Written by Kylie Cooper, Kirby Conda, Vanessa Perez and Alexa Rodriguez | Photography by Shoocha Photography
Styling: Alexa Gignac | Wardrobe: Julian Gold Corpus Christi | Makeup: Evangelyn Reyes, Dust My Face | Hair: Jasmine Torres, Eye Mami – Makeup & Hair Salon | Vintage Furniture provided by Birchwood Beauties
Each October, The Bend proudly dedicates its issue to celebrating the women who shape our community. The HER feature and award serve one clear purpose: to honor the dynamic female leaders of the Coastal Bend who are creating a lasting impact and paving the way for others to thrive. Across diverse industries, these women have invested their time, energy and resources to drive meaningful change. We are honored to present to you the HER 2024 honorees.
Walking into Dr. Renita Newton’s office is unlike walking into other counseling centers. There is a couch, but there are also shelves of sound bowls, a gong, dim lighting and a mellow playlist. “I want people to feel at peace when they walk in,” she said.
The tranquil environment transcends the chaos of life—so much so that you would never guess the work it took for Dr. Newton to triumph over her own trauma to help others do the same.
In the vibrant tapestry of the Coastal Bend, where the rhythm of everyday life hums gently against the backdrop of sunlit shores, Alissa Peña emerges not just as a local figure but as an indomitable force in the world of haute cuisine.
Her professional pedigree is nothing short of extraordinary, yet she remains serenely unbothered by the notoriety that might accompany such acclaim. She’s a hometown luminary, though top-rated kitchens and elite restaurants across the nation would attest she could hold her own on a much bigger stage.
American Electric Power (AEP) Texas serves around one million electric consumers across its 100,000 square miles of Lone Star State territory. Providing electricity and restoring power after outages is certainly no small feat; the tedious and often dangerous job requires significant manpower.
As Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President of AEP Texas, Judith Talavera oversees all 1,600 of those employees, dedicated to providing electricity to our corner of the world. Not to mention, she’s the first woman and only the second Hispanic individual to hold the job in the company’s tenure.
Going where the need is greatest every day comes with an expected amount of difficulty, but Dr. Alainya Tomanec does not shy away from confronting challenges head-on. As a wife, mother and eldest sister to six brothers growing up, Tomanec is no stranger to solving problems and has graciously accepted the roles she inhabits both in her personal and work life.
Decisiveness, attention to detail and a lasting sense of empathy, she says, fill the gaps where practical knowledge simply isn’t always sufficient….As a full life—among her practice, a husband and a family—quickly took root, Tomanec’s path led her back to the Coastal Bend, where she currently serves as Program Director of the Emergency Medicine Residency program, as well as the Associate Medical Director, at Spohn Shoreline.
On Dr. Jennifer Pollack’s desk, a ceramic card holder bears a quote from Ed Harte, the Harte Research Institute’s (HRI) namesake: “Make a difference.” The ethos of those three words is felt immediately upon entering the research facility—it echoes down the halls, into the laboratories and within the hearts and minds of each individual contributing to HRI’s mission. Especially Dr. Pollack.
It’s that mission that brought her back to HRI. She first joined the team in 2007 for her postdoctoral work as an assistant research scientist. After moving to the university’s Life Sciences department in 2011, she made her HRI homecoming in 2018.
It is no secret that the places we come from, our stories and our experiences draw us inextricably together. In telling her stories and helping others to tell their own, Dr. Rossy Lima finds the connection of community she believes all people need.
As a professor of Spanish and linguistics at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, an internationally celebrated poet in multiple languages and a steadfast advocate for Latin American literary arts, Lima has dedicated her life and passion to the human tradition of storytelling to foster connection. She recalls the seed of oral tradition and crafting stories planted in her earliest memories, with her mother standing in their kitchen, reciting excerpts of books or poems she had committed to memory.
Philanthropy is often a pursuit of the heart, shaped by personal experiences and deep-seated passions. For Kayla McMains, a dynamic force in the Coastal Bend’s charity landscape, this journey began in a profoundly personal way.
It was the Cattle Barons Ball, co-chaired with her husband, that first ignited her love for fundraising and nonprofit work. “It was a lot of work, but so rewarding,” she recalled. “I knew I didn’t want to stop there.” That initial spark quickly evolved into a blazing commitment to multiple causes, making McMains a cornerstone of local charitable efforts.
Be it through her words, her artwork or her many contributions to the local arts scene in Corpus Christi, Cheryl Votzmeyer Rios is a storyteller through and through. But more than anything, when she tells the story of the historic Ritz Theatre—either the many stories held within its walls or those she knows are yet to be written—she beams with a special sparkle in her eyes.
A significant piece of Corpus Christi’s history, The Ritz has lived various lives since it was built in 1929. It was the first talking movie theatre in the area and later provided a stage for musical acts such as Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley before closing its doors in 1989. In the early 2000s, restoration conversations began to take shape thanks to Monica Sawyer, the president of the nonprofit behind the theatre’s rehabilitation, Corpus Christi Positive Action Toward Cultural Heritage (CCPATCH). However, various hurdles held progress up, and it wasn’t until the creation of an executive director role two years ago that the restoration efforts saw a reenergized spirit.
