Page 15 - LRCC December 2024 Focus

And along the way, she’s found time to give back to Stella Cash, who was the 2012 ATHENA Leadership Award
the community. Mitchell serves on the board of the recipient, was among those who nominated Mitchell for
grief support nonprofit Ele’s Place and is a member of this year’s award. Cash said she met Mitchell by way of
the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Women Working Wonders, an all-volunteer committee of
Rotary Club of Delta-Waverly. She was inducted into the UM Health-Sparrow Foundation.
the Michigan Promotional Professionals Association’s
Hall of Fame in 2022. “She’s always willing to help out, sometimes with jobs
that nobody else wants to do. She’s creative and very
In recognition of her lifetime of achievements, philanthropic,” Cash observed. “And I thought,
Mitchell is the 2024 ATHENA Leadership this woman has a story. I want to get to
Award recipient, as named by know her.”
the Lansing Regional Chamber
of Commerce. She will formally She is a Cash made an effort to get
receive her award at the to know Mitchell and was
annual ATHENA Lansing self-made woman impressed by her dedication to
Celebration luncheon on family, entrepreneurship, and
Thursday, December 5th, at living the American Dream. mentorship.
the Lansing Center.
Stella Cash, “She is a self-made woman
The ATHENA Leadership Award living the American Dream,”
honors leaders who excel in their 2012 ATHENA Leadership said Cash. “So many of us go to
careers, dedicate time to their Award recipient college, and that opened the
community, and mentor women doors for us. Jane created her
in their professional ambitions. door and opened it.”

Mitchell said she feels privileged to receive the Michelle Massey, who received the 2021 ATHENA
2024 ATHENA Leadership Award, especially as it puts Leadership Award, agrees that it took a lot of “stick-
her in esteemed company. to-it-ness” for Mitchell to persevere in an often male-
dominated business climate.
“It’s very prestigious,” Mitchell said. “I’ve been in
business for 30 years and watched a lot of other “It took a lot of advocating for herself and for her
ATHENA winners and been to a lot of the events. So to business,” said Massey, who met Mitchell through mutual
think that I would get asked to be in with that same professional networks. “She shows that you can be an
group of people is really quite an honor. I don’t think entrepreneur based upon your dreams, your desires, and
enough people realize how special this is.” hard work.”

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