Leading Women identifies women who are 40 years old or younger for the tremendous accomplishments they have made so far in their careers. They are judged on professional experience, community involvement and their commitment to inspiring change. Winners are selected by a judging panel made up of some of last year’s Leading Women honorees and a representative from The Daily Record. 

August 19, 2026

5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Gertrude’s Restaurant at the Baltimore Museum of Art
10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218

5:00 p.m. – General Networking Reception

6:00 p.m. – Awards Celebration

6:30 p.m. – Networking Continues

The evening includes heavy hors d’oeuvres, bar and dessert

Reserve your sponsorship now!

Sponsorship opportunities include a table for your guests or a package of tickets, the right to use the event logo, multimedia marketing opportunities and much more depending on thesponsorship level you choose. This event is limited attendance and will sell out. If tickets are available after the sponsorship deadline, a limited number of individual tickets will go on sale.

2026 Honorees

McKenzie Allen
Maryland Alliance of Public Charter Schools

Sarah Amyot
Philip Morris International U.S.

Jami Barney
Ashley Addiction Treatment

Andrea Beall
Allegany College of Maryland

Marecya Burton
Maya Angelou Public Charter School

Susanna Chon
GRF CPAs and Advisors

Alyse Cohen
Long Shot’s LLC/Cohenterprises, Inc.

Rebecca Corona
Morgan Stanley

Tyler DeBella
Baltimore Convention Center

Samantha Dos Santos
Plaxen Adler Muncy, P.A.

Heather Dotson
Susquehanna Workforce Network

Tyler Duckett-Oliver
Miles & Stockbridge P.C.

Brittany Dunklow
Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor

Niki Falzone
Platoon 22

Celina Figueroa
ALPFA Association of Latino Professionals for America

Megan Gatto
Art with a Heart

Emily Greene
Kramon & Graham, P.A.

Ricquel Griffin
Chesapeake Employers’ Insurance Company

Kendra Rose Hernandez
Global Refuge

Breanna Hill
APG Federal Credit Union

Swanisha Hinton
The Arc Baltimore

Jennifer Hobbs
Penn-Mar Human Services

Jessica Holman
The League for People with Disabilities

Jean Jauregui
University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center

Dalencia Jenkins
WBAL-TV11 News

Monica Johnson
Black Girls Vote

Veronica Kamara
KLNB

Stephanie Klapper
Maryland Health Care for All

Michele Lambert
Maryland Comptroller’s Office

Dr. Lili Leonard
Black Dog Philanthropic Consulting

Anna Levendusky
Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration

April Lugo
McCormick

Jaime McKay
Transit Services of Frederick County

Rhiannon Miller
RK&K, LLP

Renée Myrie, LCSW-C, LPN
Circuit Court for Baltimore City

Priscilla Ottley
Truist

Courtney Pearson
MedStar Health

Jasmine Pope
Turnbull, Nicholson & Sanders, P.A.

Stephanie Purnell
Gynemed Surgical Center

Athina Ramphal
The Genealogy Club Inc.

Alexis Redmond
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Krystle Sanders, Esq.
United States Department of Justice

Brandy Stephens
Fello

Dr. Nicole Telfer
Notre Dame of Maryland University

Lilly Wedekind
The Baltimore Station

Rose Whitney
SECU MD

Amber Scott Woodruff
Greater Baltimore Committee

Delegate Teresa Woorman
Maryland House of Delegates

Lashonda Wright
Downtown Partnership of Baltimore

Brigid Zuknick
Arts for Learning Maryland

Past Honorees

Click here to view and purchase photos from the 2025 Leading Women celebration!

Click here to view the 2025 Leading Women Awards publication!

The Daily Record and recognition sponsor Keswick is offering a Leading Woman scholarship of $2,000 to honor a student majoring in/pursuing a degree in geriatrics, gerontology, nursing, public health, or a health-related major with a focus on aging. To qualify, the student must attend a Maryland four-year, fully accredited, degree-granting college or university and be a junior or senior majoring in one of the fields listed.

Click here for more information and to apply!

Thank you so much for recognizing my hard work. I am beyond honored to be named as one of the Daily Record’s 2020 Leading Women.

I am so thankful for this reward, which is an excellent morale booster that will encourage me to continue doing my best work. I am also appreciative to you and your team for the effort to empower women in the state of Maryland.

Again, I am sincerely honored by this recognition and I look forward to attending the virtual awards celebration.

-Marlene Okojie, Business Analyst, Sparksoft Corporation (Leading Women Winner)

I just want to thank you, your staff, the sponsors, and the judges for such a wonderful event. I am humbled and honored by my inclusion in this group of phenomenal women, and I am very impressed with the turnout and organization of the awards ceremony. Well done! I can’t think of anything you could have done better.

-Kiesha Haughton Smoots, Regional Director, Maryland Small Business & Technology Development Center (Leading Women Winner)

Thank you again for including me in the inaugural class of The Daily Record’s Leading Women. You and your entire staff put on an incredible event and I was honored to be a part of it.

-Mary Bolduc-Glagola, President, HoCoPromo LLC, MEG-Communications LLC ( Leading Women Winner)

I would like to thank you again for choosing me as The Daily Record’s 2014 Leading Women scholarship winner. I was able to do so much with this scholarship. As I said in the interview, I was going to use the scholarship to attend the 2015 Youth Assembly at the United Nations. I was so fortunate to be a part of the 300 delegates who came from all around the world to attend this assembly. “The Youth Assembly at the United Nations is a unique platform created to foster dialogue and generate partnerships between exceptional youth, UN high officials and staff, private sector, and civil society.” From this experience I was able to maximize my potential and meet other leaders like me who would like to make a positive impact on this world. This experience has also helped me realize that I wanted to intern for the United Nations. Thus, leading me to apply for an internship this summer at the United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights in Guinea and I got accepted into the program. I am currently interning for this UN’s office in Guinea and none of it would have been possible without me receiving this scholarship and attending the Youth Assembly.

–Oumou Diallo, Student, Towson University (Leading Women Scholarship Winner) 

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