Smyrna Councilmember Honored by YWCA of North Georgia

Teri Anulewicz, Smyrna’s Ward 3 City Councilmember, is one of 15 women being honored with a Woman of Achievement Award at the YWCA of North Georgia’s Tribute to Women of Achievement ceremony Friday, March 23.

“I was thrilled to be nominated because that alone is a tremendous honor,” Anulewicz said. “And then to have the recognition of actually being selected as one of the women of achievement--I’m very excited about the event.”

Honorees are nominated by members of the community. This year there were 50 nominees. From these nominees the YWCA chooses 15 women who demonstrate outstanding leadership in their personal and professional endeavors.

“YWCA is a women’s organization and we believe in leadership and just to honor and give significance to women who have done outstanding things in their community and achieved within their environments,” said Kimberly Jorgensen, YWCA of North Georgia’s operations director. “It’s a man’s world. A lot of places give out the glass ceiling award and so here we have just honored the 15 women.”

Smyrna residents know Anulewicz for her service as a City Council representative. She was elected in November 2007 after she ran a door-to-door campaign that unseated a 19-year-incumbent by a large percentage of the vote. However, Anulewicz is active in her community outside the political sphere.

“I talked a lot about the work I’ve done with the Junior League of Atlanta over the years,” she said. “When I write it all down I’ve kept pretty busy.”

Anulewicz has been a member of the Junior League of Atlanta since 1999 where she has volunteered in the NICU at Grady Hospital, helped organize a mentorship program for Hispanic girls and chaired the JLA Political Affairs Committee. Additionally she is a member of the ’s Smyrna Area Council and a 2006 alumna of Leadership Cobb. She was also named one of Cobb’s 20 Rising Stars Under 40 in 2008. Now Anulewicz can add the Women of Achievement Award to her resume. Holly Comer, YWCA’s CEO said that in recent years the awards have become more prestigious.

“Prior to my coming here in the most recent years anybody that was nominated was honored that night,” she said. “So we could have 40 people that were being honored. We collectively decided that we wanted to make this an honor (...) They’d gotten away from doing that and we felt that that was still important because it brought more prestige to being nominated and honored and then being selected as Woman of the Year.”

The Tribute to Women of Achievement is Friday, March 23 at the . In addition to recognizing Women of Achievement Award winners, the YWCA will present the Kathryn Woods Racial Justice Award, the Pat Head Dignity Award and the Purple Ribbon Award.

Other Women of Achievement Award winners include: Avril Beckford, M.D., Chief Pediatric Office for WellStar Pediatric & Adolescent Center; Terri Benson, Financial Sales Executive for IBM; Marilou Franklin, C130XJ Program Director for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company; Jeriene Grimes, Creative Director for the Beulah Group; Allison Gruehn, Business Manager for First Presbyterian Church Weekday Preschool; Amy Knudsen, Benefits Specialist for Genuine Parts Company; Debbie Michel, Client Service Manager for Travel & Transport, Inc.; Sandy Miller, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Gas South; Rebecca Nash Paden, Historical Preservationist/Author; Debra Pickett McCracken, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction for Marietta City Schools; Bonnie Buckner Reavis, Found and CEO of Zenith Design Group; Brenda Rhodes, Founder and President of Board of Directors for Simple Needs Georgia; Linda Rodriguez, Agency Owner for State Farm Insurance Company; Angela Strickland, Director of Energy Efficiency for Georgia Power Company.