Two local women to be honored as Women of Distinction by Girl Scouts of South Carolina

The Girl Scouts of South Carolina – Mountains to Midlands will honor two Greenville-area women at its Annual Women of Distinction Awards Dinner on Thursday, September 15, 2016 at Clemson’s University International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville, beginning at 6:00 p.m.  Magaly Penn has been appointed as the event’s chair. The evening pays tribute to women who exemplify excellence in service, leadership, community visibility, and professionalism.

This year’s honorees are: Tan Kirby Davis, Founder and Lead Consultant of Tan Davis Consulting & Facilitation; and Zandra L. Johnson, founder and managing principal of The Z Firm, LLC.

 

Tan Kirby Davis is a seasoned consultant, facilitator, and thought leader.  She specializes in Leadership Development, Talent Management, Strategic Diversity, and Intentional Inclusion. She also designs high impact leadership retreats and conferences, using innovative approaches and processes.  Tan started her consulting business in Greenville, SC in 1997 and continues to serve a diverse client base that includes corporations, nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, health care industry, and municipalities.  She uses her corporate and civic experiences to help organizations and individuals move forward.

Tan’s extensive corporate leadership experience comes from her employment with the Hanesbrands Corporation, and the former Sara Lee Corporation.  For over twenty-years, she successfully led their leadership training, talent management, recruitment, and was appointed to be the first Chief Diversity Strategist. She worked with the Executive Leadership Team to lead a comprehensive initiative for a global workforce of over 20,000 employees. She reported to the division’s President and Chief Operating Officer.  She transitioned her experiences into a successful consulting business, and was recognized by Working Women’s Magazine for Entrepreneurial Excellence in the Southeastern Region.

She believes in community service and has been recognized by The White House for her leadership in a non-partisan Women’s Initiative and served on the Winston-Salem State University Board of Trustees. She is a graduate of Furman University’s Diversity Leadership Institute, an alumna of Leadership Winston-Salem, NC, and Leadership America. She is the immediate past President of the Greenville Professional Women’s Forum, and completed two terms on the Board of Directors of the American Red Cross of the Upstate.  She’s an active supporter of women’s leadership events and organizations.

Tan has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Winston-Salem State University. She is a contributing author of Aging Education, an instructional book published by University Press. She received a certification from the International Human Resources Executive Program at Cornell University and several certifications from The Center For Creative Leadership.

 

Zandra L. Johnson is the founder and managing principal of The Z Firm, LLC where she focuses her practice on litigation matters, including those involving personal injury, workers compensation, insurance coverage disputes, business and commercial matters and domestic cases.

Johnson graduated South Carolina State University, summa cum laude, in 1997 with a degree in Political Science and received her Juris Doctorate from St. John’s University in New York in 2003. While in her third year of law school, Ms. Johnson landed a position with the premier statewide insurance defense firm of Smith Moore Leatherwood, where she practiced for ten years until she started her own law firm.

Johnson regularly mentors students of all ages as well as newly admitted members of the South Carolina Bar. In addition, she is a frequent speaker at elementary, middle and high schools across the state, where she speaks to students about her life experiences and the obstacles she’s overcome in an effort to encourage students to live their best lives by dedicating themselves to being the best version of themselves that they can be. She always impresses upon students that their immediate circumstances do not dictate who or what they can or will come.

A graduate of Hillcrest High School in Greenville County, South Carolina, Johnson has a record of extensive involvement in her community. She has served on the nonprofit Boards of Pendleton Pace Children’s Shelter, Girl Scouts Mountains to Midlands Council and Greenville Tech Foundation and is a member of the community-supporting organizations of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and Junior League of Greenville.

Additionally, she currently serves as President of the Donald James Sampson Bar Association and is a member of the South Carolina Bar, the National Bar Association, the South Carolina Black Lawyers Association, the Greenville County Bar Association (former Board member), the South Carolina Bar House of Delegates and has been appointed by the South Carolina Supreme Court as both an Attorney to Assist Disciplinary Council and a Commissioner of Continuing Legal Education.

For her many community and professional contributions, Ms. Johnson has been honored by YWCA as a Dream Achiever, featured by Destiny Magazine as a Woman of Achievement, selected by Greenville Business Magazine as one of its Best and Brightest 35 and Under, selected to the Southern Region of the Lawyers of Color’s Hot List and selected by the National Black Lawyers as a Top 100 Lawyer.

In her spare time, Ms. Johnson enjoys traveling, amateur fashion design and spending time with her daughter, Atiya, son, Roscoe, grandson, Kingston, and other family and friends.

 

WSPA-TV is the Media Sponsor for the August 15, 2016 Women of Distinction Awards Dinner.  The mistress of ceremonies is 7 News Anchor Amy Wood.

 

For ticket and/or sponsorship information to this annual fundraising event, please contact LaTanza Duncan, Chief Advancement Officer, [email protected], 803-461-3731or visit www.GSSC-MM.org.

 

 Girl Scouts of South Carolina-Mountains to Midlands

For more than 100 years, Girl Scouting has helped girls develop positive values and become active, responsible leaders in their communities. With emphasis on personal growth and leadership development through service to others, Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Girl Scouts of South Carolina-Mountains to Midlands serves 11,500 girls, grades K5-12, and 4,700 adults in 22 counties of central and western South Carolina, including Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Cherokee, Chester, Edgefield, Fairfield, Greenville, Greenwood, Kershaw, Lancaster, Laurens, Lexington, McCormick, Newberry, Oconee, Pickens, Richland, Saluda, Spartanburg, Sumter, and Union.