WEST VIRGINIA WONDER WOMEN
DIANA SOLE WALKO Telling West Virginia’s Story Diana Sole Walko is passionate
TAMMY JORDAN Nourishment for All Tammy Jordan invests in the lives of others through her 19-year- old company, Fruits of Labor in Rainelle. When Jordan was 5 years old, she visited a dairy farm and immediately fell in love with the idea of agriculture and
about West Virginia and
telling its stories. “West Virginians haven’t told their stories very well, or very often, especially in visual form,” she says. “So it’s been my passion to tell those stories, whether it’s through a corporate piece, a historical documentary, or a biography focused on our natives who have excelled.”
having a show farm, and her passion has only grown. Fruits of Labor provides a vast number of programs and opportunities for the community, state, and nation through agriculture and culinary arts. Jordan’s company has expanded into an agricultural farm-to- table program called Seeds to Recovery, which is a nationally recognized American Culinary Federation Quality Program for individuals recovering from addiction. Fruits of Labor also works with other at-risk populations using the same methods. From baking to running the cafe to farming and hosting many retreats, Jordan is passionate about her work with others. On top of making her community a better place, Jordan is also a writer, a recipient of multiple awards, and the executive pastry chef at Fruits of Labor. Ultimately, Fruits of Labor’s philosophy is to work with the whole person—the mind, body, soul, and spirit—and that’s exactly what Jordan does every single day. MM
She founded MotionMasters video production company in 1987 and continues to love her career, especially getting to know people and forming new relationships. She believes that we’re all called to do something to make our communities better places. As one of the founders of the Charleston Area Alliance and a former volunteer for Habitat for Humanity who helped start ReStore, she was raised to give back. BM
ANCELLA BICKLEY The Preservationist
Ancella Bickley is a groundbreaking historian who expanded the body of knowledge on African American history in West Virginia. Her preservation efforts include oral histories from the West Virginia School for the Colored Deaf and Blind and the recovery and archiving of medical files from an abandoned segregated sanatorium. Bickley spent her early years in a predominantly white neighborhood in Huntington, during the 1930s, where a white woman across the street from her home stood up with her Jamaican mother when she became a naturalized citizen. Bickley earned her bachelor’s degree in English from West Virginia State College in 1950 and, in 1954, earned her master’s degree in English from Marshall University, where she was the first full-time Black graduate student. She went on to earn her doctorate in education from West Virginia University in 1974 and taught English at West Virginia State University, where she retired as the vice president of academic affairs. In 1988, along with historian Joe Trotter, Bickley started the seminal West Virginia Conference on Black History. In 1997, she published her work, Our Mount Vernons , on sites of significance to black history in West Virginia. She later co- edited a work on Memphis Tennessee Garrison and encourages others to look back at those who have inspired them and record their lives. Today, she enjoys a quiet life in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband of 70 years and elder daughter, where she spends mornings drinking coffee on her front porch. JC
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