Women Vision SC

Shortly after Cathy Hughes joined The Times and Democrat in Orangeburg in 1972, she got a call from the society editor who said, “Cathy, The Times and Democrat’s on fire.” Hughes and her husband rushed to the paper and along with staff members watched as smoke came out of the building. Undaunted, the staff published the paper the next morning. She learned early on the value of leadership and a committed staff. She has been with the newspaper for 48 years, becoming publisher in 1999, the first woman to lead the enterprise.

Dr. Shaniece Criss “The world will tell you what success looks like, but truly success looks differently for different people.” The words of Dr. Shaniece Criss. She has defined her own success by fulfilling purpose in three main areas: government, media, and academia. And she has succeeded in all three. She was the first African American female to be elected to the Travelers Rest City Council in the Upstate. She is an assistant professor of Health Science at Furman University. And as a public health practitioner, Dr.

“Follow your passion. Don't ever forget to take care of yourself.  That's critically important. I think as women, we don't always do that very well.” 

Keisha Hawes was age 31 when she had a heart attack. She was a wife and mother, who was holding down several part-time jobs in the Charleston area to help to make ends meet.   She has taken the experience of her heart attack as a way to “serve another purpose.”  She said, “when I was stuck on the fact of suffering a heart attack, I actually suffered. I continued my suffering. When I took a moment and I stopped and I said, ‘no, let's look at this from the lens of you survived a heart attack. So now, what is the purpose in your survival?

As president, CEO and owner of Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Lou Kennedy runs a global company out of West Columbia, South Carolina. She and her husband helped establish the Kennedy Pharmacy Center Innovation Center in conjunction with the USC School of Pharmacy. She received South Carolina’s Order of the Palmetto in recognition of a lifetime of service.

Pastor, Maranatha Free Church of Jesus Christ

Founder, Exec. Director, Angels Change Ministry

President & CEO, Central Carolina Community Foundation; Former Chair,  Richland County Library

President, Micco, LLC; Chairman of the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport Commission

District Director, Office of U.S. Representative William Timmons (SC-04)
Former Spartanburg County Clerk of Court

President, The Maritime Association of South Carolina

Founder, ETV Endowment; Executive Producer, South Carolinians in WW II

President and CEO, Auntie Karen Foundation; Producer, songwriter, author

Jennifer Gutierrez-Caldwell is the Director of Youth Services at Pendleton Place.

Inez Tenenbaum practices law at Wyche, P.A. in Columbia and Greenville. She is the former Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the former Superintendent of Education for South Carolina.

Also known as Aunt Pearlie Sue, Singleton-Prather is an educator, storyteller, and historian of the Gullah culture.