Checking in with previous Baltimore Sun Women to Watch

Valenciá De’La Clay-Bell, 2019

Literacy consultant, El Education; educator, Baltimore Design School; author

Valenciá De’La Clay-Bell worked during the pandemic to secure a Verizon grant aimed at putting electronic devices into student hands. The grant moved her into a coaching role for Baltimore Design School — and ignited her interest in working directly with educators. This summer, she also began working as an independent literacy consultant for EL Education, a nonprofit whose curriculum is rooted in teamwork and equity. “I have a lot of compassion for teachers, because I was once there,” she said. “I like to tell them [the curriculum] is everything you need in one place.”

She is also a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University and recently released a book “Grow Beyond Creative Barriers.”

— Lillian Reed

Amy Elias, 2020

Founder and CEO, Profiles; vice president, Baltimore Museum of Art Board of Trustees.

Amy Elias’ work life has maintained its momentum since 2020, when she was named a Woman to Watch, and the highlight, she said, has been her work with the Baltimore Museum of Art. Elias began advancing a “Guarding the Art” show concept in February 2020. The exhibition, which showcased works curated by the museum’s security guards, ran earlier this year to wide acclaim. Not wanting it “to live and die at the museum,” Elias has a forthcoming project to allow other museums to adopt the idea. “Stay tuned [for] ‘’Guarding the Art version 2.0,” she said.

— Hannah Gaskill

Kavita Krishnaswamy, 2018

Roboticist, Ph.D. student, UMBC

Kavita Krishnaswamy designs and produces robots that help people with severe disabilities live more independent lives. Among her projects are collaborations with SAKE Robotics, a California firm, to create an easily operable device a caregiver can use to remotely reposition a disabled person, and with Goecker Automation of Indiana to develop a voice- and eye-operated telepresence robot through which a user can pick up and move objects in other rooms. Krishnaswamy continues to deal with her own spinal muscular atrophy, an incurable disorder that weakens most of one’s muscles to the point of paralysis, though a new medication has helped slow her decline as she nears graduation next year. “I want people to thrive through robotics,” she says.

— Jonathan Pitts

Tiffany Majors, 2019

CEO and president, Greater Baltimore Urban League

Getting impoverished people employed in jobs with salaries that can take them to the middle class has been a priority for Tiffany Majors since taking command of the Urban League in 2018, and more so since the pandemic. “Once COVID happened,” she says, “there was a huge release of individuals from jails and prisons. But they were released without resources.” The league established a cybersecurity certification program, and, so far, 46 men and women have gained the training needed for careers that could lead to annual salaries as high as $140,000.

— Dan Rodricks

Angel McCoughtry, 2019

WNBA player and entrepreneur

Since 2019, Angel McCoughtry has released an album titled “New Hope,” opened a basketball court in Louisville, signed on as executive producer of a horror film centered on Georgia’s Lake Lanier and become part owner of a French men’s basketball franchise. “I feel like I’m the LeBron James of the WNBA,” she said. Despite only two appearances for the Minnesota Lynx in May, McCoughtry has plans to return from two ACL tears, including by representing the U.S. in the 2024 Olympics. “I’m going to finish on my own terms,” she vowed.

— Edward Lee

Kathleen Neuzil, 2020

Director, University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health

Kathy Neuzil spent the past two years overseeing trials of four different COVID-19 vaccines and is readying the next generation of boosters. But the vaccinologist serving on national and international scientific and policy panels knows work on other infectious diseases must continue. “The world is so interconnected and we’ve seen this over and over,” she said. “Diseases don’t respect borders.” That’s evident from monkeypox, which Neuzil said is another example of the need to fund public health infrastructure and stay ahead of infections. “This shows, again, the need for pandemic preparedness,” she said.

— Meredith Cohn

Jenna Paukstis, 2018

Vice president, Communications Solutions Business Unit of Northrop Grumman

Jenna Paukstis moved to San Diego in 2019 to oversee production of Northrop Grumman’s communications and navigation systems for the Lockheed-Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a more than $110 million multi-role combat jet created for use by the defense department. Eighteen months later, she became the head of production for advanced networking capabilities across the entire company as the director of operations, a role in which she helps develop innovative communications systems for air, space, land and undersea warfighting operations. A frequent mentor to an increasingly diverse generation of engineers, she says she advises them to “get comfortable being uncomfortable” and embrace risk.

— Jonathan Pitts

Carmera Thomas-Wilhite, 2020

Director, Urban Conservation Initiatives for The Conservation Fund

Creating parks with purpose that benefit the environment and underserved communities from Baltimore to Atlanta has been Carmera Thomas-Wilhite’s focus since she left her position as the Baltimore program manager for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in April 2021 to become director of Urban Conservation Initiatives for The Conservation Fund. TCF brings together nonprofit and community groups to create and upgrade trails and green spaces like Garrett Park in Baltimore’s Brooklyn neighborhood with various funding up to $5 million or more. “We don’t just come in and tell communities these solutions are best for you, we follow the lead of the communities and their vision,” the Crofton resident says. “It’s economic development, climate resilience and environmental justice — with networking and partnership building along the way.”

— Peter Jensen