Bridgette Smith-Lawson is the Managing Attorney for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Regions 5 & 6 consisting of 23 counties in Southeast Texas. Smith-Lawson began with the Department of Family Protective Services as a Regional Attorney assigned to Adult Protective Services and then to Child Protective Services. Smith-Lawson supervises a division of…
Mya Smith-Edmonds, a native of Houston, Texas, is the first female African-American Next Generation McDonald’s owner/operator, owning seven McDonald’s Restaurants in Central Indiana. She serves as a board member in the Indianapolis region and has earned the Trailblazer Award for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO Indianapolis), was a recipient of the Galore…
People have different drives and aspirations, which can either make them the leader or the follower. True leaders are also good followers and come from all occupations. They are able to build lasting relationships, forge bonds, and develop trust with the people they encounter. One of those people is Sherrie Sams, who manages to succeed…
Gabriella “Gaby” Rowe is the CEO of Station Houston, the city’s largest hub for startup technology acceleration, corporate innovation and entrepreneurship. Station Houston’s membership includes over 200 active startups, 350 members, 130 mentors and 40+ high-impact strategic partnerships with the corporations that lead the key industries of Energy, Transportation, Aerospace and Construction driving Houston’s economy….
Marilyn A. Rose is a Certified Public Accountant. She is the Accounting Administrator in the Finance Office of the Executive Bureau at the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. She has worked in various capacities in her six year tenure there. Before coming to the Sheriff’s Office Rose spent nine years at the Harris County Tax Assessor…
Eileen Perilla has worked for Shell for 15 years in a variety of roles across the Group. She joined Shell in the Lubricants business as Cluster Finance Manager, Business to Consumer North America. After three years in Lubricants, she spent three years in Upstream, first in The Hague with Upstream Commercial Finance (now Mergers &…
Eureka Patton, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, moved to Houston, Texas in 1978. While she cherishes her fond memories of Mardi Gras, arts and heritage festivals, Cajun cuisine, crawfish and music (especially jazz), the greater Houston area is where she has made an indelible mark in the professional business sector. This highly proficient and…
Chau Nguyen is the Chief Public Strategies Officer for the Houston Area Women’s Center, tasked with managing and expanding key partnerships while positioning HAWC as thought leaders in order to drive broad awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault, with a goal of reducing interpersonal violence and changing cultural norms about how survivors are understood….
Jamila Mensah is an Employment and Labor partner in Norton Rose Fulbright’s Houston office. Her practice covers all areas of employment law, including extensive experience in discrimination, retaliation and wage and hour issues. In particular, Mensah litigates on behalf of her clients in federal and state court and before administrative bodies, such as the Equal…
Native Houstonian Paula Mendoza is an entrepreneur, innovator, advocate, barrier-breaker and tireless volunteer recognized not only for the quality of her work, but for the passion she brings to every endeavor. For the past 19 years Mendoza has been in leadership at Possible Missions, Inc. (PM), a company she established in 2001, specializing in Project…