Cassandra Barba
Director of Marketing & Communications, Cape Fear Solar Systems
Describe your role.
“I currently oversee the marketing, HR, and IT departments. This role includes strategic planning, budget management, staff development, brand positioning, SEO and AdWords, contract negotiation, leadership, CRM administration, legal/compliance, and serving as a vendor liaison.”
What are some of the impacts you’ve made locally?
“One of the contributors for Cape Fear Solar Systems’ growth – which brought more clean energy careers to our region and allowed us to move into our new warehouse. I have served as co-chair for the North Carolina Azalea Festival Boxing Committee for eight years. I am a volunteer coach at Port City Boxing. Boxing helps keep kids off the street while promoting discipline and self-control. I am also president of my community’s HOA – only notable because it’s less common to have a woman in this role.”
What have been some of your career highlights so far?
“Being a finalist for the Women to Watch Awards as well as participation in the WILMA Leadership Institute. Other career highlights include contributions leading to awards such as the BBB Torch Award finalist for Ethics, BBB Award of Excellence, MADE, Greater Wilmington Business Journal’s Coastal Entrepreneur Award, Wilmington Chamber of Commerce’s (entrepreneur award), Solar Power World magazine’s Top Solar Contractor Award, and most recently the Greenest Contractor Award.”
What’s a future goal?
“A long-term goal is to contribute to Cape Fear Solar’s success leading up to phase two of construction, which includes a four-story office building, allowing further expansion. Expansion will allow me to achieve my future goal of helping others reach their professional goals. A short-term goal is to help more homes and businesses in our community live better with the use of solar energy.”
Anything else you want us to know about you?
“I am a USA-registered boxing athlete. I am on the Cape Fear CREW Marketing Council as well as co-chair for their Awards of Excellence. I am also on the Marketing Council for the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC). I have a fifteen-year-old son, husband – we own End Game Exterminators together, a cat, and a dog.”
Aneliese Bard Andrades
President, Carolina Cleaning Services
Describe your role.
“My role, as President of Carolina Cleaning Services, is to provide strategic leadership and oversee the overall operations of the company. This includes setting goals and objectives, developing business initiatives, and ensuring the company’s profitability and growth.”
What are some of the impacts you’ve made locally?
“Carolina Cleaning Services has heart. My exchanges with customers are more than just a transaction. We have been fortunate to create well-established relationships with the people we meet and take pride in giving back to our community. As a Cleaning for A Reason partner since 2017, our team provides free cleaning services to patients battling cancer and others who are facing extenuating and dire circumstances. The Zimmer Cancer Center has been an integral part of this collaboration.”
What have been some of your career highlights so far?
“My business career began when I left the world of being a fashion model in Brazil and became the first female manager for a car rental company with a national footprint. I learned many things from that experience and utilized that knowledge early on when I began Carolina Cleaning Services shortly after coming to the U.S. I’m most proud of navigating the company the past twenty-nine years to reach this level of recognition.”
What’s a future goal?
“While I appreciate the level of success my company has achieved to this point, I have a much grander vision for where this company can go. The Carolina Cleaning Services brand is strong and could do very well in expansion markets such as Raleigh, Charlotte, and Greenville. I am ready to deliver the vision that will get us there and eager to challenge myself to see how successful of a company leader I can become.”
Anything else you want us to know about you?
“I love this community and have called it home for almost thirty years. Being recognized for something I am so passionate about, by a publication that means so much to this community, is an honor. … WILMA opened so many doors for my company to upscale business level and myself in the nonprofit dream locally and worldwide. The connections with empowered women like myself made me realize that my ultimate goal is possible – to open an organization to help underprivileged kids around the world and empower them to become a strong generation.”
Pam Hardy
District Manager, Duke Energy
Describe your role.
Pam Hardy is a government and community relations manager for Duke Energy, serving New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, Columbus, Bladen, and Sampson counties. In this role, she has the responsibility as part of the utility’s Government and Community Relations team “to build, cultivate and manage relationships with local government, business, and community leaders, elected officials, stakeholders, and allies to enhance Duke Energy’s corporate, community objectives and reputation.”
What are some of the impacts you’ve made locally?
“This summer, my organization, Duke Energy, supported Cape Fear organizations facing unprecedented economic challenges and demand with $100,000 in capacity-building grants. Funded organizations include Good Shepherd Ministries, Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry, Step Up Wilmington, Brunswick County Partnership, and Safe Haven of Pender.”
What have been some of your career highlights so far?
“Some of my career highlights thus far have been learning about the Cape Fear region – the people, businesses, and a community which thrives on supporting and lifting their neighbors where they live and work. In addition, serving on local boards provides an opportunity to build and deepen relationships with key leaders. The WILMA Women to Watch Advisory Board, mentoring for WILMA’s Women to Watch Mentoring Program, serving as a board member for the Cape Fear Community College Electrical Lineworker Advisory Board, board member for NC Project Lead, member of the Wilmington Rotary Club, board member for United Way of the Cape Fear Area, being recognized as a 2022 WilmingtonBiz 100 Connector, and a finalist for the WILMA’s Women to Watch Awards in the business category have been a great opportunity to build a broad network of colleagues and engage in conversations that align with Duke Energy’s clean energy transition.”
What’s a future goal?
“Duke Energy’s goals are to create value for our customer and communities while providing affordable and reliable service. Duke Energy is also executing an aggressive clean energy transition in North Carolina to reach our goals of net-zero methane emissions by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
Anything else you want us to know about you?
“I look forward to continuing to build and deepen relationships with customers, key leaders, elected officials, allies, and the business community; being visible and engaged in the communities Duke Energy serves; and continuing to focus on the clean energy transition in the region.”
Tristan Manley
SVP Product Leader Deposits & Lending, Live Oak Bank
Describe your role.
“Being a product leader is all about empowering my teams to solve our customer’s problems in innovative ways that they love, yet that work for our business. To do this we must first identify a problem to solve and then paint the target for the outcome we want to achieve. Then we work to develop solutions to those problems, ensuring they are valuable and usable for our customers, feasible for our engineers to build, and viable to our business model.”
What are some of the impacts you’ve made locally?
“Locally, I’ve worked with GLOW Academy taking the opportunity to speak with their students about my career path at their annual Cool Women, Hot Jobs event or with my other fellow colleagues at Live Oak on-campus hosted events. I’ve worked with Habitat for Humanity to help build homes in our community, NourishNC for food drives and bag packing events, and supporting A Safe Place and NourishNC through recurring philanthropic grants or participating in the wonderful events their boards host.”
What have been some of your career highlights so far?
“Being nominated and accepted as a finalist in the WILMA Women to Watch has been an amazing highlight! Thinking through my career, notable events that stand out are when members of my team have succeeded in reaching their goals – whether that’s a successful new product launch, promotion, or working through a really tough problem. Helping others to achieve their goals and seeing the value that we deliver for our customers, company, and community is why I love doing what I do.”
What’s a future goal?
“I believe in the crawl, walk, run approach, knowing that big things start small. Long term, I’m working toward becoming a Chief Product Officer. Recently I’ve started working with an executive coach to help me develop into the leader that I want to be, and taken on an expanded role, leading a larger team that oversees many products at the bank. I’m working to deeply understand those new products, our customers who leverage them, and our teams who support them.”
Anything else you want us to know about you?
“I’m an avid golfer who loves to play on the weekends with my husband. We’ve got three wonderful dogs, who bring chaotic fun to our home. I’m a UNCW alum and love spending as much time as possible outside, whether on the golf course, park, beach, or boat. I love to read and participate in a book club, although we socialize more than we talk about the books when together. I’ve always had a work hard, play hard mentality, although these days balance is what I’m working to strive for!”
Charity Tuttle
Founder & Kindness Curator, Be Mo’ Kind
Describe your role.
“I founded Be Mo’ Kind to inspire human kindness and provide hope and opportunity to our youth. I have done that through speaking engagements, apparel sales, and fun collaborations with local partners to create opportunity. Be Mo’ Kind develops peer-led safe spaces that heighten awareness, create conversations, and provide solutions around bullying while inspiring human kindness, and our mission is backed by a rad apparel line with the reminder to simply Be Mo’ Kind.”
What are some of the impacts you’ve made locally?
“I have personally delivered donated food and clothing to the homeless population downtown. I have spoken to children about bullying, youth suicide, and military service at Carolina Beach Elementary School, GLOW Academy, Hoggard High School, and read to Freedom School. I have volunteered and donated to dog rescues and shelters. I have held food and school supplies and toy drives here. I created and facilitated a six-week, no-cost yoga program for youth ages twelve-plus this summer.”
What have been some of your career highlights so far?
“My main highlight is connecting with youth and making a positive impact on their mindset to provide them with hope. Finding opportunities to speak with youth and creating a safe space to engage is a win. Meeting people that share how they have been impacted by bullying or suicide reminds me to keep having conversations. I have also presented to the 1 Million Cups community and gained key connections for the growth of my business.”
What’s a future goal?
“My goal is to reach 100,000 children through speaking opportunities and workshops. I see young people getting involved with Be Mo’ Kind, to elevate the culture in our schools and neighborhoods, and make Wilmington known for kindness. I am looking to partner with organizations to enhance the experience, by appealing to students from many different angles. I want Be Mo’ Kind apparel sold in our airport to inspire human kindness and increase our impact locally.”
Anything else you want us to know about you?
“I am a female, U.S. Air Force veteran, LGBTQ+ owned business and North Carolina native. My personal experiences with bullying, abuse, and loss from suicide have given me a unique perspective that gives credibility and resonates with my audiences. I initially shared as part of my healing journey and quickly learned that it empowered others to start or continue their journey as well.
I founded Be Mo’ Kind in 2017 after finding out my favorite twelve-year-old was having thoughts of suicide. I wondered why children would feel this way and how one person – me – could have an impact. After educating myself on the statistics of bullying and suicide, I knew that anything was better than nothing. Be Kind was not enough, and I knew we as a society could do more. It started with a T-shirt and a simple message to Be Mo’ Kind.
I am passionate about our youth knowing their uniqueness is special and they are here with an ability to do good in our community and beyond. We can all be the change by leading with kindness and showing our young people how powerful it is.”
To view the Women to Watch Awards Finalists main page, click here.
To view more of photographer Madeline Gray’s work, go to madelinegrayphoto.com.
To view more of photographer Summer Lambert’s work, go to summerlambertphoto.com.
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