‘Women rock’: Girl Scouts honor 2025 Women of Distinction

Hundreds of attendees gathered at Armature Works in Tampa Wednesday as the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida honored its 2025 Women of Distinction.

The longstanding event, now in its 33rd year, serves as a platform to honor and celebrate the accomplishments of exceptional women who have made significant contributions to their respective fields and communities.

The 2025 Women of Distinction award winners are:

• Dr. Kanika Tomalin – CEO, Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg
• Kathryn Starkey – Chair, Pasco County Board of Commissioners
• Joyce Cotton – Director of Marketing and Community Partnerships, WEDU PBS
• Ann Shaler – Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando Counties Market President, Bank of America

Additionally, Mattie Velasco, Business Development & Community Relations for Acadia Healthcare, was honored as the 2025 Woman of Promise and Maruchi Azorin, founder and owner of Villa Rosa Distinctive Linens, will be inducted into the Women of Distinction Hall of Fame.

The annual Women of Distinction event is a celebration of International Women’s Day (which was March 8) and is the only yearly fundraising event for Girl Scouts of West Central Florida.

New this year, in lieu of speeches from each of the 2025 Women of Distinction, the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida held a fireside chat conversation.

A handful of current Girl Scouts were in attendance at Wednesday’s luncheon, helping lead the event from onstage and learning from the honorees in the process.

“All these women can be an inspiration for ourselves, so we can do something similar or better to help our community,” said Rocio, a scout at the luncheon. “These are women that we can grow up to be like.”

“It’s very inspiring because we’re meeting and learning about role models in our community,” said Isabel, another current scout. “I can make goals to be more like them.”

From left: Mya, Isabel and Rocio attended the Girl Scouts Women of Distinction luncheon for the first time Wednesday.

“All these women can be an inspiration for ourselves, so we can do something similar or better to help our community,” added Rocio. “These are women that we can grow up to be like.”

The Girl Scouts were founded in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia, and the second troop in the nation was established in Tampa the next year.

“The founder, Juliette Gordon Low, started this with just one small troop, and now it’s grown into such a big community,” Mya said. “I really believe the Girl Scouts can help make the world a better place, and I love being part of it.”

Tomalin, CEO of Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, has a long history of serving the community, including as a former executive for Bayfront Health System and Deputy Mayor & City Administrator for the City of St. Petersburg. Tomalin said investing in the next generation is a driving force in her work.

“I want for our young people a world that is worthy of their presence, worthy of their brilliance and that’s ready to allow them to fully naturalize in a way that transcends anything we can imagine today,” Tomalin said. “That really takes showing up for them in ways that teach them how to show up for themselves, that help them really understand how to recognize their roles and responsibilities in shaping the world in which we live.”

Dr. Kanika Tomalin, CEO of Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, speaks about her inspiration as a leader on stage at the Girl Scouts 2025 Women of Distinction luncheon.

Tomalin drew a round of applause from the room and admiration from her fellow Women of Distinction when describing her hopes for the future of women and girls.

“I hope that girls and women find their tribe, find their people, build each other up and really delight in the experience of being loved by other women,” Tomalin said. “Often, the perspective that a woman holds in a space may be uniquely hers, but we must raise our voices. We must rise up, we must speak up and help be architects in charting our course forward. So I just hope we are courageous, awesome, brilliant and beautiful as we all are, because women rock.”

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