Nine women from Elmont, Franklin Square and Valley Stream were honored for their contributions to their communities at Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages’s 12th annual Women of Distinction ceremony on March 16, at Sewanhaka High School.
The 2025 honorees were Gabrielle Barry, Jennifer Bellamy, Erum Hanif, Sonya Jones, Aviva Kane, Claire Leon, Julie Soffientini, Aisha Stevenson and Althea Thomas.
“These honorees uplift others,” host Tawana Gosley said. “They break barriers and inspire future generations in education, business, advocacy, health care and beyond.”
Solages recognized not only the honorees, but also every woman in the community who makes it a better place for residents to live.
“Thank you for always being there,” Solages said, “consistently working, supporting, amplifying and ensuring that every girl and every woman has the opportunity to lead, to thrive, and to make her own mark on history.”
Many of the honorees have served their communities for decades as teachers, civic leaders, community advocates and mentors for young children and girls.
Soffientini, 76, has been active in Franklin Square since she moved there over 50 years ago.
In the early 1990s, she became the school district’s assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, and introduced the Accelerated Reading Program. That, she said, was her proudest achievement because it got kids excited about reading.
Soffientini is also a trustee and docent for the Franklin Square Museum, a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee, and president of the town’s library board, as well as a mother and grandmother. She has earned four college degrees over the course of her career in administration, elementary education, reading and anthropology.
“I have unlimited energy,” she said. “I just let myself evolve into things. I think that’s what women of distinction do. That’s why we, as women, are so powerful.”
Barry, 47, a lifelong resident of Valley Stream, has been teaching deaf students science and math using sign language at Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf for 22 years. Being a woman, she said, has greatly impacted her career.
She recalled as a child being told that boys were better at math and science. One math teacher, she said, never called on her when asking the class to solve math problems. “I always knew the answer,” she said. “It drove me nuts.”
That is why, she added, she is determined not to underestimate other women. As an educator, she works to make sure everyone in her classroom has the same opportunities.
Stevenson, 50, has lived in Elmont for almost 30 years and founded the Voices of Elmont Youth Community Choir in 2024. The 50-member choir, she said, currently has members ranging from age 3 to 22. While Stevenson does not have children, she said she views the children in the community as her own, and often acts as a mother figure to them.
Like Barry, Stevenson said that being a woman played a huge role in her career. With a strong female influence early in her life— her mother— Stevenson learned how to navigate the world with compassion and empathy.
“My mother was a great woman,” she said. “And she taught me how to be a woman.”
Her responsibilities in her family and community, she said, encompass a wide range of roles— counselor, mother, nurse, doctor, friend. “Being a woman is just a beautiful honor,” she said.
But some of the honorees said that because they are spread so thin, it’s difficult for them to find time for themselves. Soffientini said that because she is so involved in her community, her greatest challenge is fitting in everything she wants to do. Many women, she said, share this struggle to balance all their roles.
Soffientini recalled watching one of her daughters juggle many responsibilities over the years, explaining that at one point, her daughter was raising a family with several young children and working on her doctorate in occupational therapy in the evenings.
It’s critical, she said, for women who take on such demands to find time for themselves. “Always focus on that little time with that little space you give yourself,” she encouraged women.
Stevenson said she, too, struggles to find time for herself, and has only rare moments to pause. “If you can’t take care of yourself,” she pointed out, “you can’t take care of anybody.”
Luckily, Stevenson said, her faith, family and community keep her going. And, most important, other women help support her community efforts.
“Have people around you that are successful and that want the best for you,” she said. “Surround yourself with strong women so we can lift each other up, because we can’t do it by ourselves.”
Barry agreed, and said it’s important for women to rely on other women who have had similar experiences and challenges in their lives.
“We all came from the women before us,” she said. “So the next generation you’ve got women who fight, and we’re going to keep fighting.”
