Kathleen Stevens, named Woman of the Year by the Business and Professional Women of Pikes Peak, has spent 25 years with agencies that help families and women.
   
Her tenure in nonprofit work earned her the title during celebrations last week, National Business Women’s Week.
   
“There’s a lot of really terrific women in this community who I perceive have done things that are more noteworthy than anything that I have done,” she said. “Considering that, it’s real humbling and a real honor to win the award.”
   
This is the second year the award was given.
   
“In Kathy, what stood out is her past career with young women. She did a lot of work with juvenile programs and domestic violence, said Norine Richards, president-elect of the local organization. “And most recently her work with the Women’s Resource Agency put her over the edge because their mission is our mission. We both give women the resources and education they need so they can be self-sufficient and successful.”
   
Stevens was executive director of the Women’s Resource Agency from 1999 to 2004. At the same time, she also was the coordinator of the mayor’s 100 Teens program from 1998 to 2000 and the development director for Teen Resources in Colorado Springs from 1996 to 1999.
  
Wining the award is meaningful because of the almost 40-year legacy the Business and Professional Women of Pikes Peak has of helping women in the Colorado Springs community, Stevens said.
   
“It’s an agency that is about women and for women. They empower women to help themselves,” she said. “After winning this award, I thought, ‘Now you really have responsibility to do some good things and be a role model.’ I have to help my granddaughter and the younger women of the community and challenge them to be their best.”  
   
When she accepted the award, Stevens spoke of her grandmother, who was her role model in becoming the woman she is.
   
“She was raised in an era where women weren’t allowed to go past eighth grade but still she was very well-read and very educated.” Stevens said. “She gave me a real spark that I could do anything and to try anything.”
   
These values have given Stevens, 55, the courage to start her consulting business, Rocky Mountain Learning Enterprises, this year and co-write her first book, “The Minds of Boys,” exploring gender issues in the classroom. The book will be published in September.
   
Stevens tries to pass along these same values to the younger generation.
   
“I have a 6-year-old granddaughter, and I want her to know that she can be anything she wants,” she said. “She can either be the president of the United States or the best mom in the neighborhood, whatever she decides. I want her to know she has options.”
  
At the awards luncheon, Stevens challenged the women to take a more central role in their community.  “As women, we have a responsibility to demand of each other that we participate in our community and families,” she said. “If we contribute and sit at the table, then we have a real opportunity to have an effect on the outcome and direction of our community and society.”