Three Upstate women named Women of Distinction by Girl Scouts of South Carolina – Mountains to Midlands

Girl Scouts of South Carolina – Mountains to Midlands will honor three Upstate women at its Annual Women of Distinction: Boots and Pearls Awards Dinner on October 26, 2023, at The Magnolia Grand, 106 W. Broad Street, Spartanburg, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Women of Distinction: Boots and Pearls honors local women of courage, confidence, and character, who exhibit exceptional professional and personal success and have made a lasting impact in their communities. The evening pays tribute to the honorees with an inspirational night of success stories.

This year’s honorees are: 

Traci Fant, Freedom Fighters Upstate

Betsy Teter, Retired Executive Director Hub City Writers Project

Young Professional: Devon Holder, Speech-Language Pathologist

Traci Fant, Organizer of Freedom Fighters Upstate SC, was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Traci believes in building a strong community through actions, not just talking about it, being about it! As a child and throughout her teen years, she attended Greater New Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, led under the leadership of Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks who was at the time President of the National NAACP. Under his leadership, Traci learned early the importance of community outreach, helping those in need, civil rights, and the civil rights movement. 

 Traci started the organization Freedom Fighters Upstate SC in 2015, a volunteer-based social justice organization in Greenville, SC that consists of dedicated individuals who have joined together to promote peace, unity, accountability, and justice for all on both a local and national level. The organization’s name “Freedom Fighters” was chosen due to the fact that Traci was given the nickname Freedom Fighter by nationally known civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. She is married and has a very loving and supportive husband Jeff. Together they have eight children and eleven grandchildren. Traci is very passionate about her mission to help people fulfill a normal, healthy, productive life and feels that together we can make a difference.

A native of Spartanburg, Betsy Wakefield Teter graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in history and entered the world of journalism. After a career that took her to four newspapers across North and South Carolina, she returned home to serve as business editor and Sunday columnist for the Herald-Journal for eight years. In 1995 she co-founded the Hub City Writers Project, which was then a small group of authors who met at a local coffee shop. 

In her 22 years as executive director of the non-profit Hub City Writers Project, she edited and published more than eighty books, including several important Spartanburg community histories such as Textile Town and South of Main. Over the years, Betsy shepherded an alternative arts organization called HUB-BUB, created an artist-in-residence program that still serves Spartanburg, and helped put dozens of writers to work in community service projects. Thirteen years ago, she founded the Hub City Bookshop, which has been named among the best in the region twice by Southern Living magazine. The Hub City Writers Project now has a paid staff of ten and occupies two buildings on the lower end of Morgan Square. The publishing arm, Hub City Press, is recognized as the premier literary publisher in the South.

In her retirement, Betsy writes family and community histories, occasionally teaches workshops, and travels the globe with her husband. They have hiked trails and paddled rivers from Alaska to Croatia to Norway. She is a recipient of Spartanburg’s Elaine Harris Tourism Award, the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts, SPACE’s Harold Hatcher Award, Leadership Spartanburg’s Alumnus of the Year, and Mary Margaret Sullivan Awards at Converse and Wofford.

She is married to John Lane, a retired professor of environmental studies at Wofford College, and they have two boys: Rob and Russell Teter, both in their 30s and living in Charleston.

Devon Holder has lived in South Carolina for the past four years. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Florida and worked as a Montessori teacher in a special needs classroom for a few years before returning to school to get her master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of South Florida. Since then, Devon has worked as a speech-language pathologist in elementary schools in both Florida and South Carolina.

Devon grew up in a Girl Scout troop.  Devon attributes her incredible experience from a Girl Scout Daisy through Ambassador to her leader who she says gave her and her Girl Scout sisters opportunities to travel and learn more about nature and the world around them. For her Girl Scout Gold Award Devon built a library in a women’s shelter to supply both adult and children’s books. With Girl Scouts, Devon traveled with her troop to Savannah, GA, the North Carolina Mountains, Biloxi, MS, Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. In Biloxi, Devon and her troop stayed overnight with a volunteer commune and helped to rebuild homes that were destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. 

Devon says the friendships she made through Girl Scouts have lasted to this day despite the geographical distance. They have been with her through college, road trips around the United States, backpacking through Europe, weddings, breakups, and girls’ weekends. My fondest memories are with her Girl Scout sisters, and I know that they helped mold me into the person I am today. Devon also credits her success to strong, kind, and passionate women in her life, including her mother and grandmother, her sister-in-law, her Girl Scout leader, and fellow Girl Scouts. 

We encourage everyone to celebrate these women of distinction. Event tickets and sponsorship information can be found on our website at gssc-mm.org or by contacting Lee Ann Maley at [email protected] or (864) 208-2709.   

About Girl Scouts of South Carolina

Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges—whether they want to climb to the top of a tree or the top of their class, lace up their boots for a hike or advocate for climate justice, or make their first best friends. Backed by trusted adult volunteers, mentors, and millions of alums, Girl Scouts lead the way as they find their voices and make changes that affect the issues most important to them. To join us, volunteer, reconnect, or donate, visit gssc-mm.org.