley is the vice president of learning and development at Axle Logistics. She oversees and drives continuous growth through organizational development.

Adrienne Simpson-Brown is the first Black female Chief U.S. Probation Officer of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. She oversees a staff of 83 employees, including probation officers and administrative staff.

Alexa Sponcia is the owner of Hard Knox Pizza. She acquired the restaurant in 2014 and has grown what used to be a 1,200-square-foot space into three locations.

Community enhancement

Dr. Kimberly Fortner is the vice president of the Center for Women and Infants at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. She's also a professor in the University of Tennessee at Knoxville Graduate School of Medicine's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, where she serves as division director of maternal-fetal medicine and vice chair of obstetrics quality and service.

Catalina "Lina" Kornmeyer Evans is a senior executive at Bank of America. Her passion for the community can be seen through her extensive local nonprofit engagement and mentorship of others.

Tiffani Mensch is chief capacity building officer for the United Way of Greater Knoxville and leads the Alliance for Better Nonprofits. In 2022, she piloted an initiative that was selected to receive a $25 million state grant.

Education

Rukiya Foster is the assistant principal at Austin-East Magnet High School. She takes advantage of every opportunity to shape, encourage and influence students' lives.

Allison Comer is the executive director at Muse Knoxville. Her professional background includes work in elementary public education as a visual art educator, teacher effectiveness coach, curriculum developer and administrator.

Arléne Amarante is an assistant professor of law at Lincoln Memorial University, where she teaches legal writing, immigration law, asylum and refugee law and critical race theory. She also has worked as an attorney representing asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors in deportation proceedings.

Emerging leader

Abby Ham is a morning news anchor at WBIR. She anchors 10 News Today starting at 5 a.m., serves as a leader in the newsroom, and reports stories about the people of East Tennessee.

Mariam Husain is a community grower. She is a Palestinian-American who is deeply committed to helping build strong and safe communities in which people care for each other and promote safety.

Crystal Ivey is a broadband program specialist for the U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications Information Administration. Her work supports the "internet for all" initiative to connect everyone in America with affordable, reliable high-speed internet.

Racial and social justice

Angela Dennis is a social justice, race and equity reporter at Knox News. She has played a pivotal role in covering news and important issues within the Black communities of Knoxville at the intersection of historical and contemporary lenses.

Margo Miller is the executive director of Appalachian Community Fund. In this nonprofit grantmaking organization, she has helped leverage millions of dollars to support social justice work in Central Appalachia.

Cynthia Finch is the founder and president of New Direction Health Care Solutions. She coordinated vaccine clinics in Knoxville's Black communities that led to the administration of more than 4,000 vaccines.

Science, technology, and environment

Kathleen Gibi is the executive director of Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful. She has orchestrated infrastructure projects to improve our river’s health, including installing 800 art-wrapped cigarette receptacles.

Layla Marshall is an engineer in the enrichment science and engineering division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She designs, programs and validates advanced control system architectures, primarily supporting research in stable isotope production.

Rose Montgomery is a leading researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She performs research on used nuclear fuel storage and disposal. Her innovative methods have advanced the country’s understanding of fuel performance in disposal and storage conditions.