The Women of Tomorrow Mentor & Scholarship Program awarded over $162,000 to 39 senior mentees at their annual Graduation Luncheon held at Bloom at Jungle Island.  In addition to the scholarship awards, Women of Tomorrow celebrated 27 years of mentoring with 700 attendees including graduating seniors, school coordinators, and mentors from over 110 South Florida public high schools in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.

A Scholarship fund was created to honor the life and legacy of Women of Tomorrow Co-Founder Don Browne, who passed away last year, along with his wife, Maria Junquera Browne, who passed away in 2021. Their son, Christopher Browne, presented a $5,000 scholarship in memory of his parents, to Emelia Leon of McFatter Technical High School in Broward County. Emilia will attend Harvard University in the fall.

Program Founder and President Jennifer Valoppi said, “The graduation luncheon is always the best day of the year for all of us who work so hard to see these young women thrive. They have already overcome so many obstacles and it is clear in speaking with them, that they are well on their way to building successful, productive futures.”

The keynote speaker for the luncheon was Francis Sevilla-Sacasa who has led top-tier global wealth management organizations as president and chief executive officer with firms such as Bankers Trust Company, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, U.S. Trust Company, Bank of America, and Banco Itau International.

Women of Tomorrow Graduate Lunicel Alvarado also spoke about her journey from Women of Tomorrow mentee at G. Homes Braddock Senior High School in 2013 to her current positions on the Miami Dade County Commission for Women, Vice Chair of the Homestead Faith and Community-Based Organizations Advisory Board and South Regional Second Vice Chair for the Miami Dade County Public Schools Department Title 1 Parent Advisory Council. Lunicel is also a Women of Tomorrow mentor at G. Holmes Braddock Senior High School.

A Career Fair featured 20 local businesses and organizations that offered job, internships, and higher education opportunities to the students.

School Coordinator of the Year Awards

Kimberly Mathis
Miami Killian Senior High School

Shannon Solis
Village Academy

Sheryl Garfield
Coconut Creek High School

Mentor of the Year Awards

Leslye Milks
Southwest Miami Senior High School

Erika Obando
Plantation High School

Lori Gonzalez
Olympic Heights Community High School

About Women of Tomorrow Mentor & Scholarship Program

Founded in 1997 by television journalist and author Jennifer Valoppi and Don Browne, former Telemundo and NBC President, the Women of Tomorrow Mentor & Scholarship Program is designed to inspire, motivate and empower at-risk young women to live up to their full potential while being mentored by highly accomplished professional women in their community. Our partner public schools select at-risk girls facing a variety of challenges, such as behavioral, economic, medical, abuse and/or academic to name a few, to join our program. Each mentoring group at each school is diverse in its composition with girls in 9th-12th grade who have varying strengths and weaknesses so they learn not only from their mentors, but from each other as well. This happens through mentoring sessions, college campus visits, career-focused field trips and college scholarship opportunities.

Women of Tomorrow positively transforms the lives of the at-risk girls we serve. Women of Tomorrow has touched the lives of more than 25,000 high school girls in South Florida and Metro-Detroit. Women of Tomorrow’s network of over 350 professional women currently mentor approximately 4,000 girls in close to 170 public high schools, with a 99% graduation rate among an at-risk population. Nearly $9 million in college scholarships have been awarded.