Seven inducted into San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame

Stay silent and nothing changes, especially for women.

That was a common theme throughout the acceptance remarks of a guest speaker and the seven newest members of the San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame.

“Women still don’t share equal opportunities, freedom or income,” said guest speaker Sue Gonda, a Women’s Museum of California board member and 2020 inductee in the Women’s Hall of Fame.

“We always want to think things are improving,” she said. However, studies show that mentions of women in history books last year declined to 10 percent of the pages, she said, and fewer girls in grade school described themselves as “confident.”

“We all need to do our part in combating stereotypes and raising role models,” Gonda said.

This year’s awards recognized women whose work helped make San Diego “a better place for all of us,” said master of ceremonies Sandra Maas, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and the Women’s Museum board president.

From left: Grace Evans Cherashore, daughter of inductee, Anne Evans; Rio Yanez, son of inductee, Yolanada Lopez; DJ Kuttin Kandi; Anne Bautista; Andrea Naversen; Olga Diaz; and Raye Clendening pose with their awards at the San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday.

(Hayne Palmour IV / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

The inductees, in order of their acceptance, were:

— Olga Diaz, the first Latina elected to the Escondido City Council, and a civic leader for gender, racial and ethnic social justice issues. Diaz said she was “honored and humbled” to receive the award, and thanked her Mexican immigrant parents, her husband, children, friends and others for making it possible.

— Andrea Naversen, an award-winning documentarian, author, journalist, television news anchor, and editor-at-large for Ranch & Coast Magazine. Naverson thanked her Norwegian immigrant parents and her extended family, and said the award was a “humbling” experience.

— Anne Bautista, an attorney, teacher and director of legal support and strategy at the Casa Cornelia Law Center, who specializes in gender-based violence cases. Another child of immigrants, Bautista said she never thought of herself as an activist, but, “I knew that something more had to be done.”

— Raye Clendening, a teacher, award-winning administrator and co-founder and board member of the North County African American Women’s Association. Born poor in Arkansas, Clendening said her mother brought the family to California for better educational opportunities. Saturday’s award left her “in awe and feeling a little sense of other-worldliness,” she said.

— Anne Evans, a San Diego hotelier noted for civic leadership in support of education, health care and empowering women. Evans was absent Saturday to recover from a recent knee replacement and her daughter, Grace Evans Cherashore, accepted the award. Anne Evans led her family’s hotel group for more 40 years and had a long history of promoting women to leadership positions, her daughter said.

— Yolanda Lopez, a feminist, artist, activist, educator, film producer and Chicanx studies scholar. Lopez was unable to attend, and her son Rio Yanez accepted the award. “Mom was born in San Diego and created her greatest works of art here,” Yanez said

— DJ Kuttin Kandi, a disabled, queer, Filipinx writer, poet, theater performer, educator and community organizer. “I truly believe that if you are not angry, you are not paying attention,” Kandi said.

More than 150 people attended the 90-minute induction ceremony Saturday morning at the Joan Kroc Center on University Avenue in San Diego.

The Women’s Hall of Fame has inducted more than 100 members since its formation in 2001.

Saturday’s event included an acknowledgment of the region’s original inhabitants by Angela Elliott-Santos, chair of the Manzanita Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.

“Our people can be traced back 10,000 years on this land,” said Elliott-Santos. “They were and continue to be stewards of this land.”

San Diego Superior Court Judge Rohanee Zapanta conducted the official inductions.