In honor of Women’s History Month, Assemblymember Gail Pellerin invites the community to nominate local women who are making a lasting impact and driving positive change. Celebrating Women’s History Month means recognizing and elevating the women who are shaping our communities today. To honor their extraordinary contributions, a special luncheon is held each year in a different city within the district. Last year’s event took place at Valley Water in San Jose, and in 2025, it will be hosted at the Community and Cultural Center in Morgan Hill. Learn more about the 13 remarkable Women of the Year below.
Cara Pearson
Cara Pearson, President of Pacific Cookie Company in Santa Cruz, CA, not only runs her family-owned business but also actively contributes to the community as a board member of the Downtown Association. She collaborates with local businesses and the city to enhance the district. As a mother of two daughters, she's deeply involved in their school and sports activities.
Edith Ramirez
Edith Ramirez serves as Morgan Hill’s Assistant City Manager. With 30 years of public service experience, she leads with gratitude and passion for revitalizing communities. Born in Mexico City and raised in the Bay Area, she is a proud mother of two. Edith holds an MPA from SJSU and a Local Government Leadership Certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Joanne Vliet
Joanne Vliet’s decades-long dedication to international trade and investment has had a lasting impact on the region’s economy. Through her leadership at the U.S. Department of Commerce's office in Silicon Valley office from 2000-2025, she expertly advised hundreds of companies from the dot-com boom to the dawn of AI, promoting exports and developing programs aimed at safeguarding and advancing the global competitiveness of the region.
Kacie Hackett
Kacie Hackett, a registered nurse in Boulder Creek, provides in-home care while also tending to her four-year-old’s medical needs, homeschooling her eight-year-old, and raising her one-year-old. She enjoys outdoor adventures with her boys on their mountain property and balances family life with designing their home remodel. Amidst it all, she cares for their animals—two large dogs and an impertinent cat. Her positive, loving contributions to her family, despite the many challenges of the last few years, are an absolute inspiration to all who cross her path.
Kate Dang
Kate Dang is a dedicated emergency department nurse with nearly 20 years of service. She's known in her department for her clear thinking and innovative crisis response, especially during the pandemic. Passionate about the next generation, she has mentored high school girls—walking with them from freshman year to senior year for over 20 years. During COVID, she earned a Master’s in Theology, deepening her commitment to faith and service to her community which has allowed her to step into teaching and instructional roles in her church community and at the hospital.
Lynn Sestak
Lynn, a longtime Santa Cruz County resident, lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains and serves as a Board member and volunteer with the FireSafe Council of Santa Cruz County. As a Firewise coach, she has expanded the number of Firewise communities in the county from 9 to 85 since 2020. She also co-developed the Council’s free wildfire safety program and is a trained Home Ignition Zone Assessor, dedicated to strengthening wildfire resilience.
Mary Hoshiko Haughey
Throughout her 45-year career with the YMCA, Mary has lived her passion for building strong kids, family and community through high quality youth development and healthy living programs. Central to her work (and her favorite) is building partnerships—truly believing that together we are stronger and best able to serve the community.
Mo Katzman (they/them)
Mo is an artist, teacher and Queer space maker. In Santa Cruz, Mo teaches at Tannery World Dance and Cultural Center and Motion Pacific where they are also the director of Queer Programming. Mo is a Dance for Parkinson's instructor and teaches throughout the Bay Area.
Judge Nahal Iravani-Sani
The Honorable Nahal Iravani-Sani is a Superior Court Judge in Santa Clara County, appointed in 2017 by Governor Jerry Brown as the first Iranian-American judge to serve on the county’s bench. Prior to her appointment, she spent 23 years as a Deputy District Attorney.
A strong advocate for fair access to the courts, Judge Iravani-Sani co-chairs the Judicial Mentorship Program, which fosters a diverse and highly qualified judicial applicant pool. Passionate about education and mentorship, she has taught Trial Advocacy at Stanford Law School and Trial Techniques at Santa Clara University School of Law. She also serves as the Judicial Co-Chair of the county’s High School Mock Trial Steering Committee.
In 2019, she partnered with the Iranian American Bar Association to establish the Judge Iravani-Sani Public Interest Scholarship, supporting law students pursuing careers in public service. Committed to fairness, integrity, and compassion, she continues to serve the community with dedication.
Nancy Macy
Nancy is a longtime environmental advocate and community leader. Raised in Pasadena, she later settled in Boulder Creek with her husband, Ken, and their three children. A former teacher, she co-founded the Valley Women’s Club of San Lorenzo Valley in 1978 and directed the SLV Redemption & Recycling Centers for 23 years.
For over 40 years, she has led environmental initiatives, including the River & Road Clean-Up, the Environmental Town Hall, and Earth Day Santa Cruz. As chair of the Sierra Club Utility Wildfire Prevention Taskforce and FACT—Fires Aren’t Caused by Trees, she fights for responsible wildfire prevention and utility safety.
Robin Shepherd
Robin Shepherd is a passionate advocate for dementia education, research, and caregiver support. As Co-founder and Executive Director of the Susan & Charles Berghoff Foundation, she guides strategy, programs and partnerships with Stanford, Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara County, and SJSU. Robin is also the filmmaker behind the award-winning documentary Sue’s Story: A Journey with Lewy Body Dementia, which highlights the challenges of the disease.
Terry Hernandez
Terry Hernandez is a dedicated advocate for the LGBTQ+ community with deep roots in San Jose, California. She holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Social Work from San Diego State University.
With a passion for storytelling and representation, Terry previously served as a writer for The Gay & Lesbian Times in Southern California. She has a long history of community engagement, including founding a women’s queer group in San Diego to foster connection and support.
Terry is also the founder of Pride Social South County, a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to providing support, advocacy, and resources for LGBTQ+ individuals in South County. Through her leadership, the organization continues to create inclusive spaces and amplify the voices of those in the community.
Viviana Barnwell
Viviana Barnwell, originally from Colombia, came to the U.S. after graduating from law school to work as a bilingual elementary teacher. With over 15 years in public education, she currently serves as an instructional coach. Viviana is deeply passionate about education and language access.
After becoming a mother to a son with multiple disabilities, she began advocating for her child and, later, for other families and individuals to better understand how to access services.
Her advocacy primarily focuses on educating people so they can advocate for themselves and their loved ones. Most of the individuals she serves are monolingual Spanish-speaking immigrants. Viviana is currently a candidate for the California Bar Association, aiming to transition from her career in public education to become a Disability/Civil Rights Lawyer. Her advocacy centers on social justice, inclusion, self-determination, and reducing language barriers—principles she strives for in both her son's life and the lives of all individuals with disabilities.