"Top female achievers" take a bow
![Top female achievers Bev Church, Melissa Weber and Carolyn Barber-Pierre Top female achievers Bev Church, Melissa Weber and Carolyn Barber-Pierre](/sites/default/files/images/female_achievers_jeffjohnston_730_1.jpg)
Congratulate these three women with Tulane affiliations who are among the “top female achievers” named by New Orleans Magazine. They are, from left, Bev Church, Melissa Weber and Carolyn Barber-Pierre. (Photos by Jeffery Johnston)
Three women with close ties to Tulane University Carolyn Barber-Pierre, Bev Church and Melissa Weber are among the 10 “top female achievers” selected by New Orleans Magazine in its July 2015 issue, declaring them to be women “whose stories are worth knowing.”
Barber-Pierre, whose career at Tulane began in 1984, is assistant vice president for student affairs and director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, LGBT Student Life and Religious Life. In the article, she said she is proudest of developing her office"s mentoring program and nearly 30 years of work on the Martin Luther King Jr. Week for Peace, a joint celebration with Tulane, Xavier, Dillard and Loyola universities. She also is co-founder of Casa Samba, a dance group that performs during Carnival and other events.
A 1967 alumna of Newcomb College, Church is executive editor of St. Charles Avenue magazine. An author and business owner, she is also very active in community work and has helped raise funds for City Park, the Audubon Zoo and the Edible Schoolyard at Samuel J. Green Charter School. She was one of the “Women of the Storm,” which raised national awareness for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Recently she helped fundraising efforts for construction of a new building for YAYA (Young Aspirations, Young Artists) in the Central City neighborhood.
Although her day job is academic programs manager in the Cocurricular Programs office of Newcomb-Tulane College, Weber is perhaps best known as DJ Soul Sister. A veteran of the city"s festival circuit, she is an authority on funk, soul, disco, hip-hop and rare groove music and musicians. Radio listeners hear her regular show, “Soul Power,” on WWOZ-FM.
These Tulane women are joined in the honored group by journalist Jennifer Hale, artist and musician Sean Yseult, Loyola University professor Laura T. Murphy, restaurant executive Heather Lolly, journalist Stephanie Grace, artist Jax Frey and Louisiana State University professor Dr. Patricia Molina. They will be honored at an event on Wednesday (July 22) from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Board of Trade, 316 Magazine St.
“We honor these women not so much for breaking new ground, but for expanding the territory.”—New Orleans Magazine