TEW and WOM members who receive monthly e-newsletters have likely noticed a wonderful change in them.

The creative upgrades to the announcements are a result of the hard work of Abi Cowell, a TEW member and part of TEW communications committee.

TEW president Jackalyn Rainosek says Cowell's donates her social media skills not only to TEW, but to other groups as well.

Sandy Poffinbarger's name is one you'll want to remember.

As the recently announced treasurer of TEW, she holds a crucial role in moving our group forward in the years ahead.

"Our members are going to love Sandy," TEW president Jackalyn Rainosek shared. " She has great life experience and a great story about the professional path she chose."

One of the TEW Communications committee goals is to share great news about our TEW and WOM members.

On Tuesday, April 17th, TEW board member and 2009 WOM honoree Shauna Clark received a prestigious award.

She is one of six to be named 2012 Breakthrough Women by the Greater Houston Women's Chamber of Commerce.

It was wonderful to see the video tribute to Shauna and the other women. It was a wonderful reminder that we all have to define our own passion and our own sense of balance.

On top of the honor, Shauna looked great !

WOMEN-OWNED AND STRONG
This was sent out by Real Estate BISNOW (The largest commercial real estate publication in the United States) and thought it would be nice to share.

Being a woman-owned company in CRE is rare, but has its perks, according to Customized Real Estate Services CEO Connie Rankin. Connie founded her tenant rep company in 2001 and tells us big oil and gas firms like Chevron and Shell (both of which she’s worked with) are great about working with small businesses and women-owned companies. She says that being certified as a woman-owned business can get you in the door, but she still has to show value to lock in clients. (Fun fact in honor of Earth Day: Connie was the first CEO of a certified woman-owned business in the US to get LEED accreditation.)

This feature is one of the new ones you’ll see each month on TEWHouston.org. We have so many members who contribute community service time not only to TEW, but many other groups dedicated to helping others. Each month, we’ll provide a different member.

Many of you know Kathryn Wood as “Toy” and that her professional title is Executive Vice President and CEO of the Greater Houston Builders Association. But her commitment to public service goes well beyond TEW.

Each month, TEWHouston.org will profile one of our phenomenal members in this special column.  When the time came to select the subject of this---the first profile, it was unanimous.

Meet Jeann Howse, one of the founding members of TEW in 1979.

This month, we salute Jackalyn Rainosek and Liz Cloud who have recently been certified as Certificated Master Teachers with The Leadership Challenge program for the prestigious Leadership Challenge.

Our newest members:

Whitney Smith
Erika Beltran
Ann Kasman
Amy Rozell
Liz Cloud
Laureen Wishom
Connie Rankin
Mary Kowalski
Connie Smith
Melissa Noriega
Linda Shartzer
Sue Hepler
Thess LeBlanc
Christine Holland
Shari Orkin
Susan McEldoon