History Fort Lauderdale and Galleria Fort Lauderdale’s “Women Trailblazers: Champions of Change – Broward County” 2025 presented by UKG Reception
March 5 @ 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
$50
History Fort Lauderdale and Galleria Fort Lauderdale will honor six impactful women who lead our community during its “Women Trailblazers: Champions of Change – Broward County” 2025 presented by UKG ticketed reception benefitting History Fort Lauderdale set for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5, at Galleria Fort Lauderdale (2414 E. Sunrise Boulevard). The reception will be hosted by radio personalities Julie Guy and Tamara Gant of the 101.5 LITE FM Morning Show.
This year’s honorees are Rita Case, president, CEO and owner of Rick Case Automotive Group, Frances M. Esposito, chief strategy officer of Broward Partnership, Ina Lee, owner of Travelhost Magazine of Greater Fort Lauderdale, Susan Renneisen, vice president of community affairs and special events at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Juliet Roulhac, director of external affairs for Broward and Southwest Florida for Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) and corporate philanthropy for NextEra Energy (NEE), FPL’s parent company and Elaine Vasquez, owner of Broward’s first bilingual newspaper, El Heraldo de Broward.
The Women’s History Month celebration will kick off a special photo exhibit highlighting these women alongside their groundbreaking historical female predecessors who helped to pave the way for our community. The exhibition celebrating their achievements will be on display through March 31.
Past pioneering women counterparts to be highlighted in the 40-photo exhibit include Ticie Swaggerty (1887-1971), co-owner of Swaggerty Taxi Co. and president of the Lauderdale Transit Co. who grew the company from a single Buick in 1919 to the building of a new bus terminal in 1943, Edee Greene (1913-2000), founder of Women in Distress of Broward County, who played an essential role in the operations of the organization which has helped more than 250,000 homeless and abused women and children with items like housing, food, clothing, and counseling since 1974, Pualani Mossman Avon (1917-2006), the face of Hawaiian tourism pre-WWII, a business owner who owned and operated dance studios, clothing stores (including the Mai-Kai retail store) and manager of sales and promotion tours for the South Pacific and Asia for Lauderdale-by-the-Sea’s Boulevard Travel Center, Patricia Murphy (1905-1979), proprietor, creative mind, hostess, and landscaper of Patricia Murphy’s Candlelight Restaurant who built herself into a brand and remained running the landmark entity until 1977, Virginia Shuman Young (1917-1994), who served as the city’s vice mayor, mayor, and mayor pro tempore and who championed civic and community causes including Boy and Girl Scouts, the United Way, The Opportunity Center, the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Fort Lauderdale Women’s Club and Lorna Simpson (1913-1995), journalist for WKAT radio’s Children’s Program “The Pelican’s Pouch,” society editor and writer of the Daytona Beach Sun-Record and a Fort Lauderdale Daily News columnist.
History Fort Lauderdale and Galleria Fort Lauderdale’s “Women Trailblazers: Champions of Change – Broward County” 2025 presented by UKG is sponsored by Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), GPR | Goodman Public Relations, City & Shore PRIME magazine, South Florida Business Journal, Dillard’s, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52 and P.F. Chang’s.
Tickets for the March 5 recognition and benefit reception honoring today’s leaders are $50 and are available at https://bit.ly/HFLWomenTrailblazers2025.
For more information about History Fort Lauderdale and Galleria Fort Lauderdale’s “Women Trailblazers: Champions of Change – Broward County” 2025 presented by UKG, or to join this event as a sponsor, call (954) 463-4431 or visit historyfortlauderdale.org. Additional information about Galleria Fort Lauderdale is available at facebook.com/GalleriaFtLauderdale or www.galleriamall-fl.com.
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