The Team
The Team
Leadership team
& Advisory Council
The Team
Our leadership team consists of a working board of directors as well as many members who are actively involved with events, publicity, communications, planning, fundraising, and more. Thank you to everyone who contributes to our year-long efforts.
Please consider getting involved! We welcome newcomers to our committees and Board. We’d love to hear from you.
Our leadership team consists of a working board of directors as well as many members who are actively involved with events, publicity, communications, planning, fundraising, and more. Thank you to everyone who contributes to our year-long efforts.
Please consider getting involved! We welcome newcomers to our committees and Board. We’d love to hear from you.
Book Club Coordinator
CFSC and Social Media Coordinator
Marketing and Publicity
Film Festival Director
BOARD VICE PRESIDENT
Film Festival Director
BOARD VICE PRESIDENT
Film Festival Director
Board Vice President
Adopt-a-Road Coordinator
Retired. Formerly Project Manager for the Montessori Foundation and Membership Director for the International Montessori Foundation. Active Board member of the International Montessori Council; TWE Film Festival reviewer. Avid reader and lover of tennis, walking, classical music, museum visits with her husband and being grandmother to four amazing granddaughters.
Marketing Strategy
Molly began her career in Los Angeles as a film production assistant. While living in L.A. she worked under various producers assisting with marketing for film distribution sales at MIFED, AFM, and Cannes for Image Organization. Molly arrived in Sarasota in 1991 and has worked in Broadcast Radio since that time for various station owners. She joined iHeartMEDIA in 2004, where she currently serves as a Vice President, Sales.
Board Treasurer
Susan brings to her position over 25 years of accounting experience working with various nonprofits and small businesses. Born and raised in Georgia, Susann earned her accounting degree from the University of Georgia. She and her family moved to Sarasota in 2013. Susann enjoys traveling and spending time with family.
Book Club Coordinator
Leita Kaldi Davis worked for the United Nations and UNESCO, for Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Harvard University. She worked with Roma (Gypsies) for fifteen years, became a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal at the age of 55, then went to work for the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti for five years. She retired in Florida in 2002, and wrote a memoir of Senegal, Roller Skating in the Desert, and of Haiti, In the Valley of Atibon, as well as several travel memoirs.(amazon.com or lkaldi@hotmail.com). She served as president of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Gulf Coast FL. Leita received the Lillian Carter Award in 2017.
CFSC and Social Media Coordinator
Jennifer Jula is acting Senior Legal Counsel at CAE Healthcare, a medical simulation company based in Sarasota, Florida, where she has been working since 2011. Jennifer provides guidance on corporate legal matters and engages in the company’s overall corporate business strategy, with a focus on transactional negotiations, licensing, intellectual property, M&A, and compliance. She has been a member of the Florida Bar since 2010.
Jennifer graduated from the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law, specializing in intellectual property law. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and mathematics minor from the University of Florida.
Jennifer finds solace in buying more books than she will ever be able to actually read. She is also an aspiringly enthusiastic runner who owns more carbon-plated running shoes than is reasonable to possess by any standard. She is apt to engage in lively conversation, prone to debate such things as which element of the patriarchy is most pervasively problematic AND/OR which Taylor Swift album (including the re-releases) is best (the only correct answer is “1989” ). She takes great pride in the fact that, despite the very strong inclination, she has not (yet) started her own podcast. When she finally (inevitably) does, she will obviously update this bio accordingly.
Jennifer has been volunteering with Through Women’s Eyes since 2018, and has been coordinator with the Curious Feminist Social Club since 2021. She also devotes some of her time to volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters, the American Cancer Society, and Mom’s Demand Action.
Marketing and Publicity
Andrea Martone is a national communications specialist and special events consultant who has worked over 35 years with numerous corporations, small businesses, nonprofits, state-wide government agencies, not for profit organizations, philanthropic foundations, financial institutions, corporations and the Arts, Music & Theatre.
She has a long-standing relationship with key national, regional and local media. She is a former Arts & Entertainment Editor for the Observer Newspaper Group and works with Selah Freedom, a Sarasota-based anti-human trafficking nonprofit.
President
Scott has lived and worked in seven countries on four continents, working in international development, law, and education. She speaks regularly on activism and the global gender gap; right now she is working on a book about the lives of women and girls in India. She holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, and MPA from Princeton University and a JD from New York University School of Law. Scott was a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa and is an avid amateur athlete.
Board Secretary
Jane Rose is member of the University of South Florida faculty on our local Sarasota-Manatee Campus. After spending 14 years as an academic dean, she recently returned to a faculty position in the Department of English and is happily re-engaging with her first loves—teaching and research. In her field of American literature, she has two areas of specialization, which reflect her passions: recovery and reassessment of 19th century and early 20th century women writers exploring multicultural voices and experiences of ethnic and marginalized writers.
She has also been active in internationalizing curricula and providing global experiences to students. She had taught in Japan, the Czech Republic, and India, and she has been involved with study-abroad programs in Italy and Mexico.
For several years, Jane has been involved with Through Women’s Eyes as a reviewer for the international film festival. As her academic career is winding down, she is excited to become a more integral part of the TWE leadership team.
Volunteer Coordinator
Kristen is a freelance writer and editor who covers topics including wellness, travel, pets, and more, for various print and digital publications as well as corporate clients. She’s been recognized as an influential voice in the body positivity movement and encourages people to realize that they’re worthy of love and respect exactly as they are, right now. A transplant from Michigan and a graduate of University of Florida, Kristen enjoys hitting the beach near her home in Sarasota for morning walks and sunsets with friends, but as much as she enjoys being at home with her husband and pets, she rarely turns down an opportunity to travel — especially if it gets her out of the heat and onto some great hiking trails. She began working with Through Women’s Eyes in 2018, serving on the communications committee and as volunteer coordinator for the film festival, and is continually grateful for the opportunity to connect with other like minded individuals to promote gender equality.
Film Festival Director
Debbie worked in the film and entertainment industry and then fell in love with teaching. She has taught elementary school for over 30 years and in 2019 was nominated by her school as Teacher of the Year. She also trains teachers in the Montessori method of education. Debbie is originally from New York and lived in Southern California before moving to Sarasota and she still loves to travel. Her enthusiasm for our Through Women’s Eyes International Film Festival helps bring the best films made by, for, and about women to our audiences every year.
Board Vice President
MaryAnn has devoted her nursing career addressing issues impacting the health and well being of women and children globally. She holds a BSN from City University in New York, and MSN in Community Health Nursing from Thomas Jefferson University. MaryAnn holds certification as a Nurse Practitioner and a Community Health Clinical Nurse Specialist. In her role as the Senior Nursing Advisor for The Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), MaryAnn worked extensively in 15 countries addressing the prevention of HIV perinatal transmission, which remains her primary research interest. MaryAnn was a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa and is a documentary photographer.
Terry is a retired energy attorney from Washington, DC. She has been active in a number of non-profits — locally and nationally, including UN Women – USA, Coalition to End Gun Violence, WUSF, Sarasota Library Foundation. Protect Our Defenders and the Asolo Theatre Company. Her passion is in the area of civil rights and civil liberties, with an emphasis on how those areas impact women both in their professional and their daily lives.
Mary is an Emmy-award winning journalist and media consultant who has worked in both the United States and South Africa. She has won numerous awards for editorial excellence and television programming. Mary currently serves on the Board of the Asolo Repertory Theatre as Chair of the Illumination Advisory Committee which promotes post-show conversations on race, gender, and cultural intersection. For her efforts to bring people together, she was named a 2019 Unity Award Winner by Sarasota Magazine. She also serves on the Board of WUSF Public Media and screens films for the “Through Women’s Eyes” Film Festival sponsored by the Gulf Coast Chapter of UN Women. A longtime women’s rights advocate, Mary was elected Chair of the Board of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida in July 2021.
Dr. Mona Jain is the retired Director of Family Health Services for Manatee County Head Start, a Fulbright and National Science Foundation Scholar, and Medical Doctor who has also been a teacher and administrator in American, British, and Indian systems of education since 1961. Dr. Jain has demonstrated long-term achievements within education, medicine, and the community, earning recognition from the Manatee County school district, which dedicated the Dr. Mona Jain Middle School on August 8, 2019, in Lakewood Ranch (Bradenton). Recognition of Dr. Jain is not limited to the United States. During a visit to her home country of India, she was granted a private audience with international humanitarian, Mother Teresa, and Dr. Jain was one of only 20 women in the nation honored with the Community Service Award from the American Medical Women’s Association. Other recognitions include: the 2001 University of South Florida Distinguished Alumnus Award, USF College of Education Dean’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Distinguished Professional Achievement Award from the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee Alumni Chapter, Jewish Women and Family Services Women of Valor Award, American Association of University Women’s Women of Achievement Award, United Negro College Fund Distinguished Career in Education Award, United Community Center Minnie Rogers Community Service and Spirit Award, and life membership in Delta Kappa Gamma, and Phi Delta Kappa. Dr. Jain was a centennial honor initiate of Kappa Delta Sorority and was the 2007 Order of the Pearl recipient for outstanding leadership and prominence at the national, state, and local level.
Cooper has written about food, politics, civic issues, the arts, and music in Southwest Florida for 15 years. His work has won multiple awards from the Florida Magazine Association and the Florida Society of Professional Journalists, as well as an honorable mention from the Julia Child Foundation.
Tom has worked with WSLR/Fogartyville for many years. He was on the board for seven years and still continues as the co-host of the Peace & Justice Report (Wednesdays at 9am). He is President of the Florida Consumer Action Network, on the board of Suncoast Waterkeeper, hosts monthly meetings of the Nation Group of Sarasota/Bradenton, and moderates weekly meetings of the Sarasota Great Books group. He’s also a Democratic precinct captain and member of both the Sarasota-Charlotte Democratic Progressive Caucus and Progressive Sarasota, originally a Bernie Sanders group. His hobbies are Japanese calligraphy, improv comedy, and travel.