This May 7 at the Winnipeg Convention Centre, the YMCA-YWCA Women of Distinction Awards will honour Manitoba women who’ve made outstanding contributions to their community. The University of Winnipeg is fortunate to have benefitted very directly from the innovation and dedication of some of this year’s nominees.
Wesman Women’s basketball head coach Tanya McKay is nominated for outstanding work in the category of Education, Training, and Mentorship, while former Status of Women Director for the University of Winnipeg Student Association and active human rights champion Chelsea Caldwell is nominated as a Young Woman of Distinction. For both women, female mentorship has been integral in their success.
“My inspiration was my mom growing up," McKay says. "Her support and encouragement continues today.”
McKay, who left her home in Nova Scotia at the age of 18 to study and play basketball at the U of W, says her "dream job was to coach.” She is recognized for using her expertise to train countless young women at the university level, and volunteering her time to Take Me On; a program that trains younger women to excel at basketball and develop coaching skills. McKay’s mentorship produces not only great basketball players and successful students, but role models for future generations.
“I’m with them as they transition through school, they’re playing basketball, we expose them to the community, they do volunteer work. There’s so many neat things that go on in their career, I get to be a part of it which is pretty phenomenal”, she says.
Caldwell, who admittedly lives much closer to the U of M, was drawn to the U of W by its Human Rights programming, and by her mentor, Marilou McPhedran (Principal of Global College). Caldwell first met McPhedran when she spoke at a dinner for Human Rights Heroes at Caldwell’s high school.
“I was in grade 12, and she mentioned the [Human Rights and Global Studies] program, and spoke about all these women that I’d never heard of before. She’d lived all over the world, and worked for the UN (United Nations), and done so many great things and then come home.”
Through a course with McPhedran, Caldwell had the opportunity to go to New York twice, where she visited the UN and took in a speech by one of her heroes, Luis Moreno Ocampo.
Caldwell was nominated for the award by the United Way, where she chairs Winnipeg’s Youth United Council, but she can be credited with taking on many leadership roles and volunteer hours within the community. Now on the cusp of graduation, Caldwell prepares to attend law school out of province.  
“I grew up around women who were very strong willed and passionate and respected in their fields, and I was always encouraged to speak my mind so it seemed like a natural transition from human rights [into women’s rights]”, Caldwell says, “I think women are at the core of every community.”
While dedicatedly pursuing their own goals, both women have consequently enriched the U of W experience for other women, and become mentors themselves. It’s in our best interest to recognize and support this naturally-occurring cycle of influentially outstanding women.