Clean Streets Matter
4/10/21
Clean Streets Matter
GA Women joined hundreds of other Middle Georgians
in a community wide effort to pick up trash
STEERING COMMITTEE
Ansley Booker
Ansley Booker, Ph.D. is a native of Eatonton, Georgia. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in biology from Georgia Southern University in 2008, where she was a Ronald E. McNair Scholar, a Master of Science in pharmacy from the University of Georgia in 2013, and her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Mercer University in May 2019. In addition to being a passionate scientist and educator, Ansley is also an award-winning, international speaker, author, and consultant. Her passion for STEM was highlighted in her 2019 TedTalk at the University of Georgia entitled Unhidden Figures: Uncovering Our Cultural Biases in STEM. Lastly, Dr. Booker is a dedicated community advocate committed to social justice, equity-mindedness, and inclusive leadership. Dr. Ansley Booker is a proud graduate of Leadership Macon 2019, the Urban Leadership Academy Cohort 3, and is a 2022 Middle Georgia Regional Champion.
Andrea Cooke
Andrea Cooke joined the Georgia Women Steering Committee in 2020, bringing new energy, perspectives and ideas to the group! Andrea is a married mother of eight working to complete her doctorate in marriage and family therapy at Antioch University in Keene, N.H. Having received her bachelors degree in social work from THE Fort Valley State University, she went on to obtain a masters in marriage and family therapy from Mercer University. In 2010, along with her mother and husband, they opened the southern center for choice theory, a small counseling business working with vulnerable populations.
Andrea is an advocate for families negatively impacted by DFCS and the criminal justice system and is dedicated to eliminating barriers for women and girls in the state of Georgia.
Paula Del Rio
Paula Del Rio joined the Georgia Women Steering Committee in 2020. She earned a BS in Civil engineering and a MBA from EAFIT University, in Medellin, Colombia. Paula has been a Montessori teacher for over 12 years in numerous international and national locations. She currently teaches and holds administrative positions at Montessori of Macon. Since 2014 she has also worked as Director of Religious Education at High Street Unitarian Universalist Church. An active and committed member of her community, Paula is passionate about community organizing and social justice. She is one of the founders and board member of Macon Periods Easier, an organization devoted to raising awareness of period poverty in Macon-Bibb County. Among other things, Macon Periods Easier provides education and menstrual products to schools, organizations, and individuals. She also helped found and volunteers for the Middle Georgia Immigration Coalition, which provides critical resources for local immigrant communities. She and her spouse, Hollis Phelps, have four children, Jeronimo, Luci, Alden, and Sebastian. When not traveling, they all reside in Macon, GA.
Tracie Jenkins
Tracie M. Jenkins, PhD serves as Secretary of the Steering Committee of Georgia Women (And Those Who Stand With Us) because she is a wife, mother, grandmother, scientist, and person of faith who believes, like those with whom she serves, that in diversity there is strength and in a strong representative democracy there is hope. Tracie is a UGA Emerita Associate Professor in Insect Genetics and graduate of the University of the South’s Education for Ministry (EFM) four-year certificate program in theological education. She is a master gardener who spends as much time as possible in her pesticide and insecticide free garden cultivating plants and the good insects that look after them. Herbs from her garden are often, therefore, sampled when pulled from the soil. As an amateur nature photographer, she captures the myriad creatures around her. She also documents the life in, around, and flying over her garden to demonstrate how poison-free environs thrive. This she records in her blog, “lifethroughtheseasons.blogspot.com”. Yes, Tracie, like Stephanie Kwolek, the inventor of Kevlar, thinks “all sorts of things can happen when you’re open to new ideas and playing around with things.”
Marty Koplin
Marty Koplin, co-president of Georgia Women, is a native of Richmond, Virginia but her educational endeavors brought her to the University of Georgia where she earned a BS in Family Development.
Since moving to Macon in 1982 with her husband, Evan, Marty has worked in the non-profit community in Middle Georgia. Planting her roots of advocacy early on, she served as the Coordinator of the Sexual Assault Victim Assistance Program for Crisis Line of Macon & Bibb County and as Director of Kids Voting Georgia/Bibb County. Marty’s passion for education and for the Middle GA community were further informed by her work as an Educational Consultant with Discovery Toys and most recently as an Executive Assistant with Macon Economic Development Commission, part of the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce.
Marty has devoted her time to serving on the boards of Congregation Sha’arey Israel synagogue, Leadership Macon and the Georgia Children’s Museum. Reading, cooking, hanging out with her 3 fierce daughters, attending concerts and traveling are Marty’s favorite past-times but Georgia Women (And Those Whose Stand With Us) has enabled Marty to become an ‘accidental activist’ tying together all of her passions, empowering women to speak truth to power.
Nyonnohweah Seekie
Nyonnohweah Seekie was introduced to Georgia Women in 2018, when she attended a Rapid Response Training event to assist as a hotline operator and interpreter responding to non-emergency needs of immigrants. Her interest in voter education led her to being involved with many Georgia Women civic engagement initiatives.
Nyonnohweah is the owner of The Seekie Law Firm, LLC, a criminal defense and immigration firm located in downtown Macon. She is a first-generation Liberian-American and a graduate of Georgia Southern University, Widener University and Mercer University School of Law.
Attorney Seekie is devoted to counseling clients through the arduous territory of criminal prosecution and immigration, responsible for various cases including: Visa petitions, naturalizations, misdemeanors, felonies, federal crimes, post-conviction representation and more.
In the community, Nyonnohweah is an avid volunteer for Macon and Middle Georgia. She is an active member of the State Bar of Georgia, Young Lawyers Division; Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA); Macon Chapter of Junior League; the Area Vice President of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Board Member/Secretary for the Georgia Legal Services Program. Nyonnohweah is married to her loving husband Cecil, and together they enjoy spending time with family and friends, serving their community, worshipping at Lundy Chapel Baptist Church, and traveling with their adorable dog.
Lynn Snyder
Lynn Snyder is the immediate past co-president of Georgia Women. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia’s School of Nursing attending on an Army Student Nurse Program scholarship. She met her husband Rich at Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Augusta. After six years of active duty and eighteen months in the reserves, and achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, she left the service to start a family. As a family, the Snyders have lived in six states (Georgia twice) and Lynn worked in a variety of nursing positions in each one. She earned her Master’s Degree from Central Michigan University’s Extended Degree Program while living in Maryland and Pennsylvania. She decided to hang up her “cap” after almost forty years when she returned to Georgia in 2012. She taught English as a Second Language at CGTC first as a volunteer, then as an adjunct instructor until recently. Lynn is the proud author of Lynn's List, our (almost) weekly advocacy suggestions. Her son and daughter-in-law live in Cincinnati with their two gorgeous daughters.
Brenda Wiliams
Brenda Sutton Williams is a product of Bibb County public schools, a Golden Key honor graduate of Morris Brown College; has a MA from the University of Phoenix and completed post graduate courses, focusing on leadership. Ms. Williams is the first Africa American and female to lead the Houston
and Macon Alternative Dispute Resolution Program serving Superior, State, Magistrate and Probate courts of Houston, Macon Bibb, Crawford and Peach Counties. She is registered in Civil, Domestic Violence, Specialized Domestic and Juvenile Delinquency Mediation Categories in the state of Georgia. She is a graduate of Leaderships Macon, Ware, Blackshear and Southeast Georgia Leadership Academy. Ms. Williams
is the creator and a radio personality for the hilarious radio show “All of A Sutton”. She is on the Steering Committee for Georgia Women and (Those Who Stand With Us). Lastly, Ms. Williams served on the Mayoral Transition Team for then incoming Mayor Lester Miller. All of her accomplishments were gained after the age of 40 following a divorce from long term marriage. “You are what you believe in. You become that which you believe you can become” Bhagavad Gita.