Celebrating International Women’s Day by Recognizing Women in Las Vegas Who Give Back to the Community
March 8 marks international Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the historical, cultural, and political achievements of women We wanted to recognize a few women entrepreneurs and who give back to our community (Pictured: Rita Vaswani).
Rita Vaswani, Chairman for Roseman University of Health Sciences College of Medicine COM campaign and VP Relationship Manager, Nevada State Bank.
Rita Vaswani as the newly appointed Chairman for the Roseman University of Health Sciences College of Medicine campaign for the COM Breakthrough in Medicine! campaign. In this prestigious role, Vaswani will support Roseman’s College of Medicine’s mission of educating competent, caring and ethical physicians from diverse backgrounds, conducting biomedical, translational, and clinical research, and providing quality patient-centered care, education and service to our partner communities.
With more than two decades of banking experience, Vaswani is the Vice President, Client Relationship Manager for Nevada State Bank. She also has a strong background in health care, and focuses on banking relationships primarily serving the state’s health care industry.
Patricia Farley, State Senator, Owner of Southwest Specialties and Board President for Serving Our Kids Foundation
Patricia Farley
In addition to owning Southwest Specialties, former State Sen. Patrica Farley has been elected board president of Serving Our Kids, a Southern Nevada nonprofit that fights child hunger.
Serving Our Kids is a volunteer-driven organization dedicated to feeding at-risk and homeless children throughout Clark County. It has served more than 425,000 weekend food bags to children and currently supports 63 Clark County schools by providing weekend food bags.
In Carson City she led bipartisan efforts to better fund education, combat drug abuse and make families a priority in Nevada. She was also served on a blue ribbon commission to improve the child welfare system.
Cathy Brooks, CEO and Founder of The Hydrant Club.
Cathy Brooks
Hydrant Club’s Chief Human Officer (of the membership downtown dog park,) Cathy Brooks eschews the label of “dog whisperer” people seem to like to apply to her work.
She prefers to call herself a “canine counselor” whose focus is teaching people how to communicate with their dogs in a language the dog already understands. She does this through leading seminars and classes on “canine linguistics” as well as customized, one-on-one dog training classes teaching everything from behavioral modification to dog obedience.
Marcella Williams, Co-Owner and COO of The Juice Standard.
Marcella Williams
As a girl, Marcella Williams’ diet included the same balance of healthy and kid-pleasing, belly-busting foods just like the rest of us…but when motherhood rolled around, her views on health changed. More enthralled by nutrition than nachos, the onslaught of research this young mother was exposed to—linking pesticides and chemicals to later-in-life medical problems, developmental delays and diseases—was a powerful jolt toward Williams’ recognizing that we truly are what we eat.
Jasmine Taylor, Assistant Director, Sunrise Children’s Foundation
Jasmine Taylor
Sunrise Children’s Foundation, which offers free programs and services focusing on early childhood education, has announced Jasmine Taylor as the new assistant director.
Taylor was selected by the Mayors of Compton and Los Angeles to be the president of the RebuildLA Youth Task Force after the riots in 1992. She was a youth activist at the time and has been a public servant ever since. She earned a Bachelor of Science in nonprofit management from USC and a master’s degree in counseling from Dallas Baptist University. She is a Reinhard Mohn Fellow, a National Urban Fellow, speaker, trainer, certified parenting and relationship coach, author and ordained minister.
Jennifer Bradley, JB Public Relations
Jennifer Bradley
Jennifer Bradley has more than 18 years of media relations and community relations experience in Las Vegas. A women-owned business, JB Public Relations has existing PR clients, such as: Vegas PBS, Lakeside Event Center and Roseman College of Medicine, and launched Escape Reality (Vegas/Chicago), Vegas Girl!, Cowabunga Bay Waterpark, Absolute Balance Studios and Adventure Combat Ops. Bradley is the Board Co-Chair for the American Cancer Society and Board for Better Business Bureau and also assists non-profit clients including: Veterans Village and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Christina Vitagliano, Founder of Monster Mini Golf
Christina Vitagliano
Christina Vitagliano is the founder of Monster Mini Golf is a chain of monster-themed entertainment centers. Founded in 2004, the company has 30 18-hole miniature golf courses across the country with two locations in Las Vegas, including the flagship location KISS at the Rio and the Twilight Zone, set to open at Bally’s this fall. Last month, Vitagliano moved the company headquarters from the East Coast to Las Vegas. She is also an avid toy collector.