2020 Honorees
2020 Women of Distinction
Natalya Bannister
Natalya Bannister was on a mission. She was studying at the University of Florida, preparing to apply to law school and volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club when a young girls lack of hope changed everything. The girl told Natalya “brown people don’t go to college.” It was a moment that would change her life forever.
To see a woman like Natalya as someone who could be enrolled in college was such a foreign concept to that young girl. But because of that conversation, Natalya saw that girl begin to realize a new world of opportunities - much more than she had ever thought possible. Natalya gave up on the idea of law school and decided to follow her passion of helping kids in need.
Now the Executive Director at the Pace Center for Girls, Natalya says she sees a part of herself in each of the girls at the center. “It is so important to me that they understand their potential and that their trauma doesn’t define them.”
She says that education made her the woman she is today, and she tells the girls at Pace what opportunities await them if they work toward getting an education. “Education has saved my life. If I hadn’t taken that leap of faith, I wouldn’t be able to help the girls in the community. Santa Fe is where I started college. Santa Fe opened doors for me and put me on this path. Now, I can pass that on to the girls at Pace.”
Florida Bridgewater-Alford
Florida Bridgewater-Alford has dedicated her life to civic and community organizations across the greater Gainesville area for nearly 30 years. She considers community service to be her responsibility and her charge, finding areas of disparity within the community and working to ease the burdens so many people are facing.
Inspired by her grandmother’s battle with breast cancer, Florida volunteered her time with the American Cancer Society serving on its local and state boards. She’s helped the community with more localized civic organizations including the Gainesville Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, an international organization devoted to strengthening African American communities through service and advocacy. She is also heavily involved in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., an organization for college educated women to continue their servant leadership that is both domestic and international in its scope volunteering and bringing projects to benefit their communities.
A UF graduate; a wife; and a parent to two children in the Alachua County School System, she is also a dedicated proponent of education. Florida knows that every child has the capacity to learn, but the educational inequalities in this country need to be addressed. “Having the number one state college in our county is a jewel beyond our true appreciation. Santa Fe College continues to be innovative and progressive about educational outreach strategies and has identified ways to address many of this area’s societal issues – including poverty.”
For the future, her goals are to empower, educate and help those most in need.
Christine Janks
Christine Janks left the horse show business for thoroughbred horse racing because results mattered. Despite being the only female trainer at the time, she knew that once her horses won, being a woman wasn’t going to keep her from being successful. “The horse show business was whoever the judge thought was the best. In racing, it was whoever got there first. And that’s what really appealed to me.”
That kind of determination led Christine to her current passion, running the Carson Springs Wildlife Conservation Foundation in northeast Gainesville. Visitors learn about more than 32 species of animals there – everything from lemurs and warthogs to tigers and a rhinoceros. She also challenges her staff to think critically about what they want to do beyond just the general term of “conservation”, getting them to understand the work involved and making them consider their career choices and their goals.
At Carson Springs, she promotes conservation with information and real-life answers. “The most important way we do this is to stand them in front of an animal. No one donates to conserve an animal that they’ve never seen and haven’t formed an emotional connection with it. The only way to do that is through good animal parks and good zoos.”
As a 2020 Woman of Distinction, Christine says she hopes that she can inspire people to think about the environment, but also to look for education in every part of their life, to never stop learning, and to realize how much we can learn from life’s experiences.
Vicki Santello
Working on Wall Street at a time when doors were closed to women who wanted to manage financial portfolios, Vicki Santello has always been a trailblazer. She dealt with men who didn’t like her “taking one of their jobs” and other women who didn’t appreciate her entering into “a man’s job.” Working long hours, and with the help of key mentors early in her career, she began to acquire bigger clients and gained the respect of her colleagues.
Vicki’s passion for education followed her from her undergraduate experience at Bryn Mawr College, for which she credits not only earning her Economics degree, but also providing her with analytical and organizational skills that have been key to her professional success.
Vicki left New York and moved to Gainesville in the late 1980s. In 1990, she was named the Investment Advisor for the Santa Fe College Endowment Fund. Under her management, the fund outperformed the S&P benchmark despite historic volatility and has been able to provide scholarships for approximately 11,000 students.
“Education is the one charitable outlet that can change everything,” Santello said. “When an individual is educated, new doors open that they may not have known even existed. And when those doors become visible, that person’s thought process, their whole paradigm shifts.”
Now retired, Vicki spends much of her time following another passion as a wildlife photographer. She has been able to travel the world, seeing people, places and creatures, and capturing them with her camera lens in hopes of inspiring future generations in exploration and conservation efforts.
Lisa Tatum
When she’s not running her own interior design business, “Windows by Lisa,” Lisa Tatum spends much of her time making sure young women in Bradford County have both educational and cultural experiences. Lisa volunteers at numerous organizations in Bradford county organizing and helping with festivals, dances, etiquette classes and arranging fundraisers for teachers’ needs in the classrooms.
Lisa was behind an organization called G.R.I.T.S. (Girls Raised in the South), which teaches Bradford County girls between the ages of 5 and 18 manners, proper table settings, sewing, how to get involved in volunteering and more. Girls learn leadership skills and gain confidence by expressing their talents in fashion shows, public speaking and demonstrations in the community.
She also created Miss Bradford Fest, a scholarship pageant that allows a young lady in the community to attend Santa Fe College. Now celebrating its 10th year, Miss Bradford Fest gives young women in the community a chance to earn scholarships, build self- confidence, public speaking and interview skills. So far Miss Bradford Fest has awarded ten scholarships.
Lisa’s biggest passion is working as a Guardian ad Litem. She has spent more than a decade as an advocate for children in the community working with case managers, and looking out for the best interest of children who have been abused, abandoned or neglected. She also serves in the Woman’s Club and Altrusa of Starke
Lisa believes there are many things that people can do to benefit their community and use their skills to help others.
2020 Woman of Promise
Although she left her home in Syria before the war started, Joudi Ayroud hopes to one day be able to help her nation heal. She believes in the power of community
service to expand horizons and raise awareness about people, cultures and nations.
Joudi was interested in getting her college degree at Santa Fe College after an uncle graduated from SF in the 1990s. She truly values her education calling it “an absolute privilege. Even though almost every female in my family has attended college, as an Arab woman, I am one of the most fortunate ones to be attending one of the best colleges in the nation. Santa Fe College has provided me oceans of opportunities that shaped me into the person I currently am.”
After earning her A.A. in Political Science, Joudi graduated from SF with a bachelor's degree in Organizational Management in the spring of 2021. Her dream job would be to work in the United Nations, advocating for people in need.