2023 Nominees - ATHENA Leadership Award

2023 ATHENA Award Recipients

Lesley Beard

2023 Athena Leadership Award

Victoria Paz

2023 Athena Young

Leadership Award

2023 ATHENA Leadership Award Nominees

Arena Collective is sponsoring this year’s ATHENA Leadership Award.

Nominees, left to right: Nominees Donna Bach, Leslie Beard, and Kathryn Townsend.

What inspires these ATHENA nominees?

Donna Bach is Owner and Business Development/Marketing Director of Pizza Platoon and the Pizza Platoon Convoy. Bach utilized skills of her social work profession to support her extreme special needs son. After years of advocating for her own child, she became a mentor to other parents of special needs children, educating them on services available within the school system and assisting in the development of Individual Education Programs. Bach also mentored employees at her family business and is vice president of the Slidell Rotary, serves on the boards of directors of Slidell Heritage Festival, East St. Tammany Business Alliance, STARC, Kids in Development Slidell, and Camp Nora, and is a class of 23 graduate of Leadership Northshore.

Lesley Beard is Patient Care Manager at the Slidell VA Clinic. An advocate for changes in patient communication and standards of practice to revise the patient safety process, Beard was a Patient Advocate for Ochsner in St. Tammany before being asked to expand that service to Louisiana and Mississippi. A 2019 Great 100 Nurses Foundation honoree, Beard created a Zoom-based program, VOICES – Verbalizing Internal Concerns Externally, that gave nurses a forum to support their mental health during the pandemic. Beard’s mentoring of students at her alma mater led to her receipt of the St. Mary’s Academy Legacy Award. Organizations and civic programs benefiting from her leadership include East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Louisiana Veterans Festival, Usher Board at Greater Northshore Full Gospel Baptist Church, Steel Mimosas, and the Slidell Police Department Citizens Academy. She also honored the memory of her late infant daughter by founding Hailey’s Helpers, a single-person initiative that helps others in need, and she hosts an annual Empowered Women’s Brunch that encourages women to become the best version of themselves.

Kathryn Townsend is retired from the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO) at Stennis Space Center. A single mother, Townsend earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in chemistry, then expanded her arsenal of skills by taking graduate level college courses in hydrographic science and systems. At NAVO, Townsend was a key participant in international explorations to manage on-site data collection. During those missions, she served as both an international liaison to local dignitaries and a hand of support to the poor in these countries. Townsend was asked by NAVO to spearhead an initiative that encouraged poor black youth to pursue careers in ocean science and technology. She also wrote a grant for children’s nutrition that earned a $25,000 award. A fierce advocate of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority principles and charter member of the Tau Iota Chapter serving the entire northshore community, Townsend is Tau Iota Chapter’s Program Chairwoman and as such led her sisters in numerous programs supporting the local community including a voter registration drive, SOUL NOLA, Keep Slidell Beautiful, Slidell Adult Daycare, the Divine 9, and programs benefiting the children of Abney Elementary.

2023 ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award Nominees

Mike Rich and Steve Kernahan are sponsoring the ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award.

Nominees, left to right: Lauren Bethancourt, Dr. Treva Brown, Taylor Frisard, and Victoria Paz.

Lauren Bethancourt is an accomplished St. Tammany educator who also worked for the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Secret Service. A graduate of Northshore High School, Bethancourt earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from LSU and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Louisiana State University of Shreveport. A former teacher at Lake Castle Slidell and Boyet Junior High, Bethancourt was recognized as a St. Tammany District Teacher of the Year, Exemplary Educator by the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Delta Zeta sorority “35 Under 35” recipient. In 2021, she was promoted to parish-wide assistant principal for St. Tammany Parish Public Schools where she served three different schools, and in 2022, she applied for a permanent administrative position and has since served as one of the assistant principals at Covington High. Bethancourt is a member of the Steel Mimosas, has been an active member and is current president of the Junior Auxiliary of Slidell, and during the pandemic, shared her love of reading by starting a virtual book club, the Bayou Book Babes, which donated a Free Little Library to the city of Slidell and has more than 200 members from around the globe.

Treva Brown is a Physical Scientist at the United States Naval Research Laboratory at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, where she contributes to ongoing corrosion science research in the Physical Oceanographic Processes Section of the Ocean Sciences division. She earned a bachelor of science degree at LSU and a doctoral degree in chemistry at the University of New Orleans as a Board of Regents Graduate fellow. Dr. Brown fiercely advocates for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) outreach in her local communities and spearheads initiatives to improve diversity and inclusion within the scientific community. She is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation Society, and American Chemical Society. Among recent awards are LSU’s 2023 Distinguished Young Alumni, and 2021 Women of Color Community Service in Government Award. Dr. Brown has also served in the pageant realm as Ms. Black St. Tammany Parish, Ms. Black Louisiana Empowerment, and Ms. Black Louisiana International Ambassador. She currently holds the title of Ms. Black Louisiana Eminence.

Taylor Frisard works with STARC of LA where she is a Qualified Intellectual Disability Professional/Case Manager of the Ladies Residential Homes. A former student at Our Lady of Lourdes and Pope John Paull II Catholic High School, Frisard earned a bachelor’s degree in health promotion and education at Southeastern Louisiana University. While at SLU, she was a member of Alpha Sigma Tau where she participated in projects including Project Prom and the sorority’s main philanthropic focus, Habitat for Humanity. Frisard is a founding member of the Krewe of Antheia and currently is president of that local Mardi Gras organization. She is a Rosie Committee Member and a Rosie Team Leader for East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity, and a board member of Riley Bikes. She is a former officer for Pope John Paul II Catholic High School Alumni Association and a former parade officer for the Krewe of Selene.

Victoria Paz is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Silver Slipper Casino Hotel. She earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and joined the Silver Slipper team in 2009 as a Retail Clerk. She swiftly was promoted to the positions of Marketing Administrator, Advertising and Publicity Manager, and ultimately, Director of Sales and Marketing. A resident of Slidell, Langlinais has been an active member of the St. Tammany Parish and Hancock County communities for the past 15 years. She was a founder of Bring It Home Northshore, a class of 2014 graduate of Leadership Northshore, a board member for Hospice House, East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, and ChamberPAC. In addition to her passion for giving back to her community, Victoria enjoys spending time with family and friends as often as possible.