WEST VIRGINIA WONDER WOMEN
THE HELPING HAND BEVERLY WHITE, LEWISBURG First Black city councilwoman and current mayor of Lewisburg FROM THE START “My dad would sing the song, ‘If I could help somebody as I pass along, then my living shall not be in vain,’ so I always felt like that’s what we’re supposed to do in life—help others. We do it by serving our community.” THE POWER OF FAITH “Every morning, I pray for our city, our employees, our businesses, and then I branch out to the county, the state, the country, and the world. Having that relationship helps me stay grounded, helps me to interact with the public, and to just show kindness and respect and love—because I feel that’s how we all should be towards each other.” A BRIGHT FUTURE “I’m passionate about our city and the growth we see happening. I’m excited about where we are right now in my administration and where we’re going in the future. I see good things happening for Lewisburg, and that makes me proud. I want our children, especially in West Virginia, to be able to be successful. What our children see and hear is so important to me, and I try to be the kind of leader that, when they see me, they know that I am inclusive, I care, I respect them, I love them, and I want them to be their best selves.”MM THE STARGAZER KATHRYN WILLIAMSON, MORGANTOWN WVU professor of astronomy and co-founder of West Virginia Climate Actio n TEACHING FOR THE STARS “When I worked at the Green Bank Observatory, I founded the West Virginia Science Public Outreach Team, which trains college students to be ambassadors and give science presentations to K–12 students. There are a lot of ways students can be a part of science, such as through the Pulsar Search Collaboratory and Skynet Junior Scholars. We’re amplifying the science that’s happening in our state, showing that you don’t have to leave West Virginia to be part of really cutting-edge, authentic science and excitement around scientific progress.”
ENCOURAGING FUTURE SCIENTISTS “Middle-school age is the time that these really personal identifications start to happen—when you start to identify with scientists, or not. When I was in eighth grade, my dad gave me the book Cosmos by Carl Sagan. I wouldn’t have told you then that I wanted to be an astronomer, but I had that sort of moment. And now I get to be like Carl Sagan; he was a communicator of science.” CONNECTING FOR OUR CLIMATE “We’re stronger together, so West Virginia Climate Action tries to connect people and amplify the work that is happening, whether it’s highly organized or highly personal.”MY
THE FINANCE PHENOM
SARAH BILLER, MORGANTOWN Executive director at Vantage Ventures and co-founder of the FinTech Sandbox CREDIT TO TRANSPARENCY “I got into fintech—financial technology—during the credit crisis of 2008. During that time, it was a very different investing environment. Very opaque risks, and I knew I wanted to help create transparency in those risk structures. I took those lessons from the credit crisis and built a company.” LIFE LESSONS “They’re earnest lessons about community, helping others, and applying yourself. You get up every day with the intent of doing something, by and large, if you can do something good for others. I’m the co-founder of a not- for-profit called the FinTech Sandbox. It’s a regulatory framework that the Legislature passed unanimously in January 2020. We were the fourth state to do it, so we were very innovative. We provided a framework for lending and providing credit and financial literacy for Main Street businesses. It’s very exciting. It’s put West Virginia on the map to attract and retain these entrepreneurs. It helps us introduce new technology and ideas.” RESOLVED TO SOLVE “I’m passionate about solving problems. I’ve never met a problem that I don’t like. I’m inspired by really talented people in solving those problems.”MY “We’re stronger together.” KATHRYNWILLIAMSON
BEARER OF HOPE LYN O’CONNEL, CHESAPEAKE, OHIO Associate director of the Division of
Addiction Sciences, at Marshall University, and creator of Project Hope for Women and Children THE MOVE, THE CHOICE “When we chose to remain in West Virginia, my husband and I sort of said: We are all in on Huntington, and whatever it takes to be part of the community, and use our talents and strengths to both learn and engage in the community, we’ll do.” A COMMUNITY NEED “When I first moved here I worked from more of an individual focus and recognized that, if we take a specific population, which is pregnant or parenting women, they are often forced to choose between a life of recovery or access to treatment on the one hand, or parenting on the other. That’s a really unfair and almost impossible choice. So, they won’t go to treatment because they don’t want to leave their kids, but they almost can’t maintain their kids because they can’t go to treatment.That really influenced our development of Project Hope for Women and Children, which is the first model of its kind in West Virginia, allowing women who are pregnant or parenting to bring their children with them.” MAKING THE DIFFERENCE “Working in substance misuse and recovery is an area where you can really see change. I think it is somewhere where you can really see the difference that treatment is making, that community is making, that the human spirit is able to make overall.” AB
74 wvliving.com • fall 2021
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