Honors and Awards

Junior League of Los Angeles is an award-winning nonprofit organization. We’ve received numerous honors including:

Commendation from LA County 3rd District Supervisor Lindsay P. Horvath in recognition of the Wildfire Recovery Fund (2025)
Commendation from LA City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez in recognition of the Wildfire Recovery Fund (2025)
AJLI Public Policy and Advocacy Award to CalSPAC (2024)
Women in Film PSA Production Award (2012)

JLLA also recognizes outstanding individuals for their service to the League or the Los Angeles Community.

SHINING STAR AWARD

This award is presented each year to an outstanding active Junior League of Los Angeles member who has demonstrated a strong commitment to serving both the League and the community consistent with the Junior League mission, and has consistently gone above and beyond her membership requirements.

2025 Recipient: Khloé Gracyzk
Since joining JLLA in 2021, Khloé has demonstrated a true heart for service. She consistently goes above and beyond to support not only our external community partners, but our JLLA members. Khloé began her JLLA leadership career as Assistant to the President-Elect. Simultaneously, she served as a Done in a Day (DIAD) committee member where her natural leadership abilities immediately stood out. Khloé then served two consecutive years as DIAD Co-Chair where she was responsible for leveling up our community partnerships, bringing in new DIAD locations, successfully securing a Legacy Leadership Circle (LLC) grant for a Habitat for Humanity work day, and executing on three Impact Days. In addition, Khloé is always willing to help and participate – she truly embodies the very spirit of the Shining Star award.

Previous Recipients:

Katie McGorman 2023-2024
Sarah Farrell – 2022-2023
Rebecca Malzahn Mellos – 2021-2022
Tiffany Hamilton – 2020-2021
Christina Pascucci – 2019-2020
Jenn Hsu – 2018-2019
Dawn Eash – 2017-2018
Lindsay Spiller – 2016-2017
Sydney Johnson – 2015-2016
Katie Schellenberg – 2014-2015
Melody Fang – 2013-2014
Cori Rosenthal – 2012-2013
Katie Darling – 2011-2012
September Hill – 2010-2011
Miki Barr – 2009-2010
Julie Donato – 2008-2009 (Inaugural Year)

SPIRIT OF VOLUNTARISM AWARD

This award acknowledges and honors JLLA’s sustaining members who embody the mission of the League, demonstrate a sustained interest in volunteer service, and inspire other members to use their skills in the community.

2025 Recipient: Heather Ogilvie Shuemaker

Heather joined the Junior League of Los Angeles (JLLA) in 1975 after completing her studies at UCLA, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Sociology with a minor in Psychology. After finishing her provisional year with JLLA, she moved to Boston where she began her longstanding affiliation with The Association of Junior Leagues International.

Upon her return to Los Angeles, Heather became involved in JLLA through projects, membership, development, and training. Rising through leadership roles, she served as Projects Director, President-Elect, and ultimately as President of the Junior League of Los Angeles in 1991-1992.

Heather guided the JLLA committee that established and staffed the AIDS Project Los Angeles hotline. This pioneering project became the model for Junior Leagues across the country. For six years, she served on the APLA Board of Directors. During this time, she chaired the Governance Committee and later joined the organization’s first Ambassador Council.

Heather has continued to employ her skills and passion for giving to 30 nonprofit organizations that support medical, arts, cultural, civic, and sports advancements. She has been honored to serve on 18 Boards of those organizations. For example, she has served on the Rotary Club of Los Angeles Foundation Board of Directors for five years, chairing it in 2023-2024. Currently, she is on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Rotary Club of Los Angeles.

Additionally, Heather serves on the boards of The Blue Ribbon of The Music Center and The Council of Children’s Burn Foundation. She is also an active member of The Council of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. Her civic leadership has extended to the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, the Rodeo Drive Committee, and the Beverly Hills Conference & Visitors Bureau, where she served multiple terms shaping the city’s cultural and philanthropic footprint.

Professionally, Heather is a seasoned senior executive whose career has spanned work in the television and radio broadcasting industry, luxury fashion, the arts, major cultural institutions, and national nonprofits. She worked for sixteen years in luxury retail with Alfred Dunhill of London and Saks Fifth Avenue. During her ten years at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Heather rose to become their Chief Advancement Officer, where she led ongoing campaigns to ensure the organization’s long-term sustainability.

Today, as Principal of HOS Consulting, Heather brings her decades of experience to nonprofits and businesses alike. She advises clients on strategic planning, board engagement, multifaceted fundraising campaigns, and philanthropic strategy.

Heather has remained closely tied to JLLA as a Sustainer, mentoring Presidents and most recently serving as the Sustaining Advisor to the Centennial Gala Committee.

Heather’s lifelong commitment to service through volunteerism began with the foundational training she received from the Junior League of Los Angeles. She is forever grateful for that gift, the hundreds of women that the League fosters, and the bountiful impact she and countless women continue to have in our community.

Previous Recipients:

2024: Dr. Julie Elginer
2023: Teresa Grady Weeden
2022 – Gayle Wilder
2021 – Julie Guest
2020 – N/A Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
2019 – Ginger Barnard
2018 – Shelli Herman
2017 – Phoebe Vaccaro
2016 – Daryn Horton
2015 – Ellen Weitman
2014 – Rebecca Wurzburger
2013 – Jill Baldauf
2012 – Joan Prestine
2011 (Fall) – Dale Harbour Day
2011 (Spring) – Billie Greer
2010 – Beth Quillen Thomas
2009 – Wendy Borcherdt LeRoy
2008 – Susan Steinhauser
2007 – Cathy Collins Hession
2006 – Jan Pahl Kern
2005 – Judith G. Jones
2004 – Nancy Banning Call
2003 – Beverly Walker Thrall
2002 – Carol Keith Mancino
2001 – Mrs. Charles Munger
2000 – Mrs. Fulton W. Haight
1999 – Ann Petroni
1998 – Katharine Bourne Gates
1997 – Frances P. Muir
1996 – Mrs. William French Smith
1995 – Beth Lowe
1994 – Lorna Reed
1993 – Beatrice Challiss
1992 – Kathleen McCarthy
1991 – Lea Ann King
1990 – Miss Julia Stearns Dockweiler
1989 – Mrs. Franklin D. Murphy
1988 – Vilma K. Pallette
1987 – Mrs. Alexander B. Ripley
1986 – Mrs. Homer Toberman (Outstanding Sustainer Award)
1986 – Mrs. James Albert McMahan (Outstanding Sustainer Award)
1986 – Mrs. Gabriel Carlos Duque (Outstanding Sustainer Award)
1986 – Mrs. Donald Dickerson (Outstanding Sustainers Award)

PRESIDENT’S CUP AWARD

This award is presented annually to a member or members who have demonstrated a long-term commitment to our League, embodying qualities of leadership such as team building, mentoring, and serving as a role model for others. Recipients have held least two leadership positions and have made significant contributions to the League. While this award often honors those transitioning to Sustaining membership, it remains open to any active member meeting these exemplary standards.

2025 Recipient: Christina Pascucci

Christina Pascucci joined the Junior League in 2009 and transferred to JLLA in 2017. She has served as Civic Leadership Institute Co-Chair, Public Policy Institute committee member, and as JLLA’s CalSPAC Delegate, where she helped to pass SB1065. As Co-Chair for the Friends LA Project, she saw the direct impact of her advocacy work and passion by working side by side with foster youth. Christina has also shown her leadership skills on the air, working as a reporter for local station KTLA. And she’s put all her public policy training to good use by running for office last election cycle. Her passion and her enthusiasm for our mission is infectious. She truly embodies our mission of creating well-trained volunteers who go out into our community and make it a better place. Cristina has the heart to roll up her sleeves and be part of the solution.

2025 Recipient: Nene Ogbechie

Since joining JLLA in 2016, Nene Ogbechie has made an incredible impact on our organization. She dove right into public policy, serving first as a committee member for the Public Policy Institute and subsequently as Chair. She then took her skills to senior leadership in the role of Public Policy VP in 2019. She didn’t stop there, though. She has served as Board Director, Secretary of the Board, as a member of the Project Evaluation and Fundraising Evaluation Committees, Donor Relations and Stewardship Chair, and most recently for the past two years as our CalSPAC Delegate. Nene serves as the executive officer of housing in Mayor Karen Bass’s Office of Housing and Homelessness Solutions. In this role, Nene oversees the housing policy team’s workflow under the guidance of the deputy mayor of housing and provides operational support to the deputy mayor. Nene is the perfect example of Junior League is: she has always pushed herself outside her comfort zone, taking on new roles and consistently learning. And she takes that training to accomplish even more amazing things.

Previous Recipients:

2024 Jamie Shapiro
2024 Caitlin Piemonte
2023 Cheryl Lacsina
2023 Tammy Dicks
2022 Jeanette Woodburn
2021 Vanessa Keith Garcia
2021 Melody Fang
2020 Kimberly Bartholomew
2020 Lauren Fujiu-Berger
2019 Joy C. Williams
2018 Mary Beth Ferrante
2017 Ricci Ramos
2016 Margaret Otto
2016 Kris Crenwelge
2015 Monika Pataye Watkins
2015 September Hill
2014 Jennifer Cody
2013 Bonnie Wong
2013 Kim Iselin
2012 Julie Elginer
2012 Joanne Coghill
2011 Elizabeth Curtis
2010 Julie Kaplan
2009 Anneli Stone
2009 Kristin Sibson
2008 Maria Higgins
2008 Shelli Herman
2007 Jennifer DeGuardi
2006 Angela Milstein
2006 Alison Koi Howard
2005 Marla Richmond
2004 Barbara Wilson
2004 Gayle Wilder
2003 Sara Jo Ward Forthmann
2002 Barbara A. Ringhofer
2002 Lisa Hallaian
2001 Robin Stone
2000 Shelly Scott
1999 Susan O’Connor
1998 Marian Miller
1997 Melody Nishida
1996 Bettina Duval
1995 Mary E. McGoey
1994 Karen Tuppan Cameron
1993 Brooke Bentley Moore
1992 Mary Frances Whiting
1991 Rebecca Wurzburger
1990 Joan McLaughlin
1989 Judy Horton
1988 Daisy Spurgin
1987 Susie Langs
1986 Louisa Moore

COMMUNITY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

This award is given annually to an individual or organization who has made a positive impact on the Los Angeles community.

2024 Recipient: Nichol Whiteman, Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation

With a relentless dedication to improving communities in neighborhoods that need help the most, Nichol Whiteman serves as Chief Executive Officer of the award-winning Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF). An equity-focused leader, Nichol guides LADF in tackling the most pressing problems facing Los Angeles with a mission to improve education, health care, homelessness and social justice for all Angelenos. Tasked with relaunching LADF in 2013 with just a $600,000 budget, a new name, and logo, Nichol’s leadership has resulted in $204 million raised in the last 11 years alone. Creating lasting impact for Los Angeles, LADF has invested $71 million in community programs impacting over 11 million youth.

She bravely works to improve the complex struggles the city faces to ensure that ZIP codes never define opportunity. A child of Jamaican immigrants “in search of a dream” and a first-generation college graduate, Nichol sees herself in the population she serves and works to narrow access gaps—all while showcasing LADF’s gratitude to Los Angeles and its unwavering dedication to connecting young people and their families to resources and opportunities.

Previous Recipients:

2024: Pepper Edmiston and Susan Abrams, Happy Trails for Kids
2023: Jen Lilley
2022: Jesse Draper, Melissa Hana
2021: Rachel S. Moore, Gregory Boyle
2019: Lucia Diaz and Alex Morales
2018: Nadine Schiff-Rosen
2017: Joy Burkard
2016: Jeanne Pritzker
2015: Stacia and Luc Robitaille
2014: Julie DesJardins
2013: Susan Sarich
2012: Lynda Resnick
2011: Christine Devine
2010: Lin Oliver and Henry Winkler
2009: Nancy Aossey
2008: Carla Christofferson, Katherine Goodman
2006: Dick and Nancy Riordan
2005: Evelyn Lauder
2004: Caroline Rose Hunt
2002: Andrea L. Van de Kamp
2001: Kelly Stone
2000: Linda Thompson and David Foster
1999: Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson
1998: Elizabeth Dole
1997: Lifetime Television for Women
1996: Gayle Wilson
1995: Rhonda Fleming Mann
1994: Nancy Reagan

FOUNDERS’ AWARD

This award is given to an Active member going Sustaining who over the course of her League tenure has left a legacy that will impact not only the League but the Community as well. This award is given whenever a member fits the criteria. It is not given annually. The criteria are as follows: Must be an Active member who is about to be a Sustainer; Through her Active service has broadened the impact of the Junior League of Los Angeles in the community; Through her years of service has demonstrated superior leadership by embracing diverse perspectives, building partnerships, and inspiring development of shared solutions; Through her years of service, a legacy of impact remains.

2013 – Joy Burkhard
2004 – Beth Quillen Thomas
2002 – Cheryl Trinidad Stewart
2000 – Jill Baldauf
1997 – Susan Steinhauser