The Convention of Minority Transportation Officers (COMTO) honored the extraordinary accomplishments of ladies leaders within the transportation trade with a luncheon on April 5 at Los Angeles Union Station in downtown. About 100 members and friends attended the elegant outside affair on the North Patio below calm, blue skies.
The honorees included Christine Choi of the Nebraska-based design and engineering agency HDR; Tasha Higgins of the California Division of Transportation (Caltrans); 2nd District Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell; and Tunua Thrash Ntuk, president and CEO of The Heart by Lendistry, who sits on the Lengthy Seaside Metropolis Council.
“That is our tenth yr celebrating extraordinary ladies in transportation,” stated Edna Stanley, COMTO SoCal Chapter president.
“Years in the past, transportation and infrastructure have been thought-about nontraditional roles for ladies, and now you see ladies in every single place in any respect ranges and aspects, together with engineering, politics, and social advocacy.
“It’s crucial to help organizations like COMTO, Latinos In Transit, Korean American Engineers Affiliation, and others that particularly give attention to creating alternatives, like coaching and scholarships. Transportation is entry to alternative,” she stated.
Omoné O. Livingston, president & CEO of O2EPCM consulting companies, gave the keynote deal with.
“As African American ladies, there aren’t many people on this trade,” she acknowledged.
“However we’re able to offer jobs, scholarships, internships, and mentorships to particularly African People, together with college students taken with STEM, transportation, development, and engineering. It’s our ardour to make sure that the baton is handed to our people to empower and encourage them to be engineers and designers like ourselves.”
Choi was born within the U.S. however immigrated to South Korea as a baby, the place being a lady and a frontrunner was frowned upon.
“It wasn’t till I got here again to the U.S. as an grownup that I gained the liberty of speech and the chance to discover management as a lady,” she stated.
“COMTO made that doable by opening up alternatives for me to positively influence this neighborhood. It means the world for me to obtain this honor.”
Thrash Ntuk is a former government director of the West Angeles Neighborhood Improvement Company, who advocated for small companies to take part within the deployment and improvement of contracts with L.A. Metro earlier than the launch of the Crenshaw-to-LAX line.
“I’m so excited that a corporation like this exists,” she declared.
“There are a variety of people in transportation, however ladies and ladies of colour usually really feel unseen. As we speak, we’re main the way in which to make sure that the transportation trade is cited equitably and that enterprise alternatives are made out there. I’m so excited to be honored alongside different ladies in transportation.”
Higgins, the Caltrans district liaison for the LA28 Summer time Olympics, supplied this recommendation to the subsequent technology of ladies leaders:
“You’re sufficient. Be seen and be okay with that,” she affirmed.
“Typically, ladies don’t assume we’re ready, so we over-prepare and assume we have to know every thing! Exhale and understand that you’re sufficient simply the way in which you’re. Now, work laborious and get it finished.”
Jacquelyn Dupont Walker, CEO of Ward Financial Improvement Company, accepted the award on behalf of Holly Mitchell.
Hats Off! Celebrating Girls in Transportation was catered by Traxx Restaurant and Bar, and DJ John T. Humphrey supplied the ambient music.
The Convention of Minority Transportation Officers is the nation’s solely multi-modal advocate for minority transportation trade companies. The group represents three million individuals who work in all modes of transportation within the U.S. and Canada, together with trucking, taxi, and limousine companies. COMTO companions with WSP, AECOM, Jacobs, and HDR.
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