Bakersfield Life

The heart of the community

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     Bakersfield is a community known for its heart; in times of need, disaster, or raising money for charitable organizations, Bakersfield stands toe-to-toe with larger cities in terms of donations and volunteers.        In this generous community, many women have made their mark. Some have seen it all, lived everywhere, and have come a long way (both literally and figuratively). The common denominator, though, is the positive impression they made and continue to make in Kern County.        We’re celebrating 11 local women of substance who, through devoting much time and energy to their community and their professions, have become role models to other women and girls and are making Bakersfield a better place.Diane Hopkins      Some people believe in providence. Diane Hopkins falls into that lot, ever since the day she walked into her Florida home and found a brand-new saddle — a gift from her husband.     Without that saddle, Hopkins says, the M.A.R.E. program may never have existed because she thought her riding days were behind her. Hopkins, born just outside of Philadelphia, didn’t discover her passion for riding until she was married to Rick, a pilot, and had two sons in New York.       “I fell in love with horses in my 30s and started taking riding lessons,” she said. “I took lessons at night when the kids were home with their dad, and I have been riding ever since.” When the family moved to Florida, Hopkins didn’t see riding in her future, but Rick did. That’s when the saddle showed up.    So, the couple purchased a mare in Florida and later shipped her to their next home in Texas. There, Hopkins decided to volunteer for the parks and recreation department and create a riding program for disabled children.     “I started with two kids and my own horse in a friend’s backyard,” said Hopkins. And with encouragement from a therapist, her first therapeutic riding program was born.    Today, the Mastering Abilities Riding Equines facility Hopkins helped create in Kern County celebrates 20 years of success providing equine-assisted programs to children and adults with physical, cognitive or emotional challenges.     “The horse is used as a tool to help therapists,” said Hopkins. “There’s no other way that they can facilitate the same movements in a doctor’s office.”    Like other nonprofits, though, the economy affected M.A.R.E., and now Hopkins dedicates upwards of 60 hours a month to finding money.     “We were at 100 riders per week, but now because of budget cuts, our funding from the regional center is down to 70 riders. We’d like to get back up to where we were. We’d also like to expand,” said Hopkins.     Along with fundraising, Hopkins works with the horses and remains on the board of directors. The facility has vaulting, sports riding programs, and a new carriage-driving program, but Hopkins wants a program for veterans, too. And she loves that Bakersfield’s generous community continues to support M.A.R.E.     “In May, we have our annual ‘Evening at the Races,’ and in October, we’ll be celebrating our 20th anniversary out at the facility,” she said. Sheryl Barbich     The phrase “Times have changed” usually implies that modern life has somehow deteriorated from the good ol’ days.      When Sheryl Barbich uses the phrase, however, she says it with relief, because she remembers that as a UC Davis college graduate in the 1960s, good job opportunities were not as prevalent for women as they are today.       “All they wanted to know was, ‘Honey, can you type?’” Barbich remembers from her first job interviews at Sears & Roebuck and Security Pacific Bank.    Her decision to choose Security Pacific Bank — “I didn’t want to sell bras and underwear” — would prove fateful, launching her on a career path that would span 40 years in banking and financial consultation.     Today, Barbich is married to her husband of 40 years, Lou, is a leader in the community, and she provides mentoring for young women so that they may benefit from the type of role model that wasn’t available to her decades ago.     Then she had to prove herself the hard way, with elbow grease and a will to succeed. She started in operations, moved to supervisor, and bucked the odds by relocating to Bakersfield in 1971 to follow a job opportunity when the safer bet would have been to stay put.     Barbich was never easily satisfied with the status quo.       On a short list, Barbich has been the president of the American Association of University Women and became the first female president of the Downtown Rotary Club. She has been the chair of the board for the Bakersfield Museum of Art, the Bakersfield Racquet Club, and the Memorial Hospital Foundation (to name a few), and was on the founding board of the Bakersfield Women’s Business Conference.     The project closest to her heart, however, is Vision 2020, a 20-year project to change Bakersfield’s social and business landscape to reflect what’s important to the community by collaborating with a broad base of individuals and organizations.     Barbich was pivotal in the project’s inception and remains its driving force today, which is no surprise considering a lifetime spent trying to make everything she touches better.     “If you can help somebody, why not? It’s up to each person to do a good job,” said Barbich.     Feeling a personal responsibility to her community and to other women means that times, as they say, haven’t changed that much after all.Barbara Smith          Huron, S.D., native Barbara Smith grew up on a construction job site. As the daughter of homebuilders, young Barbara watched her parents work as a team while she filled nail holes and did other small jobs.     Along with a strong work ethic, an inherent pride in women budded, too, as she watched her mother work alongside the rest of the men.      “She was an anomaly in this male-dominated industry,” said Smith. “She didn’t hang sheetrock or frame, but she did everything else. She never saw any difference in what a woman would do and what a man should do.”      Neither has Smith. For the last 16 years, she has owned and operated Barbara Smith Homes, a custom homebuilding company.     Smith didn’t always build houses. After earning her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Montana, she worked with various builders in sales and marketing and discovered what she liked—and didn’t like—about running a business.      “The turning point for me when I left corporate life was that I didn’t want to put people in a position where they have to lie,” she said.     So, Smith decided to start her own company, where she could run it using the same principles she was learning in her faith: Do the right thing.      “My faith has really been my sustaining force in this really tough industry for years. I can’t imagine not having my God.”     Everyone who works with Smith shares in her beliefs — from her husband of 11 years, Bob, to her “teammates” at Barbara Smith Homes.      “It’s very simple around here. Sometimes things come up that need to be redone or fixed. We want to be perfect, but we can’t always be. Even if it costs us money to repair or replace—or even start over,” she said.      “A lot of years of doing the right thing keep you in business. Bakersfield is a small town and what you do in business matters,” Smith said.     What you do outside of business matters, too, and as the mother of five children, she finds herself being the role model her mother was for her.     Now past the days when a woman in construction wasn’t as widely accepted as it is today, Smith is still a standout in her field as the only female homebuilder in Kern County currently. Mary K. Shell     Writing a story about Mary K. (“You can call me Miki”) Shell that hasn’t already appeared in print is a tall order.  With a long history of accomplishments from her years of public service, this celebrated citizen of Kern County has been around longer and remembers more about Kern County’s history than almost anyone else in her beloved city.     Besides being the first female mayor of Bakersfield and becoming only the second woman elected to the Kern County Board of Supervisors in 1984, Shell led a full and intriguing life prior to stepping into the city’s limelight as a public servant.       The news always intrigued her, she says, and she enjoyed listening to people discuss business and politics.     “I was always into current events. Family friends would come for Sunday dinner, and afterwards the men would sit and talk business and politics,” she said, and she would listen. “Someone once asked us girls what radio show we liked. (The girls) said Jack Armstrong or Little Orphan Annie, and I said the news!”      Shell is sharp. She remembers names and details of people and events that existed before many of Bakersfield’s denizens were born. For example, when she started flying airplanes in 1945, she worked at a little airport not then known as Meadows Field — “because Cecil Meadows was still alive!”     Yes, she was a flier. In 1947, she got her private pilot’s license and worked at a flying school at La Cresta Air Field to pay for her flying time. In those days, there were few women fliers, and Shell’s family accepted her hobby with hesitation.     In 1968, she met and married the love of her life, Joe Shell, a love affair that lasted until his death in 2008.     Shell has worked as a journalist, helped found the Kern County Press Club, and managed her husband’s gubernatorial campaign.     She initiated the Beautiful Bakersfield Awards, the Bakersfield Prayer Breakfast, and the Historical Preservation Committee “to save more buildings from the wrecking ball.”     She still plays tennis at least twice a week with the carefree abandon of a woman half her age. “What am I, 82? I’m almost 83, I think!” she says with a laugh.     To Shell, age is only a number and but a brief blip on the radar of a well-lived life. She was a forerunner; she did it before anyone said she couldn’t. Cathy Abernathy          Cathy Abernathy has a deep love for her country. She grew up with a strong sense of right and wrong she learned from her parents. But unlike others in politics, whose family trees are rooted deeply in generations of Americans, Abernathy is the daughter of Armenian parents.      “Ethnic Armenians love this country more than anything else,” said Abernathy, whose immigrant father peeled potatoes at Berkley to earn money to work his way through college. “He never asked for a handout.”     He also gave back to his new country by serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. His efforts to serve his new country impressed his daughter.       “I believe our nation was designed 230-plus years ago so everyone would have the tools to succeed.  What you do with your God-given rights is your choice – you can loaf or you can make something of yourself,” she said.      After high school in Indio, Abernathy attended UCLA. One of her first professors was Angela Davis, whose radical beliefs clashed with those of young Abernathy.      “I stood up to her in class and said, ‘I only get to go to college once in my life, and I’d like to learn something other than your daily views on the Vietnam War. I quit your class!’”     Her tenacity would serve her well in a primarily male-dominated profession. Today, Abernathy operates a political, marketing and legislative consulting business — after serving as chief of staff to Rep. Bill Thomas and as a House committee staff director for more than 20 years. She is also a political commentator for KGET-TV 17.     In Abernathy’s opinion, women are ideal candidates for the political arena. “I always encourage women to go into politics because there is lots of detail work, balancing of 15 to 20 activities at once, and I’ve found women are especially great at it,” she said.     Abernathy, who’s married to Mark and has two daughters, spent her adult life encouraging women, from advocating speech training, to helping elect women, to her biggest professional pride, providing student internships in congressional offices in Bakersfield and Washington, D.C.     Abernathy says that she got a lifetime education in politics from those she watched and worked with such as Thomas, Gerald Ford, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. But perhaps her greatest education came earlier, in patriotism, taught by her immigrant family who provided living examples of working hard and honoring your country. Mikie Hay     The only child of Jim and Bebe Burke, Michele Burke Hay came into the world and created a brief controversy between her parents.      “My mother wrote ‘Michele’ on the birth certificate,” said Mikie Hay, “and I’m told my father agreed, as long as he could call me Mike.”     Her nickname stuck, and today the name Mikie Hay represents a lifetime of service, hard work, and a dedication to the community and its youth.     Although the family name was synonymous with the Ford business, the West High grad remembers that she never had her own car growing up.      “Luckily, I had friends down the street (the Cormiers) who owned the Chevrolet dealership, and they’d pick me up for school every day.”     That tradition continued with her own four children as they drove the family hand-me-down ranch trucks to school.     Hay attended USC, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in education and then moved north to Stanford (her father’s alma mater), where she received her master’s degree.When Hay returned to Bakersfield, she found two things: a job teaching junior high in the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District and her husband, Dan Hay.The teaching was temporary, but Dan has been by her side for 33 years. The Hays have raised four children, run their ranch, worked at the Ford dealership (alongside Jim Burke until his death in 2006), and found new ways to improve their community. One of the opportunities came through a program called The Ford Dimension.      “It’s evolved,” said Hay of the 36-year program. “Originally it began because there was a major disconnect between high school students and businesses.” Companies underestimated the buying power of youth.      “Today, the program is still a business youth program, but it has shifted its emphasis to service over self,” said Hay, who also directs Dream Builders, a unique leadership program for 22 college-bound high school seniors.     Each year, students in the two groups split into four teams guided by corporate and community advisers to develop an idea that will make a difference in their town. Hay is right beside them, guiding and giving encouragement.     Hay has also been involved in Junior League, the Bakersfield Women’s Business Conference, Mercy Hospital, and the Kern High School and CSUB Foundation.     Her children call her über-mom; her community calls her special.     Hay feels like she has only just begun.Judi McCarthy     Judi McCarthy has had the equivalent of several high-level, lucrative careers. She has dedicated thousands of hours to each “employer” to ensure success at every level and implemented new ideas that would propel each organization forward.    What separates McCarthy from other flashy up and comers are her paychecks, because for the most part — there haven’t been any. She has logged thousands of hours and dedicated most of her adult life to organizations for no compensation.     McCarthy’s role in Kern County has been that of supreme philanthropist.     Born in Los Angeles, McCarthy was raised in a Marine Corps family. By the time she earned her degree at Occidental College in Los Angeles, her family had moved 17 times.     But in 1982, she found her 20th home, in Bakersfield with husband Rob, and never looked back. Staying home to raise two children could be a full-time job, but McCarthy discovered that she wanted to give back to her community, so she volunteered at the Lori Brock Children’s Museum and joined the Junior League of Bakersfield in 1986.           “I have to credit them for teaching me the community, for teaching me how to be a good volunteer,” said McCarthy.     McCarthy’s next stops were organizations where she could spend time with her children and volunteer. She worked as a den leader for the Boy Scouts of America, served several years in PTA clubs, and she chaired the Garces Memorial High School Gala.     But perhaps one of her greatest accomplishments is her work as director of the Kern Community Foundation.     McCarthy joined the Kern Community Foundation’s board in 2004. Her job was to determine the feasibility of a women’s fund within the foundation. She convened a committee, which launched the Women’s & Girls’ Fund of Kern County in 2005. To date, the Women’s & Girls’ Fund exceeds $400,000 and they have distributed grants of $40,000, including 2009 grants of $4,000 to Kern High School District Foundation and $7,000 to Garden Pathways Inc.      It’s all good news to McCarthy, because the Fund means helping more people.       “Our ability to impact girls and women in Kern County will grow as our endowment grows,” she said.In all, McCarthy has worked 28 years almost exclusively as a volunteer, and does it, she says, because she must.      “Everyone has to contribute something meaningful to the world. I don’t contribute a paycheck to my family, so I contribute to my community.”Rosa Corona         Rosa Corona may not be a well-known name in Bakersfield philanthropy yet, but give her some time — she’s just getting started.At 27, Corona works her way through college, holds a job, and donates hundreds of hours to several nonprofits across Bakersfield.        A Ridgeview High School graduate, Corona says she mostly played sports as a teenager but first gained an inclination for charity work when she participated in internship programs provided through the Job Training Partnership Act, where she spent one summer at Ricky’s Retreat.        Ricky’s Retreat is a Bakersfield-run AIDS Project, a nonprofit organization established in 1992 offering compassionate support services out of a rented house.  At one time, the retreat’s future was uncertain when the house they were using went into foreclosure.        Corona duties at Ricky’s Retreat were making fliers, scheduling and data entry. She remembers how hard everyone worked that summer to ensure the project’s survival by amassing the funds to purchase the house and save it from foreclosure.         The experience made an impression on Corona, who decided to continue her education at the University of Phoenix, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in human services.          She also has a dream of starting her own nonprofit someday.         “I’d like to start a program after school, an academic-based after-school program with enrichment lessons — a place for kids to go so they aren’t roaming the streets until their parents get home,” she said.     Currently, Corona works at Sylvan Learning Center and takes classes toward her master’s in education, hoping to gain experience as a teacher and a principal before opening a facility to mentor local youth, such as Garden Pathways.         Garden Pathways is a local nonprofit that aims to change lives through hope and relationship. It offers mentoring, training and education.          Corona completed mentor training to learn the basics, such as knowing her boundaries and learning how to handle sensitive information often shared by mentees.          She received her first mentee, age 13. “She is still shy, but we’re just getting started building a relationship,” Corona said.        Corona thinks building relationships and helping people should be part of everyone’s plan.         “Everyone is quick to point out what’s wrong in the community. You need to volunteer your time,” she said, adding that time is just as important, in some cases, as money.          “Even if you think you’re only helping in a small way — it’s not small. You can make a difference and change a life.”Mary Christenson         On the road to the American Dream, each life experience acts as a stepping-stone to success, and it’s fair to say that some people navigate the path better than others do.     Mary Christenson’s name in Bakersfield is synonymous with expertise in real estate and the cutting edge in marketing of luxury homes. For 28 years, she has dedicated herself to serving her clients and her community. Fundamentally, her name means hard work — and she learned that from a very young age.     Christenson grew up in Shafter an only child and helped her dad, a farm laborer, by working in the cotton fields and grape vineyards during school vacations. “My mom and dad never knew the dream of homeownership. I grew up without many things we take for granted. As a young girl, I spent many hours in the nearby library, reading everything I could get my hands on. My dreams started there,” she said.     Christenson’s first real job started in high school at the Shafter Press. “While attending Bakersfield College, a classmate urged me to apply at The Bakersfield Californian, where I got a job in display advertising,” said     Christenson, who added that as she moved up the ladder, she still dreamed of more challenges.After eight years in the newspaper industry, she embarked on a two-and-a-half-year Construction Management Training Program that gave her a solid base for her real estate career. While spending the required six months in new home subdivision sales, she decided this was her true calling — working with people, not building houses — so she accepted a tract sales position with Coleman Homes.      “Upon completion of selling the 227 homes in Coleman's The Vineyards’ subdivision, I started a new subdivision and my heart just wasn’t in it. I had just married Tom, and felt I needed a break from working every weekend so we could have a life," Christenson said. "But I still work weekends, and I love it!"     Christenson takes nothing for granted and finds ways to give back to the community that supports her, through commitments to the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault, the Women’s & Girls’ Fund, CASA, and other local women’s charities. She was 2007 president of the local chapter of Women’s Council of Realtors and now is a WCR state governor, mentoring other chapters.  She’s also active in and publishes a monthly newsletter for the Association of Petroleum Wives, a local support/networking group that donated $25,000 to the Homeless Shelter last year.        Christenson says she is blessed to be where she is today. She’s the mother of two daughters, a grandmother, and has been married to husband Tom since 1991.      “My life has been about working, making daily commitments to serve my clients, and giving back. I have a beautiful family and home, and great friendships.”     For Christenson, attaining her dream turned out to be by helping others find their own. And for this seller of the American Dream, there really is no place like home. Sheryl Chalupa         For Sheryl Chalupa, a lifetime of service to local nonprofits began by chance.       “One day, my kindergarten daughter came home and showed me a paper from the Girl Scouts,” said Chalupa. “She really wanted me to help out.”      Chalupa, a CSUB graduate with a master’s degree in public administration, still had two younger daughters at home but agreed to help.     Chalupa discovered she really enjoyed the program and worked her way into membership development. Before she knew it, she was there 17 years, the last seven as the executive director of the Joshua Tree Council.       “I absolutely loved it,” said Chalupa. “There is nothing better than working in an agency that helps build up young women.”     But then one day, a friend notified Chalupa of an opening at Goodwill Industries, another non-profit. At first, Chalupa wasn’t interested, but then she started researching Goodwill and learned what they were doing in work-force development.      “I was fascinated by the services they provide. I knew I could bring my expertise, in terms of running a nonprofit, to Goodwill. So I came (to Goodwill) and haven’t looked back,” the company CEO said. “Really, I’m two-for-two in having jobs in my adult life that I’ve absolutely loved.”     Among other boards, Chalupa also serves on the board of directors for Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce; WESTEC, a vocational training arm of Taft College and the Kern Community College District; and The League of Dreams, a Terrio Therapy program that provides disabled children an opportunity to play on sports teams. She is also a past president of CSUB’s alumni board and is a member of the Bakersfield Rotary Club.     With so many activities, it would be unsurprising if Chalupa refused more work. She has, after all, a husband, three daughters and two granddaughters also keeping her busy.     But that’s not Chalupa, who seems happiest without one free minute on her day planner.     In June 2007, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Chalupa to the State Compensation Insurance Fund board of directors. Not only was she flattered, she was intrigued.      “It was an interesting department for me — learning about the need to be transparent and accountable, learning about governance models.”     Chalupa realizes she’s in a position to help. And she’s more than willing to share what she feels is one secret to success.      “Being a leader presents you with hurdles. Don’t recognize the hurdles as anything but an opportunity. Find something you’re passionate about, go after it full force. If there is a hurdle, don’t focus on it. Focus on your goal.”