Portantino Names 2017 Women of the Year

Photos by Julie BUTCHER
Alma Hernandez and her family with State Sen. Anthony Portantino (right).

By Julie BUTCHER

Beginning in 1987, every year during Women’s History Month in March the members of California’s State Legislature honor and recognize women “who have made unique and often unsung contributions to enhance the quality of life for others.” This year recently-elected State Senator Anthony Portantino selected 10 women for special recognition and organized a community event in the courtyard of Pasadena City Hall on Sunday to celebrate the women.
Introducing the group, Portantino said that most legislators pick one or two women to honor but he had struggled to get the number down to 10.
“This year I am proud to recognize 10 exemplary women in [Senate District 25], women from all walks of life, different in age and unique in their advocacy,” he told the audience gathered to support and celebrate his selections. “As you hear their life stories, I’m sure you’ll agree.”
Portantino introduced each honoree, shared her story and a note of personal connection, and presented each with an ornate framed legislative commemoration.
Among those honored was Mary Najarian from Glendale who was celebrated as a passionate supporter of her community; she and her husband founded Medical Outreach for Armenia raising more than $45 million in medical supplies. Following the 1988 earthquake in Armenia, Mary, an RN, and her husband Dr. Vartkes Najarian helped bring 110 victims to the U.S. for treatment. During the Nagorno-Karabakh war, they built a 19-bed emergency center with two operating rooms. In Yerevan, they furnished and renovated a 550-bed hospital for veterans. The Glendale mother of four, including longtime Glendale councilmember Ara Najarian, has received medals from three Armenian presidents and two defense ministers; she was honored by First Lady Rosalynn Carter for her years of service to the Red Cross Blood Mobile and, in 2008, she and her husband received the prestigious Ellis Island Award.
Najarian recalled her first night in Cleveland, arriving as a young nurse with a job in a hospital but no home.
“The hospital had arranged housing for me with several other girls but I would need to pay $30 up front,” she recalled. “I didn’t have $30.”
Also from Glendale, Alma Hernández is the first Latina executive director of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California, a labor organization representing 700,000 workers and their families. The SEIU represents janitors, home care workers, social workers, professors, school workers and health care workers, and city, county, and state workers. It is the largest union in the state and has been a powerful political voice for working people.
Portantino spoke about Hernández with the pride and joy of true friendship:
“Alma’s is the story of the California Dream. Her parents immigrated from Mexico in search of a better future for themselves and their family and worked in the fields of Central California before finding other work in the Central Valley’s agricultural sector,” he said. “She played in the fields while her parents worked and she honed her negotiating skills with her mother at swap meets on the weekends.
“Alma’s name means ‘soul,’ and I love hers. Every time I sit next to her on the plane to Sacramento, 90% of what we talk about is family, not politics.”
Hernández shared her gratitude with the audience.
“[I am] blessed that I get to wake up every morning and show my kids what it means to fight for low-wage, hard-working workers, many of them immigrants,” she said. “This honor is not about me but about the workers upon whose shoulders I stand, workers fighting for a better future.”
Foothills honoree Lisa Pitney is from La Crescenta and joined the Walt Disney Company in 1996 and currently serves as the vice president of Government Relations representing the company to city, county and state governments throughout the U.S. Portantino acknowledged her work in making sure Disney is a “good corporate neighbor.” She serves on the boards of several organizations including the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Valley Industry and Commerce Association and the Valley Economic Alliance.
Pitney thanked Portantino for being honored and recognized the other women being recognized, claiming to not be in “their league.”
“You are a good friend, Anthony. A really good friend sees you in a better light than you see yourself and helps you see yourself,” Pitney said. She added that she is “genuinely delighted to work at a company that brings happiness to millions around the world.”
California’s State Senate District 25 includes the cities of Altadena, Atwater Village, Bradbury Burbank, Claremont, Duarte, Glendale, Glendora, La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta, La Verne, Monrovia, Pasadena, San Dimas, San Marino, Shadow Hills, Sierra Madre, South Pasadena, Sunland-Tujunga and Upland.