Each year, TeamWomen recognizes and celebrates women who have excelled in a typically male-dominated profession or industry. Get to know this year’s Uncharted Territory Honorees below, and join us on October 6th at Metropolitan Ballroom & Club to celebrate this exceptional group of women at our 2022 WaveMaker Awards
Samantha Boterman leads Baker Tilly‘s information technology (IT) risk services area at the Minneapolis office. She is one of the practice leaders of the firm’s national HITRUST service line, a specialized and highly technical niche within the firm’s cybersecurity practice, and leads SSAE18 (SOC) engagements. As co-leader of the HITRUST service line, Samantha provides ongoing mentoring to the staff, facilitates annual training of 40 practice team members, provides continuing professional education to business partners, HITRUST certified personnel, and information security leaders outside Baker Tilly through webinar presentations, and leads engagements with clients and opportunities for new business with potential clients. In 2022, Sam was selected to join the national HITRUST Assessor Council, a group of approximately 25 information security and privacy professionals from across the country.
Samantha serves as management council for the Junior League of Minneapolis, where she is involved in setting strategic direction for the women’s volunteer organization. She also serves as a youth mentor for Genesys Works, which provides career pathways and opportunities for youth from underserved communities looking to enter the information technology industry.
Joua Lee Grande is a documentary filmmaker and media producer. Through her small production company Spirited Films, she produces, directs, shoots, and edits photography, videos, and documentaries featuring compelling stories from underrepresented communities. She emphasizes hiring and working with highly talented artists from underrepresented communities, including women, people of color, those with disabilities, and more. Her most recent project, On All Fronts, is a 10-minute short documentary available on PBS digital and WORLD Channel. She’s working on her first feature documentary, Spirited, about her journey to reconnect with her Hmong community’s shamanic traditions while building connections across racial and cultural lines.
Joua gives back by teaching filmmaking through community programs. She also leads and participates in community organizing efforts locally and nationally to build pathways for visibility and success in the filmmaking industry, especially for those who are marginalized. In addition, Joua is on the Asian American Documentary Network‘s leadership team, is a Brown Girls Doc Mafia member, and is working with a group of local BIPOC filmmakers to build a new coalition.
As part of the all-female leadership team at All In One Accounting, Jennifer LaPlante leads a team of over 40 accountants and is the Client Onboard Relationship Manager. Jennifer mentors new and existing team members and is a driving force behind the firm’s unwavering commitment to enhancing employee experience and accelerating employee growth and learning. In the words of All in One Accounting’s CEO Heide Olson, “Jenn can tackle the most difficult and chaotic of client onboards with ease, and exudes confidence with clients and our team.”
Jennifer has always worked in predominantly male-dominated fields and has made her own path, pushing through obstacles and challenges. She never let being a woman change her outlook on where she wanted to go and where she could go!
The water space is inherently male-dominated, with very little diversity. As Director of Product Management at Xylem, Aida Naderi leads a team of Global product managers for an industry-leading wastewater pumping portfolio. In the past decade, she learned how to use her strengths and diverse background to thrive and differentiate herself as a woman in her 20’s, new to the United States, new to corporate America, and new to the water industry. Aida realized she had a voice that could open doors and elevate the experience and career of other young and female colleagues. Mentorship has become a fundamental cornerstone of what brings her purpose and how she pours into individuals who need guidance to navigate their careers in this space!
The promotional products/branded merchandise industry is typically male-dominated. Rarely do you see women in leadership, and even more rare than that, you see nearly an entire company’s leadership team, like Foxtrot Marketing Group, comprised of women. Nettie Sparkman oversees Foxtrot Marketing Group’s growing customer portfolio to improve revenue, profit, and market share and is responsible for B2B and B2C revenue streams. During her time in branded merchandise, she has coached and promoted women on the Foxtrot team. She has also created, alongside other women, an industry-wide community group focused on nurturing, elevating, and advancing females in our industry into leadership roles.
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.
Contact
TeamWomen
1633 West End Blvd
Minneapolis, MN 55416
(612) 200-2684
info@teamwomenmn.org