Some lead from the board room\, some from behind the scenes\, and the ones with kids are often master jugglers\,&nbs p\; Women's role in society continues to change and evolve. \; Hear fr om a panel of local women the stories of their challenges and achievements \, and the support and/or the opposition resistance they encountered along their journeys.
\nPanelists will include:
\nJakki Cob b is a wife and mother of three daughters and &ldquo\;Mimi&rdquo\ ; to one granddaughter. \; Born and raised in Morristown\, Jakki and h er family moved to Landing 15 years ago. \; After a 30-year career wi th CIT\, most recently as Vice President of External Reporting\, Jakki was downsized in January 2019. \; She describes herself as semi-retired\, splitting her time as a basketball mom and serial volunteer. \; She s erves as Executive Secretary of the Morris County NAACP\, Treasurer for Ca rette&rsquo\;s Inc.\, and is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sororit y\, Inc. and the Morristown Area League of Women Voters. \; Previously \, as a licensed minister\, Jakki&rsquo\;s advocacy and volunteer service was through her faith community\, and she led bible studies at the Morrist own Correctional Facility and Market Street Mission. \; For years she encouraged people to &ldquo\;look up and live&rdquo\; and wait for change\ ; now she actively looks for ways to bring about changes she had prayed ab out for so many years. \; She reminds us that we have to be the change we want to see.
\nKathy DeFillippo is serving her third three-year term on the county commissioner board. She has twice serv ed as freeholder director\, and is the board&rsquo\;s liaison and 2020 cha ir of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. She also is the county governing board&rsquo\;s liaison to Human Services. \; Kathy wa s a councilwoman in Roxbury Township from 2006 through December 2013\, ser ving as mayor in 2009 and deputy mayor in 2011\, 2012 and 2013 and as a me mber of the Zoning Board. \; Freeholder DeFillippo has a long history of public and community service. \; She is a past president of the Rox bury Area Chamber of Commerce and retired in 2016 from the board of the NJ Metro Chapter of the National MS Society after serving as a trustee for 1 0 years\, remaining active as an advocate in government relations. A gradu ate of SUNY New Paltz with a BA in education and special education\, Kathy is a retired Certified Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor. \; She wa s the director of a sheltered workshop for physically and mentally handica pped adults in New York before working in the insurance industry in the Wa shington\, D.C.\, area\, providing medical management and vocational rehab ilitation services to injured workers. \; Kathy and her husband\, Bob\ , have lived in Roxbury since 1994 with their three children\, Scott\, Lau ra Jean and Rob. She and Bob are also a proud grandparent to 5 grandchildr en.
\nNeha Mehta completed her undergraduate degree at New Jersey Institute of Technology majoring in Chemical Engineering in 2000. \; Since then\, she has been working with the Department of Def ense as a Primary Explosives and Detonator Team Lead for the Explosives De velopment Branch\, Picatinny Arsenal\, NJ. \; She is a subject matter expert (SME) in the field of primary explosives and detonators and leads a team to develop environmentally friendly green energetic materials. \ ; She holds many publications and over 12 patents. \; A resident of Ro xbury Township\, she enjoys spending time with her husband and 2 boys and she loves hiking\, traveling and cooking. \; \; \;
\nRachel Smith is a 2016 R oxbury alumna\, who served as both Editor-in-Chief of the Roxbury Review a nd President of RHS Student Government. She graduated from The College of New Jersey in May 2020 and holds degrees in Communication Studies and Wome n's\, Gender\, and Sexuality studies. In college\, she served as President of the Women's Center\, Vice President of Community Relations in Student Government\, and Vice Executive Chair of Women In Learning and Leadership. Rachel has a passion for activism and advocacy and has interned for Plann ed Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey\, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Cole man\, TCNJ's Office of Institutional Diversity Equity and Inclusion\, and the Community Relations Office of Governor Phil Murphy. \; In her curr ent role as a Critical Needs Outreach Coordinator for the New Jersey Pande mic Relief Fund\, Rachel assists in efforts of food insecurity outreach\, funding for housing and rental assistance initiatives\, and resolving digi tal divide issues for students across the state. In June 2020\, Rachel hel ped establish Roxbury Coalition for Social Change\, an alumni-founded comm unity to push for diversity\, equity\, and accessibility in Roxbury School District. \;
\nDiane Williams\, President and CEO of Jersey Battered Women&rsquo\;s Services\, is responsible to the JBW S Board of Directors for all current operations of the agency\, the develo pment of agency procedures\, the ongoing financial health of the agency\, and the management of all agency staff. \; Prior to joining JBWS in Ju ly of 2018\, Diane had over 20 years of experience in the non-profit field working with families impacted by trauma and abuse with fifteen of those years in management and executive management positions. \; From 2012-2 015 Diane was an adjunct professor at Montclair University&rsquo\;s Master s in Child Advocacy Program. \; She has had a private practice in Morr is County since 2006 specializing in treating victims of trauma. \; Di ane earned her Bachelors in Social Work from Kean University and her Maste rs in Social Work from Fordham University with a specialization in working with children and families. \; She is a NJ licensed clinical social w orker (LCSW) and is certified to provide clinical supervision. \; Dian e has been a Roxbury resident since 2004.
\nRadwa Ali\, Moderator and Library Director of Roxbury Public Library\, started he r library career as a middle school volunteer at the Plainsboro Public Lib rary. Through high school and college\, she continued to work there\, gain ing experience at the customer service desk\, reference and children's dep artments\, volunteer management\, collection development\, and the technol ogical needs of a public library. After she attained her BA in Information Technology and Political Science\, as well as a MLS degree from Rutgers U niversity\, Radwa worked at the Johnson Public Library in Hackensack as th eir Technology Librarian\, then as Director of the Bogota Public Library. She has been the Director of the Roxbury Public Library since 2017. \; Radwa is currently a board member of the Morris Automated Information Net work (MAIN) consortium of libraries in and around Morris County\, \; c o-chair of MAIN's DigiTech committee\, former board member of NJLA\, forme r co-chair of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System Technology Comm ittee\, and a member of the Roxbury Rotary Club.
\nCommon Gr ounds Series: Co-hosted by the Roxbury Public Library\, Unity in Community and Roxbury Coalition for Social Change\, Common \; Grounds workshops and panels are designed to educate the community in order to all ow a difference of opinions to be discussed. By exploring difficult civil conversations to reach a common level of human understanding and compassio n on an array of topics\, these panels will give community members the too ls in order to have these conversations within their neighborhoods. \; Virtual Programs include: Skills for Bridging the Political Divide (9/29) \, How She Leads (10/21)\, Race and Racism (12/2)\, multi-generations in t he workplace (tbd) and LGBTQIAP (tbd).
\nRegister online or by calli ng the library at (973) 224-7119.
\nhttps://roxburylibrary.libnet.info/ event/4604366 URL;VALUE=URI:https://roxburylibrary.libnet.info/event/4604366 ATTACH:https://static.libnet.info/images/events/roxburylibrary/Common_Grou nd.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR