Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/235251
Lisa Peyton Caire Photographed by shanna wolf (opposite and top), Jeff Miller/University of Wisconsin-Madison (middle) and Laura Houlihan (bottom) Founder, Black Women's Wellness Day and Foundation for Black Women's wellness Lisa Peyton Caire's eyes opened when her mother died at age 64. When Caire listed all of the women she knew who were taken before age 65 by conditions like heart disease, stroke and diabetes, she was in disbelief: 40 names. So Caire leaned on her passion for generating opportunity and in 2008 founded the annual Black Women's Wellness Day to empower women to improve their health through personal choice, education and behavior change. To continue that movement through grassroots efforts and community partnerships, just last year she launched the Foundation for Black Women's Wellness. "I truly believe that if you change a woman's life, you change her children's life, her family's life and that spills over into the community and becomes a ripple effect to make all of our lives better." No doubt Caire will find new ways to keep paying it forward. –E.L. Rebecca Blank Chancellor of UW-Madison, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Since becoming chancellor of the UW-Madison last July—a complex job of steering the UW and navigating a variable political climate—Blank has prioritized economic issues affecting the university, including making it more competitive for federal grant funding. Her Ph.D. in economics and experiences working in the Department of Commerce are easily translatable to the position. Blank says she loves all the aspects of the job: the collaboration, the challenge—and the opportunity—of being at a crossroads. "We're in a time of a real opening-up of new technologies for the delivery of education…There's some new tools that can help add to [the classroom] environment and help this university reach out around the world," she says. "I have a very deep sense that big research universities are absolutely vital…the education, invention and community outreach makes these research institutions unique and critical for this nation's future." On Wisconsin, Chancellor Blank. –A.M. Jennifer Cheatham Superintendent of Madison Metropolitan School District As Madison Metropolitan School District's superintendent, Jennifer Cheatham oversees the education of 27,000 students. Her mission is bold: Create a thriving urban school district that prepares every single student to not only graduate high school but be college-, career- and community-ready. And, in all that, she says, "We are going to raise up the teaching profession and put it back where it belongs." Madison has high expectations of her. Hired essentially to propel MMSD to a higher level of learning, Cheatham has the enthusiasm and proven track record to build an educational model that's collaborative, inclusive and respects knowledge— an uplifting environment for teachers and learners. In her nine months in office she's introduced the Strategic Framework—a school improvement plan to ensure every student and teacher is challenged to do their best work within a joyful learning environment. "We are fiercely focused on executing that plan." That is Cheatham's promise. –K.B. JANUARY 2014 | bravamagazine.com 47