♪ [opening music] ♪ <Beryl Dakers> Hello.

I'm Beryl Dakers.

Welcome to Palmetto Scene in this week's edition, we feature the final installment of our Women Vision 2020 honorees the Women Vision S.C. Initiative focuses on issues affecting women throughout the state and the nation and serves as a platform to highlight extraordinary South Carolina women.

Former ETV President Linda O'Bryon gives us better insight into the purpose and importance of this most prestigious award.

♪ [upbeat piano interlude] ♪ [Linda O'Bryon] Hi, my name is Linda O'Bryon Former President and CEO of South Carolina Educational Television and Radio as CEO for seven years, I had a grand opportunity to meet many strong women from throughout South Carolina.

I found so many women to be accomplished, creative and visionary.

Out of that knowledge and with the help of the SCETV leadership and production team, we created Women Vision SC.

You'll be seeing the results of that work, extraordinary stories of outstanding women.

How did we select this group?

Well, we started with our audience, ETV viewers and listeners, and we asked them to submit nominations.

In the first year, we had more than 75 nominations and in year two, close to 90.

Then we assembled a group of community leaders and asked them to select the finalists.

The ETV production crew and I, set out across the state to meet the finalists and capture their stories.

We set up interviews in studio and on location from Beaufort, Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Lake City, Rock Hill and Spartanburg.

After the recordings, the crew and I would talk about these inspiring stories and how they were important for women and men of all ages to hear.

In many cases, the stories defined the essence of leadership.

The segments have all been broadcast on ETV, radio and television and posted online.

We have longer versions of each interview as podcasts at SouthCarolinaPublicRadio.org When you think about it, this is an era of historic proportion for women with 2020 marking the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote.

Those hard fought battles, resulted in opportunities for generations to come.

We hope you'll watch these segments with an eye toward learning more about some of South Carolina's most influential women, their own personal challenges and how their life stories can make a difference for young people today.

<Beryl> First, we visit Dr. Shaniece Criss.

Dr. Criss was the first African American female elected to the Traveler's Rest City Council in the upstate.

She's an Assistant Professor of Health Science at Furman University and as the Public Health practitioner during her stint in the Peace Corps Dr. Criss served as producer and host for a national television show for the Ministry of Health in Guyana, South America.

She received her Doctor of Science degree from Harvard's T.H.

Chan School of Public Health.

She's also a Fellow at the Riley Institute's Diversity Leaders Initiative.

Tonight's first honoree.

Dr. Shaniece Criss <Dr.

Criss> I feel compelled every time there's an election that I should vote because so many people fought for me to vote.

I think about the Women's Movement.

I think about the Civil Rights Movement.

In the 1960s, my grandmother would go door to door and knock and say, "Please, get registered to vote."

<O'Bryon> Shaniece Criss, a health science faculty member at Furman University and an elected official on the Travelers Rest City Council, takes voting seriously.

She grew up in a family hearing stories about the importance of voting as well as public health.

<Dr.

Criss> I just learned that my great-grandfather started the first African American hospital in Mississippi.

And I think about how he went door to door.

He also started one of the first HMOs in the country and he had all the black people in the area.

They would pay 50 cents to join this insurance company.

And the reason he wanted to start that hospital is because he was tired of seeing black women having their babies in the cotton fields.

So when I think about all those struggles that people have gone through I feel it's my imperative to exercise my right to vote.

<O'Bryon> That imperative to vote and to foster public service led Dr. Criss to receive her PHD at Harvard from the T.H.

Chan School of Public Health.

At the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, she was awarded a Presidential Public Service Fellowship.

Now she puts that knowledge to work with her students at Furman.

<Dr.

Criss> In class, I'm teaching about national issues, state level and local, so whenever we talk about any public health issue, I always bring in, what are the ways that politics makes a difference.

What are the policies that we should do?

One assignment is even having them create a healthcare system for the United States.

<O'Bryon> On a community level, she sees a need for health equity.

<Dr.

Criss> So if I look at health outcomes, you can see a vast difference just by somebody's zip code.

And so practical things like, is there a grocery store in their area?

Do people have access to after school tutoring?

Is it safe to go outside and exercise?

So when I think of equity, I think of individually, but I also think about it for communities.

<O'Bryon> Whether in the classroom or serving as a Travelers Rest City Councilwoman, Dr. Criss approaches her work by focusing on health equity and communications.

<Dr.

Criss> That's government, media and academia.

I just make sure I'm working in one of those spheres or when I'm really firing on all cylinders, all three.

<O'Bryon> Academics was always part of her background.

A newspaper article about you as a teenager mentioned that you earned straight As from 1st grade through 12th grade with the exception of one B.

Second grade handwriting.

(Dr. Criss laughs) <O'Bryon> So how did that happen.

<Dr.

Criss> I guess I just needed to improve my handwriting in second grade.

<O'Bryon> But seriously getting straight A's for all those years.

You must be very determined.

<Dr.

Criss> Well, I got straight A's, elementary and middle and then I maintained over 4.0 in high school, so I did get some B's in that process.

But yes, I'm very determined.

I remember middle school, I would wake up at 4 a.m. and get out of my bed and start doing homework.

I just really was captivated by the material.

and I wanted to make sure I did a good job.

<O'Bryon> And her parents cultivated that spirit.

Her father was a school principal, her mother a school counselor.

<Dr.

Criss> Whenever I came home and felt like I couldn't do something, my mom would do a special cheer for me.

The cheer was, I know you can do it.

You know you can do it.

All you get to do is put your mind to it, get up, get with it, really sock it to them, get up, get with it, really sock it to them.

So every time I was down, that's what I heard.

<O'Bryon> You still probably think about it a lot now.

<Dr.

Criss> I do.

I do that cheer for my mom and my daughter.

<Beryl> Our next honoree is Lou Kennedy as President, CEO and owner of Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

Lou Kennedy runs a global company out of West Columbia, South Carolina.

She and her husband helped establish the Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center in conjunction with the USC School of Pharmacy.

Lou received South Carolina's Order of the Palmetto in recognition of a lifetime of service and under her leadership in 2017, Nephron earned an honorable mention award for Global Facility of the Year from the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering.

The award hailed Nephron's innovation and automation.

Our next honoree, Ms Lou Kennedy.

<Lou Kennedy> First of all, you have to vote your conscience, and have to vote for what you think will make this a better place.

<O'Bryon> And that philosophy on voting carries over to Lou Kennedy's commitment to her work and the community.

She is President and CEO of Nephron Pharmaceuticals, a major global company based in West Columbia.

She's also a major force in the community.

<Kennedy> I turned 50 a couple years back and since that big birthday milestone, I really have focused on what could I do, not only in job goal, but also in the community and for other young ladies and children who maybe don't have as many opportunities that I had.

I'm trying to make a difference.

I'm way too involved in probably too many things, but it's good to give back and its especially good to give back in your hometown.

<O'Bryon> Kennedy grew up in the Midlands.

And she never shied away from working in a quote man's world.

<Kennedy> You know my name is Lou.

My parents wanted a boy.

I had a blue nursery, maybe they knew I'd end up in a man's world.

That maybe was foreshadowing.

And then I had a professor and also advisor at USC.

She would counsel me about what classes to take and say, Lou you can do anything you want to do.

Just put your mind to it.

I'm forever grateful for her encouragement.

<O'Bryon> Lou Kennedy started at Nephron by building the sales force and that effort expanded the business very quickly.

By 2007 we were in all classes of trade.

So that means were not only calling on hospitals, but also big box retailers, physicians' offices and so forth.

So my husband said, "You've learned so much about this business "and I really have the desire "to slow down a little bit."

And he said, "would you think about taking over "as CEO and we'll make this a woman owned business."

And involve his daughters as well.

I said sure, 'I'm happy to do it.

'Never met a challenge I didn't like.'

That's how it happened.

<O'Bryon> She faced what she called a steep learning curve at Nephron, a company involved in the manufacturing of generic and over- the-counter drug products and medical devices.

<Kennedy> I jumped right in.

At that time, I knew the word assay, and I knew it was a test, but I needed to know what were you testing for in our labs for assay or osmolarity or other things.

And I had to learn that really quickly.

<O'Bryon> Home base for Nephron Pharmaceuticals used to be in Orlando, Florida.

But you moved the company to West Columbia, South Carolina.

Why did you do that?

<Kennedy> We bought the property and the plan was to expand in Orlando.

And I was struggling with a 90 million dollar expansion at the time just trying to work with the permitting office there.

So I thought of the old days when I had friends in economic development here and I thought, I wonder if that would be a good thing for South Carolina to bring jobs in and help the economy.

My parents are living here.

And so I made a couple of phone calls and buddies in economic development said, '‘Now, Lou, if you're "kicking tires to stir it up in Florida, we won't help you.

"But if you're serious, we will."

And I said, 'No, 'I'd like to know.'

And Commerce here had folks in our building within two days.

And that was in August.

We made our announcement that our expansion would indeed incur in West Columbia by October.

<O'Bryon> The company has operated in West Columbia ever since.

It has continued to grow under Kennedy's leadership.

In 2010, she and her husband Bill made a donation to the University of South Carolina for pharmacy innovation.

<Kennedy> The pharmacy school of the past, perhaps focused mostly on retail pharmacy work and clinical pharmacy work directly in the hospital.

We want to show that you could work for a pharma company.

You could work in formulation, regulatory, compliance.

There's so many things that education is well suited.

<O'Bryon> And as someone who leads a major company in the field Lou Kennedy defines leadership broadly.

<Kennedy> If you would visit me at the office, you'd see me working alongside everybody in that plant.

Now, some say that's not a good way to lead.

It's just the way I do it and the way I know.

I like just working together with everybody there.

and I feel like we are a team.

It's not about employer, employee.

We work together on a team.

I've always been like that.

My father was that type of leader.

Maybe he mentored me that way.

So, I think hard work needs to be modeled.

<Beryl> Our next honoree is Melissa Burnette.

Ms. Burnette is an award winning attorney and advocate for equal rights for all.

Co-founder of the Burnette, Shutt and McDaniel Law Firm in Columbia, she waged a legal battle to change the rules and allow women to attend the Citadel.

She successfully challenged the rule that barred young girls from playing football and along with partner Nekki Shutt, she acted as lead counsel in the case that made same sex marriage legal in South Carolina.

Burnett has served in a number of appointed positions including the governor's domestic violence task force.

She was Chief of Staff for former Lieutenant Governor Nancy Stevenson.

We now present Malissa Burnette.

<Malissa Burnette> We have to constantly defend and be vigilant about all rights because they can be taken away.

And that's why it's important to vote and elect people who will protect your rights and appoint good judges.

<O'Bryon> Malissa Burnette sees the importance of the right to vote in her daily work.

She has fought for Social Justice as an attorney for more than 40 years.

This passion started early.

As a teenager, she stood up to the Ku Klux Klan at a truck stop where she was a waitress.

The year was 1968.

<Burnette> And one day a black trucker came in and sat at the counter, and I was working there that day and I thought to myself.

He looks hungry.

So I took his order and served him.

Everybody in the place was quiet.

All conversation stopped.

Word got out about what I'd done and the KKK that night put up rally posters all over town to have a KKK rally in the county.

<O'Bryon> And you weren't fearful during this whole period?

<Burnette> I was fearful, they threatened to burn down my grandparents' house where I was staying.

I was worried about that.

But they didn't do anything after that.

It could have been worse.

It could have been a bad outcome, I think what I took away from that at 18 years of age is be yourself and speak out against things that are wrong.

And if you're lucky, things can change.

And don't be afraid.

<O'Bryon> Burnette has been a change agent ever since.

After graduating from the University of South Carolina with a major in Sociology, she became a prison guard to gain some real life experience.

<Burnette> I found out a lot of the women in prison were victims of domestic violence and I was incensed and that led me to law school.

I said I got to get some education where I can change things.

<O'Bryon> Then with a law degree in hand, she went on to litigate landmark cases that have changed laws and lives.

Since 1993, she has been a South Carolina Supreme Court Certified Specialist in Labor and Employment Law.

One of the cases she found most interesting was in the mid 1980s.

<Burnette> Tara Bailey's family came to me.

She was from Gaffney and she was in middle school.

and she was a football player.

The coach wanted her to play, but after a certain age, the high school league said girls couldn't play football.

And she was a really good player.

<O'Bryon> Burnette, along with the ACLU, challenged that rule to bar young girls from playing football on equal protection grounds under the 14th Amendment.

<Burnette> So now, girls in public school can play contact sports.

<O'Bryon> Burnette also took the lead on a case involving a young woman who wanted to enter the Citadel.

<Burnette> A state funded school that was denying education to young women whose families were paying taxes to fund this state school.

<O'Bryon> She saw that case through until finally a VMI case was decided in Virginia and that cleared the way for South Carolina.

The Citadel has been co-educational ever since.

<Burnette> Another case was the marriage equality case that we handled in 2014 and South Carolina was not the last state in the union to get marriage equality, not even the last state in the South, because we achieved that in 2014 and it was affirmed in the summer of 2015 in Obergefell vs. Hodges at the Supreme Court.

<O'Bryon> Burnette learned about equality early on from her grandfather, as a child growing up in a small town in North Carolina.

<Burnette> We'd go to poor black families' homes and he would take clothing and so forth.

Not everybody would do that in the 1950's.

He treated everyone like family, and he was generous and kind to everyone.

<O'Bryon> Now she is a mentor herself.

What is her advice for a young person today?

<Burnette> Find out what your dream is.

Aim for that, but know that you might have to do a lot of other things first.

it's not a straight line.

You might zigzag until you get there, but those are just life experiences and you build on it.

And don't forget to take those opportunities and try different things because it will just enrich your life.

But keep that dream out in front of you, but don't forget to learn from all these other things that pull you aside.

Our final extraordinary woman, Darla Moore.

She's one of the nation's most successful business leaders becoming the first woman on the cover of Fortune Magazine and listed as one of Fortune's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.

A testament to her achievements, the University of South Carolina's Darla Moore School of Business was the first business school in the nation to be named after a woman.

Her latest investment is a regional education and training center collaboration among the Darla Moore Foundation, Francis Marion University, Florence Darlington Technical College and the school districts.

She's also introduced what she calls a 30 year plan to help transform her home town of Lake City into a thriving business and cultural community.

Ladies and gentleman, Ms. Darla Moore.

<Darla Moore> where we're sitting today was the happiest place of my entire life memories.

<O'Bryon> Darla Moore is one of the nation's most successful business women.

She made her mark in New York City but her heart is in Lake City, where she grew up.

<Moore> This was my grandmother's and grandfather's home.

It was originally the family's home place.

At that time it was extremely rural, all row crops and cotton tobacco, corn.

And they were educated people, which is very unusual at that time in particular in these parts.

And by that I mean college educated.

So they had a different, a little different take on the world and on life, but still very, very traditional.

And I loved the activity of farm.

It was so busy all the time.

<O'Bryon> But Moore set her sights beyond Lake City, as she moved into her teenage years.

<Moore> I started to feel rebelliousness and wanted to see the world.

I had as deep a desire to get out of the South as I had for anything else.

<O'Bryon> After the University of South Carolina, she moved to Washington DC where she worked for the Republican National Committee.

<Moore> The every two year cycle of politics became evident to me pretty quickly that, that was a pretty unstable way of living sort of feast or famine, every two years.

<O'Bryon> She made a dramatic life change.

<Moore> I didn't know what a balance sheet was when I went to business school.

So we're talking very rudimentary knowledge of what I was doing at the time, but it sounded good.

I figured I'd find something to do if I got an MBA.

<O'Bryon> And that she did.

With her MBA from George Washington University, she began in banking.

She was the first woman on the cover of Fortune Magazine and was listed as one of Fortune's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.

They called you the toughest Babe in Business.

<Moore> Hmmm... What a Monica, right?

<O'Bryon> So, what led to that?

How did you get to that point?

<Moore> It was hard ambition, mainly luck.

Luck does play - I don't underestimate the value of luck.

<O'Bryon> America was in the era of the leveraged buyout.

<Moore> It was the most exciting place.

There was not a chance in this world a female was going to be in that play in that world.

And during this time, when they wouldn't let me play in the sandbox.

I went into an area which is almost the opposite of what the exciting part of that time was.

It was working with companies that were troubled.

I had developed a credibility in a product that was designed to work with the companies that went bankrupt.

<O'Bryon> She was also not afraid to stand up to the powerful, such as corporate raider T. Boone Pickens when his company, Mesa Petroleum found itself in financial trouble.

<Moore> One of the reasons I ended up on that cover is that deal.

Because I was the one that stood up to Boone and said, 'You gotta to go.'

<O'Bryon> After decades in New York, she began to shift her base to Lake City.

In 1998, she announced a significant donation to the University of South Carolina's Business School.

The Darla Moore School of Business became the first business school in the nation to be named for a woman.

As part of what she calls a 30 year plan, she is now leading an effort to transform Lake City.

<Moore> My hope is to help re-invent what was at one time a prosperous, southern small community.

<O'Bryon> And to do that she invested in the community and the popular Artfields that attracts 15 to 20 thousand people each year.

Her latest investment is a collaboration among her foundation, Francis Marion University, Florence Darlington Tech and school districts.

And for Darla Moore giving away money is harder than making money.

<Moore> The responsibility you feel towards the people you're trying to help, it shifts your whole mentality and your whole world view.

It's because philanthropy is investing.

I've invested massively in this state.

It crosses my mind sometimes whether, 'Oh boy!

Have I done the right thing?'

But that's what I mean by the sense of responsibility.

I've invested in my home town, in my home state, in my home college, university and other colleges.

I am long South Carolina.

A lot of...responsibility goes with that.

Enjoyed it.

♪ <Beryl> For more stories about our state and of course, more details on those stories you've just seen, please visit our website at Palmetto Scene.org and of course don't forget to follow us on social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Join us again next time for another edition of Palmetto Scene.

For ETV and Palmetto Scene I'm Beryl Dakers Thank you for watching.

♪ [closing music] ♪ ♪