‘Wonder Women’ honored at annual legacy luncheon

The Women’s Resource Center celebrated inspiring leaders Friday during its annual Founder’s Legacy Luncheon.

Highlights included recognition of three new Wonder Women plus keynote speaker Bonnie Tyler, who in her late 60s used her ingenuity to invent The Negg, a hard-boiled egg peeler.

This year’s Wonder Women included Susie Bowie, executive director of the Manatee Community Foundation, Amanda Horne, royal consort of the Anna Maria Oyster Bay, and Dr. Jan Pullen, head of school at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School.

Bowie was cited for her work as director of the Nonprofit Resource Center mentoring individuals, and nonprofits as they worked to better the world for people, animals, education and the arts. She was also recognized for her role in developing and growing the Giving Partner program, which has generated millions of dollars for local nonprofits.

Horne was recognized for her tireless work on behalf of women, girls and education. In 2014, she cofounded with her husband, John Horne, the Horne and Moon Scholarship Social to raise scholarship money for gap students to attended State College of Florida, USF Sarasota-Manatee, and Manatee Technical College. This summer, the Hornes will initiate a program to bring low-income children to the Anna Maria Oyster Bay to team with educational mentors and reduce summer learning loss.

Pullen was recognized for her near 30-year work with Saint Stephens. Under her leadership the school has added an upper school building, a green middle school building, an athletic complex, and a marine science center. She also initiated a global program for local students to interact with students in 20 other countries.

Tyler, who already has orders for 35,000 of The Neggs, short for naked egg maker, at $17.99 each, told of the 2 1/2 year process to invent the peeler and bring it to market.

It started innocently enough with an invitation to a party, where she volunteered to bring a dozen deviled eggs.

“Simple enough, right? But the eggs wouldn’t peel. I got more and more frustrated,” she said.

When she turned to the internet, she could not find an egg peeler that seemed to fill the bill.

She decided to design her own, and used a 3-D printer to help in the creative process.

Asked if it was a stroke of genius to come up with a design, she replied, “No, it was just having fun.”

The Negg is available at neggmaker.com, amazon.com, and thegrommet.com.

At Friday’s annual lunch, the first since the Manatee and Sarasota centers merged, Ashley Brown, president and CEO, paid tribute to the organization’s founder Jan Entwistle, who died at age 82 in October.

Entwistle started the Women’s Resource Center in her home in Bradenton in 1990.

“She brought tenacity and kindness to our community, and we could not say no to Jan,” Brown said.

Friday’s luncheon is one of the principal fundraisers for the Women’s Resource Center. A total of the money raised was not available on Friday. The program was held at the IMG Academy Golf Club.

This story was originally published May 5, 2017 at 4:47 PM with the headline "‘Wonder Women’ honored at annual legacy luncheon."