Each year, TeamWomen recognizes and celebrates women making waves through outstanding achievement, entrepreneurial spirit, initiative, and leadership within their profession or the community. Get to know this year’s WaveMaker Award Honorees below, and join us on October 6th at Metropolitan Ballroom & Club to celebrate this exceptional group of women at our 2022 WaveMaker Awards
Shannon Foreman is the CEO/Founder of Forethought Planning, a company that empowers and guides clients through wealth transformation and transitions. She launched Forethought Planning, believing we needed a drastic change in the financial industry – less male, pale, and stale – and with more access to resources, education, and wealth management that can impact our communities and the greater good. Too often, she was told that it takes time to hire a diverse workforce and to create portfolios that support a sustainable outlook. In just two and half years, through a pandemic and racial uprising, Forethought Planning is doing just that – repurposing wealth for good with its all-female and diverse team!
Shannon believes in sharing knowledge that helps others see their potential and thrive. She continuously reminds everyone that they are all worthy of wealth, no matter what society tells them, no matter their race, sex, or background. Shannon’s podcast, Thrive For[e]ward, provides complementary resources, interviews, and content that empowers you to make decisions with your money, just celebrated 100 episodes! She presents Money on your Mind segments, where the public gets to ask a general question about wealth and receive free education from a licensed Wealth advisor. This year, Forethought Planning launched Wealth Circles for women – a monthly meet-up where women gather in a brave and safe space to learn and grow their knowledge around wealth.
Shannon continues to support the community outside of financial wealth, too. She has volunteered for many years and is now a board member at Urban Ventures, a non-profit that works with underprivileged neighborhoods in the Minneapolis area, helping families and youth attend college or postsecondary education. After George Floyd’s murder, she helped clean up lake street. She helps fundraise annually for the Alzheimer’s Association through the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. She strives daily to make a difference, whether directly with her clients or the organizations she works with.
As Vice President of the Global Salesforce Alliance, Shonnah Hughes creates the strategy and aligns CGI‘s global practices to grow and strengthen their partnership with the Salesforce organization. She has over 18 years of experience in the ecosystem and holds various certifications and designations. Shonnah is a Salesforce MVP, an honor awarded to a select group committed to helping others succeed in the Salesforce system. She is also a Co-Lead for Salesforce’s WiT Diversity Community group.
Shonnah co-founded a successful non-profit to help underrepresented adults break into technology. Her leadership with Teen Tech Titans, PepUp Tech, WiT Diversity & other community organizations has led to multiple awards & recognitions, including the Equality Trailblazer award and a Golden Hoodie. She had the distinct honor of signing the White House’s Pledge to America’s Workers along with Marc Benioff. This pledge commits to expanding programs that educate, train, and reskill American workers from high-school age to near retirement. Seen as a thought leader in the Salesforce ecosystem and beyond, Shonnah was nominated by three peers for this WaveMaker Award!
Anna Mazig is the Founder of A.M. & Associates, a consulting firm specializing in preventative measures for safe and equitable workplaces. Their three main focus areas are compliance, threat assessment, and diversity+equity+inclusion+belonging (DEIB). Through her work, Anna lives her values of transparency, ethics, inclusion, integrity, and strategy every day.
In addition to her Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and legal license under the Minnesota Board of Law Examiners (2017 – present), Anna is a member of the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals and holds a Mediator certificate.
Anna is engaged and impactful throughout the Twin Cities community. She is a Board Member of the Alumni Association at DeLasalle High School and a Scholarship Ambassador for the Gates Millennium Scholars Program. She has recently presented as a sought-after speaker at the Workplace Wellness Summit 2021 and Bridging the Gap for Youth.
Danielle Swift is making waves across St. Paul and beyond! She is the Community Organizer for the African American Community Development Center and is passionate about helping improve her community through real estate and homeownership.
She was one of the lead advocates and the face of the successful rent stabilization campaign in Saint Paul. She’s a real estate agent helping to eliminate the racial disparities in homeownership by meeting her clients where they are in their home buying experience. She’s also working on multiple development projects in Saint Paul with an emphasis on creating non-traditional pathways to homeownership and forming cooperatives to make affordable housing sustainable for mid to large families.
Danielle actively uses her voice to speak on systemic and governmental processes creating housing and wealth inequities. Through community outreach and organizing, she has helped halt multimillion-dollar developments due to poor community engagement, helping to fight against gentrification. She has also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for community-supported residential and commercial development.
As the Maintenance Engineer at Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Shantel Volker works on the building mechanical systems, including computer programs and automation. She is the only female engineer and is a role model, mentor, and leader within their Facilities Management team.
Shantel is passionate about supporting our community and the next generation of women. She is an Army Veteran who deployed to Afghanistan, South Korea, and Kuwait. While serving in the Army, she volunteered her time on a humanitarian mission teaching local women and girls how to read. She helped women and girls in Afghanistan improve their community and encouraged them that they could do anything they put their minds to. While working with the Girl Scouts, teaching them how to build and use the right tools, Shantel focused on the importance of confidence and learning from mistakes instead of letting them get you down. Through volunteering at Dunwoody, she encourages other girls and women to consider jobs in the trades.
Shantel is an active member of the bank’s 9PRIDE (People Respecting individual Differences and Equality) Employee Resource Network, volunteering at the Pride festival in Minneapolis and the bank.
As Shantel says, “A stranger is just a friend I haven’t met yet.” She leads by example and brings happiness and laughter to anyone she meets!
The TeamWomen annual WaveMaker Awards celebrates and recognizes women nominated by their peers across five categories: WaveMaker Award, Uncharted Territory, Community Impact, Outstanding Mentor, and Lifetime Achievement Award. Learn more about this event and our 2022 honorees here.
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