The Pima County/Tucson Women's Commission turned fifty, and the room at the Dr. Laura Banks-Reed Center for Gender and Racial Equity at YWCA Tucson was full — full of commissioners past and present, elected leaders, chefs, families, girls, and friends who have spent five decades advancing equity and equality for women and girls in our community. The theme said it perfectly: Looking Back to Propel Forward.
Full Circle for Me
Let me be personal for a moment, because this one is personal.
I served on this Commission from 2012 to 2017, and it's where My Girl Power® was born. When we launched the Legacy & Wingtappers Tour that took our girls to Washington, D.C., New York City and beyond, it was the Women's Commission that stepped up as our fiscal sponsor and made it possible. This Commission believed in our girls before almost anyone else did.
So walking back into that room — now serving as a Commissioner again — to help celebrate fifty years of that kind of belief? That's not a work event. That's a homecoming. Grow where you are planted, then come back and water the garden.
The Evening, From My Seat
Chair Kim Fitch opened the evening with a land acknowledgment honoring the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, then did something I loved: she presented the entire Commission — the Executive Board and every Pima County and City of Tucson seat — and invited former commissioners in the room to stand. Watching fifty years of service rise to their feet in one room is something I won't forget.
Then came the moment nobody saw coming: Gabby Giffords, an Arizona Women's Hall of Fame inductee herself, surprised the room. Two minutes, and the whole place was on its feet.
Supervisor Jen Allen brought greetings from the Pima County Board of Supervisors, and Mayor Regina Romero joined her for a joint city–county proclamation honoring the Commission's fifty years — a fitting gesture for a commission that began with the Tucson City Council's approval in 1975, held its first meeting in 1976, and grew to include all of Pima County in 1992. County Administrator Jan Lesher, a former commissioner herself, reminded us how far that table has reached.
Tucson on a Plate
You cannot celebrate fifty years in the first UNESCO City of Gastronomy in the United States without extraordinary food. In partnership with Tucson City of Gastronomy, four remarkable women chefs from three kitchens created the evening's tasting menu:
Angela Garcia of Chula's Cocina, one of Tucson's official Chef Ambassadors, served charred queso fresco with prickly pear matcha jam. Shuka Parker of Shuka Sweets brought a corn parfait that had people going back for seconds. And Susan Fulton and Mary Steiger of Gourmet Girls Gluten Free Bakery/Bistro delivered a savory elote griddle cake with lime chipotle mousse. Women-owned, Sonoran-rooted, unforgettable.
Game Time (My Favorite Job of the Night)
Commissioner Stephanie Noriega and the presentation committee walked us through fifty years of the Commission's story — the wins, the data, the work still ahead — and then I got to do my favorite thing: turn the room into players.
We ran trivia challenges on the Commission's history, gave away prizes, and asked the whole room to weigh in live on three questions about the future of women and girls in Pima County. Because that's the point, right? Population health — and community change — is a TEAM sport, and every BODY has a role to play. The answers in that room weren't just applause lines; they're input the Commission will carry into its next fifty years.
The Hall of Fame Connection
One of my proudest assignments of the night: sharing the stage with Paula Cullison and Daisy Jenkins of the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame — an institution the Tucson Women's Commission helped co-found back in 1980. We celebrated the recent inductees and invited everyone to mark their calendars: the 2026 Induction Ceremony is Monday, October 19, at Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West, with the program beginning at 3:00 PM.
Fifty years in, this Commission isn't just remembering history. It's still nominating the women who make it.
An Ambitious Woman
Then Alison Hughes — the Commission's very first Executive Director, from 1976 — took the podium for the keynote. From the woman who opened the Commission's doors to the chair leading it today, that arc from Alison Hughes to Kim Fitch is the story of this organization.
And when the words of "I Am an Ambitious Woman" filled the room, there wasn't a person there who didn't feel it. Ambition, it turns out, ages beautifully.
Treasurer Molly Ring closed the evening with the invitation that matters most: bring your time, talent, or treasures. Follow the Commission. Partner with it. Support it. Nominate a woman who inspires you.
Watch It, Share It, Be Part of It
One of the joys of my other hat is that our Force for Health® Network team was able to give the Commission a gift for its 50th: we broadcast the full program live so that this piece of Tucson history is preserved for anyone who couldn't be in the room — and for the commissioners of 2076 who will want to see how we celebrated.
Propelling Forward
Fifty years ago, a group of Tucson women decided our community needed a formal voice for women and girls — and then they built one. Today's Commission carries that work forward with a clear vision:
A Tucson and Pima County where every woman and girl has the safety, opportunity, and empowerment she deserves — for herself, her family, and her community.
If that vision moves you, don't just applaud it. Follow the Commission at pctwc.org, come to a meeting (first Wednesday of the month), partner on the work, or nominate a legacy maker to the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame.
Here's to the women of the first fifty years — and to every girl who will lead the next fifty.
Who's ready to propel forward with us?
— Coach Lucy