Inductees into the 21st Century Women Business Leaders Hall of Fame
05.01.2008
Shelly Lazarus, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide advertising agency based in New York and operating 497 offices worldwide; Carol Moore Cutting, President and General Manager of Cutting Edge Broadcasting, Inc. which operates WEIB 106.3 Smooth FM; and Amber Chand, Founder and President of The Amber Chand Collection: Global Gifts for Peace and Understanding, a company that supports craftswomen in regions of conflict and post-conflict were recently inducted into the 21st Century Women Business Leaders Hall of Fame at Bay Path College.
The induction took place during the College’s 13th annual Women’s Professional Development Conference, on May 1, 2008, and recognizes women business leaders who exemplify qualities of creativity, innovation, and risk. Previous such noteworthy women as Gloria Smith, president of the Zanger Company; Lynn Donohue, founder and president of the nonprofit foundation Brick by Brick; Nadja Piatka, founder and president of Nadja Foods, Inc. and Wendy Lewis, vice president of Strategic Planning for Recruitment and Diversity for Major League Baseball, Office of the Commissioner have earned this honor.
Shelly Lazarus is known for building other people’s brands, but she is also one of the biggest names in advertising. For over three decades she has been working in the world of advertising, beginning a career at Ogilvy that included a mentorship under the agency’s legendary founder, David Ogilvy. A strong believer in the power of the big idea, she and her team have guided successful branding campaigns for blue-chip companies such as IBM, Kodak, American Express, and most recently, Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. Named by Fortune, Inc. magazine as one of America’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business since the list’s inception in 1998, she also has the illustrious honor of being the first woman to receive the Columbia Business School’s Distinguished Leadership in Business Award. A graduate of Smith College, she serves on the boards of the American Museum of Natural History, World Wildlife Fund, and the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, among others. Respected and revered by her peers within the advertising and marketing world, she has been honored as the Woman of the Year in 1994 by the Advertising Women of New York, the Matrix Award bestowed by Women in Communications, and Business Woman of the Year by the Partnership for New York City.
Carol Moore Cutting persevered through a 15-year struggle to establish WEIB 106.3 Smooth FM. Born and raised in segregated Alabama, Carol Moore Cutting’s experiences gave her the courage and tenacity to overcome obstacles and fulfill her dream of being the first African-American woman in Massachusetts to operate a radio station. Known for her gracious manner and her quiet, but formidable iron will, Carol has been recognized for her entrepreneurial efforts by Springfield Technical Community College’s Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, the New England Black Chamber of Commerce, and has received the Year 2000 Business Woman of Distinction award. A champion for the value of community, her life is all about the community. She is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, the oldest Greek sorority established by and for African-American women, and sits on the Board of Tribunes for W-G-B-Y, as well as the boards for the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Fine Arts Center and the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters.
Born in Uganda to Indian parents, Amber Chand fled her birth country with her family in the 1970s to escape the horror under the regime of dictator Idi Amin. Settling first in Great Britain and then the United States, she never forgot the devastation and upheaval that people, and in particular women, endured in order to survive. In her words, “I was at a crossroads and could either choose the path of bitterness, revenge and anger, or the path of healing, forgiveness and love. Ultimately, I knew that it was my responsibility to find meaning within this tragic circumstance and an anchor for my life.” Using her knowledge and experiences, Amber Chand founded a company designed to alleviate the plight of women in worn-torn areas. Her business, Amber Chand Collection, works with organizations such as the Women for Women International and the CHF International, to market and distribute hand-made crafts from around the world. A founding member of the international Business Council for Peace and a member of the board of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, she has created business partnerships that thrive at the grassroots level while allowing women to have financial independence that positively impacts their families, their communities, and ultimately our world.
Visit Bay Path College’s 21st Century Women Business Leaders Hall of Fame online.
For over a century, Bay Path, a four-year private College with a main campus in Longmeadow, MA, has prepared graduates for successful career and professional advancement. Enrolling over 1,600 students in its undergraduate college for women, One-Day Program for adult women, and theGraduate School for men and women, Bay Path College is consistently known and nationally recognized for its innovative and dynamic academic programs.
