WEST VIRGINIA WONDER WOMEN
SARAH WILLIAMS Dedication to Clay Sarah Williams was a stay at home mom who had a dream of promoting her hometown of Clay and helping it come back to life. She felt the calling was payback after the community helped her when her family lost everything in the flood of 2016. She found a way to do so through Small Town Market.
“My goal is to give back and help families in our community live and thrive. Make a difference and make lives a little easier,” she says. With her father as a confident role model who started his own business, community support and family love motivate Williams. “I have three babies, and I want them to grow up thinking they can do whatever they set their mind to—you are capable, you can be a mom and have a career if that’s what you want to do.” Small Town Market offers locally sourced meat and produce and accommodates those in Clay’s rural areas by providing a delivery service on weekends. Clay is identified as a food desert and locals desperately need every food resource they can get. Williams’ dedication to help families in her home have helped the town thrive. Her ambition and dedication to bring her hometown back to life makes her remarkable. BM
LISA MESSINGER WOOD Giving Back in Gratitude Lisa Messinger Wood is not your typical nonprofit director. A native of Huntington, the first 25 years of her career were as a teacher. Her husband’s career path took them out of West Virginia and brought them back when he became president of Davis & Elkins College. “Not only did we fall in love with the college, but we also fell back in love with
Elkins, Randolph County, and Central West Virginia.” Wood truly wants West Virginians to have a vibrant life and expresses this in her many volunteer positions and through her work as executive director of the Elkins-Randolph County Chamber of Commerce. What drives her is the motivation to give everyone opportunities in West Virginia, especially the youth. “West Virginia has always been home. The opportunity to come back here and finish our careers has been a blessing for sure. The people of this area have welcomed us and made us feel like we are a part of the community. Giving back is my way of saying thank you to them.” BM
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