FROM THE EDITOR
International Women’s Month
The world honors women and celebrates their social, economic, cultural and political achievements.
For this iteration of International Women’s Day, Downtown News honors the ladies who enrich Downtown through their thoughts, research, and reporting.
Four citizen journalists
A community publication depends on its citizen journalists. We want to thank four women who devote time and effort to inform and inspire reflection on issues affecting Downtown. Sometimes they also incite to action. That is how the Downtown Neighbors Alliance — our sole local civic organization — was born. Women determined to take on powerful players in defense of Museum Park. They stood firmly against building a stadium where residents demanded a park. No surprise there. These ladies had for mentor the very precursor of Miami, Julia Tuttle.
The four Downtown News contributors chosen cover education, business, health, and a photographer and culturist. Downtown News also depends on the expertise and guidance of ladies who prefer to work anonymously. Not everyone aspires to be a social media celebrity, an influencer. Instead, quietly influence the advancement of society. I know how lofty the advancement of society sounds. Fortunately, there are women not afraid of lofty aspirations nor transformational undertaking.
Imagine
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, a political leader of substance and grace, Meg Daly, who saw a linear park where others saw nothing, or Pamela Weller, VP Asset Management at Bayside Marketplace, three examples of what the women of the Greater Downtown Miami — Brickell and Downtown — are all about. “Just imagine how we would thrive if women of this caliber ran the male-dominated City Commission,” said a resident shaking her head as she crossed the Brickell Bridge.
Local Journalism
Having suffered funding cutbacks, local journalism has had to reinvent itself as a civic endeavor to help safeguard democracy. Uninformed citizens are more susceptible to fake news and manipulation. And local journalism plays an essential role in highlighting the achievements of community members. Both through information and community pride is how an archipelago of high-rises becomes a community.
One impossible Task
To introduce these four ladies, we asked them for an impossible task. We asked them to define themselves in one paragraph, plus a quote that captured their essence.
And here they are in their own words.
Joy Prevor
I am a Senior Not-for-Profit Development Executive with more than 20 years’ experience working with multiple large philanthropies including the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, UJA-Federation of New York, Hillel International: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, and Miami Jewish Health Systems. Completed my M.S.W. at Columbia University and M.A. at The Jewish Theological Seminary. Also hold a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu. I live in Downtown Miami with my husband, Itai, and our son Dylan. I serve as the Education Chair for the Downtown Neighbors Alliance and write about education for Downtown News.
A sample article from our archives: Schools: A Case of Taxation without Representation.
Matilda Kalaveshi
After a start in international fashion, joined Macy’s Inc. as a buyer with expertise in the business side of fashion retail. For the past two decades, I have worked for numerous retailers in the fields of e-commerce, domestic, international, and duty-free markets. Currently, head my own retail consulting boutique where I help brands and retailers build and grow profitable businesses. Also, teach all aspects of retail at Istituto Marangoni Miami and serve as Downtown News business correspondent. My areas of focus include omnichannel retail, news, consumer trends, emerging brands, and new retail developments. M.B.A. International Business, Florida International University. Certificate in Corporate Strategies for Europe EDHEC Business School Lille & Nice France. B.A. International Business and Marketing Florida International University
A sample article from our archives: Retail is Detail.
Islara Souto
I am the President & CEO of Ydeas, Inc., a health consulting firm founded in Tallahassee in 1992. I have many years of experience in public health and epidemiology and am nationally recognized as an advocate and champion for minorities and underserved communities, as well as for extensive national and regional networks in academia, government, non-profits and businesses. Served as an advisor to the CDC and HHS and have held leadership positions on many local, state and national boards and health organizations. (Known as a convener and builder of coalitions and partnerships to collaboratively identify and resolve health and social issues.) I have taught at local universities and colleges. Now, semiretired, I have been dismayed at how the COVID pandemic has been mis-managed and turned my skills to building community and advocating for social change — especially for health-care access and parity. I am writing a novel, editing and reporting on health issues for Downtown News, and trying to use my voice for audio-book voice-overs. I am a doting grandmother and novice rosarian living in a 1926 Mediterranean Revival home with my husband, a Professor Emeritus of high-energy particle physics, a Corgi named Rosie, and a large porcine who used to be a mini pig before he ate too many mangoes.
A sample article from our archives: COVID: Where DO We Go from Here.
Aurea Veras
First and foremost, I am a mother, and my husband’s accomplice and dance partner. I love dancing, and birds, and photography. For more than thirty years I have been a corporate lady, still am, working for XEROX. And since relocating to Downtown Miami twelve years ago, I have been part of the Downtown Arts + Science Salon (DASS), a founding member. Evoking those old Parisian Salons of the Enlightenment couldn’t be more appropriate to celebrate women. Salons competed with universities as centers for the exchange of ideas and knowledge with one major difference. Universities excluded women, but Salons not only welcomed women; the best ones were run by women. I am an amateur photographer for Downtown News — the word amateur comes from the Latin loving, as in loving what one does.
Too Many to Name
Honoring Downtown women must include many more — colleagues, friends, neighbors, women from all walks of life. The cleaning lady whose hands beautify our existence, a construction supervisor in an industry not overly friendly to women, the lawyer who chose the community over a juicier paycheck, and the lawyer who opted for the juicier paycheck, the activists protecting our environment, improving our educational system, defending our parks, fighting for gender and racial equality, and our police officers, historians, business executives, our new and old techies, teachers and health providers.
On a personal level, a posthumous salute to my mother, the personification of optimism and resilience. If she were still with us, her quote would be: “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.” — Margaret Thacher.
