Honoring three inspiring OC women
In honor of Women’s History Month, I had the pleasure to recognize Jennifer Friend (Costa Mesa), Dr. Shaista Malik (Irvine) and Dr. Samar Aziz (Tustin) as the 2023 Women of the Year honorees.
Community members gathered during the 5th annual Women of the Year Ceremony to celebrate the honorees' extraordinary service and contributions to our communities in the 73rd Assembly District and throughout Orange County.
Click here to watch the highlights of the ceremony.
About the Honorees:
Jennifer Friend is CEO of Project Hope Alliance (PHA), which works to end the cycle of youth homelessness using a long-term, site-based model of providing whole-person care for youth experiencing homelessness in Orange County. When Friend became CEO after serving on the board for many years, PHA supported one school and 65 kids. Under her leadership, the organization now serves students attending over 40 schools in three districts, having built a nationally recognized model for ending homelessness, and achieving a high school graduation rate more than 30% above the national average. Her personal experience as a homeless child in Orange County, which inspired the Broadway play Nomad Motel, fuels her deep-rooted passion and commitment to homeless children and youth, while her ability to cast vision, think strategically, and lead and direct broader systems change uniquely qualify her to serve as Project Hope Alliance’s CEO.
Dr. Shaista Malik grew up in Orange County, attended elementary through high school in Anaheim. She was raised by a single mom, who worked three jobs to support the family. She gained an appreciation for health and wellness as she saw her family struggle to have access to health care. She has been the founding director of the UCI Women’s heart disease program, founding medical director of the UCI preventive cardiology program, and the founding director of the UCI cardiac rehab program. In 2015, she became the director of the UCI Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine. During this time, she led the expansion of integrative health at UCI which resulted in 2017 in the largest philanthropic gift in history given to UCI of $200 Million from Henry and Susan Samueli to make integrative health the mission of the UCI Samueli College of Health Sciences. As the Founding Associate Vice Chancellor of Integrative Health in the Samueli College and the Founding Executive Director of the new UCI Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute, she has led cross-enterprise teams to innovate, transform and cement a science-based, whole-person approach to patient care.
Dr. Samar Aziz is a 30-year resident of Tustin, is a force of nature, has a heart of gold, and is called the hidden gem of Tustin. Dr. Aziz is an award-winning activist, pharmacist, a mother, a loving wife and the CEO of Sabil USA. It is Tustin based health and human services nonprofit that provides individuals with food security, rental & utility assistance, as well as free mental health services including crisis intervention, suicide prevention, teen, marital and family counseling. In the aftermath of the earthquakes that devastated Syria and Turkey in early February, Sabil partnered with several organizations and raised millions to fill 11 containers with new clothes, blankets, winter jackets, and medicine for the victims impacted by the earthquake. Over the past 11 years, Dr. Aziz has helped 1.5 million people with food and financial security for their families through her tremendous fundraising efforts and community partnerships. Dr. Samar Aziz sees herself as a humble servant doing her part to make a difference locally and globally. She credits her parents and grandparents for inspiring her to give back to the community.
Thank you to everyone who nominated remarkable women doing extraordinary work in our communities! We received more than 80 nominations for inspiring women deserving of recognition.