‘My hope is that my work will be an encouragement to someone’

Each year the Zonta Club of Joliet names a community member its Woman of Distinction.

Such a woman “actively works to support and improve the status of women and girls and/or has a history of leadership and success in a nontraditional role as a woman,” according to a news release from the Zonta Club of Joliet.

This year, Zonta selected Denise Winfrey as its 2021 Woman of Distinction due to her inspired leadership locally, statewide and nationally,” Helen Ross president of the Zonta Club of Joliet, said in the news release.

“She’s committed to protecting the rights of girls and women to have better access to safety, education and health care,” Ross said in the release. “She exemplifies the kind of role model that every girl or woman should want to emulate in their professional life.”

Ross presented the award to Winfrey at the conclusion of a Women’s History Month Facebook live presentation on March 9, where Winfrey was a keynote speaker.

In the release, Winfrey said she was “humbled and honored” to receive the award and said she enjoys interacting with Zonta and supporting their efforts.

“Each of us has the responsibility to make the world a better place for those who will follow,” Winfrey said in the release. “There is an old spiritual titled, ‘Let the work I’ve done speak for me.’ My hope is that my work will be an encouragement to someone.”

Winfrey is currently a Will County Board member for District 8, and a commissioner of the Forest Preserve District of Will County.

She was recently the first woman and first person of color in 40 years to be Will County Executive. Winfrey was appointed to that position after the death of the previous county executive Larry Walsh.

In that role, Winfrey was responsible for representing the interests and positions of the Will County Board to other local, state and federal legislatures and agencies.

Winfrey was previously the speaker of the Will County Board, the first woman to serve in that role. Winfrey is also the second vice president for the National Association of Counties which covers 3,069 counties across the U.S., according to the release.

She is also the president of the board for the Will Grundy Medical Clinic and a 20-year member of the Joliet chapter of the National Hook-Up of Black Women for 20 years.

Winfrey has also served the community through the former Will-Grundy Center for Independent Living (now Disability Resource Center), Accessible Cities Alliance for Joliet and Court Appointed Special Advocates of Joliet (CASA of Will County), according to the Will County Board website.