Women’s History Month: Celebrating HERstory
Source: iOne Digital / Creative Service
Mix 107.9 recognizes Women’s History Month by Celebrating HERstory.
Throughout the month, we will recognize some area women blazing trails in their respective industries, organization, and/or communities.
Learn more about these amazing women below:
Molly Grantham
Source: Molly Grantham / Molly Grantham
4x-Emmy winner. 3x-author. National speaker. Charity auctioneer. Proud mom.
Molly Grantham has been named “TV News Reporter of the Year” and juggles life with humor and poise, bringing clever wit to diverse crowds. She delivers hundreds of keynotes and has interviewed over 15,000 people in her 25-years of television news.
She is adept at speaking live to 100,000 people a night, sitting beside Hollywood celebrities, NFL stars, and throughout her career has worked at ABC, NBC, and CBS affiliates. She has appeared on CNN, Today Show, CBS News, the CBS Morning Show, and in Huffington Post and People Magazine. Her social media is its own channel, with more than 200,000 combined followers. In 2024, she founded the “Bet On Yourself Summit,” a soul-filling experience to help women uncover power in themselves. It made history as the first women’s event inside the Carolina Panthers NFL stadium.
Molly is also a trained and active charity auctioneer, bringing non-profits around the country to earn record-breaking amounts.
Her three books are a popular series described as “raw and relatable” about not losing yourself while loving your career and raising children. She and her husband, Wes, have three children under the age of 13.
In her next life, Molly says she wants to be a mermaid.
Kay Carter
Source: Kay Carter
Kay joined Second Harvest Food Bank as CEO in January of 2004. During Kay’s tenure at the Food Bank the total pounds of food and household items distributed have increased from 7 million pounds to over 80 million pounds annually. Kay has established a set of key goals that have served as a guide for the staff as they work to end hunger in the 24 county region of North and South Carolina served by Second Harvest. Nutritional pounds including fresh produce, meat, and dairy products have grown by 450%, an average of 24% per year. Pounds in these categories, which people living in poverty can least afford but need to stay healthy, are vitally important in improving the overall health of our community.
Volunteer hours at Second Harvest have increased by 48% per year since 2004. During the most recent fiscal year, volunteer hours donated to Second Harvest totaled almost 300,000. These hours saved the Food Bank over 7 million dollars in labor costs, funds that are being redirected to feeding more people in need.
The number one goal of Second Harvest during Kay’s tenure has been to end child hunger in our region. These programs including the backpack program, Kids Café programs, and the school based mobile pantry program have grown an average of 53% every year since 2004.
Today, Second Harvest is the largest nonprofit in the area of health and human services in the greater Charlotte region with annual revenues including food donations of over 143 million dollars.
Prior to joining Second Harvest, Kay served as the Director of the York County Department of Social Services for seven years and as a City Manager for ten years. Kay holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Winthrop University and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of South Carolina.
Monifa D. Drayton, MPA
Source: Monifa Drayton / Monifa Drayton
As an award-winning leader and described as a gentle disruptor of inequitable systems, Monifa Drayton is the CEO of the Drayton Leadership Group LLC in which she has over 25 years of experience in systems change, coalition building, executive leadership, strategic planning, and team engagement. With a robust track record of driving growth and ensuring equity, during the 2024 election, she served as the Executive Director of the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party where she worked collaboratively with the state to lead the reactivation of the Mecklenburg Hispanic Caucus, hired the first bilingual associate and executed the framework to mobilize several minority groups. Within a 30-day period, she hosted more than 40 engagement and canvassing events in an effort to reach underserved and neglected communities. Currently, as a volunteer with the African American Caucus of Mecklenburg County she is helping to organize majority-minority precincts to ensure future voter engagement across all communities. With a passion for politics, Monifa was selected as a member of the inaugural cohort for the Congressman James E. Clyburn Leadership Institute where she has learned to master political strategy, management of campaigns, geopolitics and aligning messaging with policy. To date she has a 100%-win rate as a campaign manager for six Democratic elected officials and seven campaigns within Mecklenburg County.
Prior to her role with the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party, she successfully served as a leader within the healthcare industry for more than twenty years, leading several sustaining initiatives such as operations for the Atrium Health Huntersville Emergency Health Plex, process improvement, community engagement and provider services. During her time there, she had the opportunity to launch the award-winning Employee Resource Group which had a membership of 2,400 Black women.
Dedicated to community engagement, after serving as a Board member since 2017 for the Mecklenburg Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, in February 2023 she was appointed by the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners to serve as the first Black woman to chair the organization within its 75 year history. In this role she, oversees a nearly $300 million dollar budget and more than 30 locations. The profits from this organization help to support over thirty nonprofit organizations whose mission include health, wellness and substance abuse prevention. Humbly, she is the recipient of numerous awards including “Who’s Who in Black Charlotte,” Mecklenburg Times 50 Most Influential Women, Q City Metro “Great 28” Leaders in Charlotte, Atrium Health Excellence in Diversity and Equity Honors, Diversity MBA Top 100 Under 50, Emerging Leaders and Charlotte Regional Business Alliance Emerging Leader Award.
She received her Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a Bachelor’s of Science degree from South Carolina State University and is a certified Executive Coach.
In her spare time, she enjoys global travel, live music and spending time with her three young nephews who make her heart full.
Susan Evren
Source: Susan Evren / Radio One
Executive Director – Go Jen Go Foundation
Susan is a Purdue University graduate with a degree in Business Management and Marketing and has more than 15 years of non-profit experience. Her role as the Executive Director for the Go Jen Go Foundation allows Susan to combine her passion with her work.
Susan’s involvement with breast cancer fundraising began after her mother-in-law passed away from stage IV breast cancer in 2004. The following year, Susan moved to Charlotte and got involved in Komen’s Race for the Cure, serving as the volunteer Race Chair for 2 years. In that role, Susan met Jen Pagani and immediately wanted to be involved in The Go Jen Go Foundation.
Susan joined the Go Jen Go Board of Directors as the Treasurer, and in 2018 became the foundation’s first employee. She is grateful to serve as the director and help fulfill Jen’s legacy.
Susan serves on the Women In Business committee for the Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce, is the Board Secretary for the Charlotte Running Club, is a run coach with Run NC through Charlotte Running Co, and is a Stride Setter promoting running, fitness, and community with Start 2 Finish.
Susan is from Valparaiso, IN but has called Charlotte, NC home for 20 years. She is a happy newlywed and a proud mom of two awesome boys and a rescue dog. She enjoys running, hiking, reading, traveling, and volunteering at local running events and for other non-profit organizations that she holds dear to her heart.
