Meet our Most Admired Woman Winners!

Charlotte Ipsan
Category: Health/Healthcare
Job Title: President, Kosair Children’s Hospital; Norton Women’s Hospital

What would you say to other women starting out in their career?
"Don’t be afraid to take chances. You have to take risks, educated risks. And you have to be willing to stick your neck out and try new things. But you also have to do your homework and provide solid information if you want people to listen and be willing to say, ‘Yes, maybe we can do that.’ Sometimes you’re going to make a mistake, and I tell the folks I work with that if you never make a mistake, you’re not trying hard enough. And you need to learn from your mistakes and support those around you, and in turn those around you will support you."

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Leslie McCarthy
Category: Home/Homestyle
Job Title: President and Owner, Marketing Ends Meet

Is there a project you’ve done that is particularly meaningful to you?
"I have a piece over my mantel from when I went through a really rough spell, just kind of in a funk, and I went up to the studio and starting thinking through what was going on. That piece is very reflective of where I was at that point, and by the time I got finished, it was like, ‘Hey, I can smile, and I can move on.’ It’s a big piece on a board, like a collage with fabric fibers that start out woven and nice and neat and then start to fall apart down at the end. Underneath there is a broken heart with a women jumping out like, ‘It’s OK, we’re moving on.’ It’s not necessarily the best piece I’ve ever done, but it was a healing piece, and it got me back to my normal self."

Do you have a favorite time of day?
"I love that early morning time when I just have a few hours to myself to kind of do what I want to do. I come in to work at about 8 o’clock in the morning, and that time between 8 and 10 o’clock when there’s nobody in the store, I am able to sit down and try a new project or get the busy work out of the way so I can enjoy being in the studio.”

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Claudia Coffey
Category: Media
Job Title: WHAS-11 Reporter/Anchor

How do you stay grounded?
"At night, I’ll put on some music and do a combination of yoga and Pilates. And that’s my quiet time, my prayerful time, my moment to have a conversation with God. I have my prayerful meditation time in the mornings, too. If I’m going into something I’m fearful of, something I’m nervous about, I just pray that it’s taken out of my hands and that I’m given the strength to deal with it in the way God wants me to. And in the evenings, I like to say, ‘Thank you.’ Thank you that I made it through the day. Thank you for bringing me home. Thank you for a wonderful child. Thank you for the beauty of everything around me. And sometimes I’ll write in my little garden journal about what bloomed today, or that I heard the owl last night and it helped put me to sleep. My life and my world can be so stressful that I have to really bring it down to the most basic, simple level. Back to real Claudia, not TV Claudia."

About her past:
Before working in Louisville, Claudia worked at CBS Newspath and filled in on the Fox News Channel. She won an Emmy in Washington, D.C., for her coverage of the Salahis, the infamous White House party crashers.

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Angela McCormick Bisig
Category: Political
Job Title: Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge

You had been reluctant to take on leadership roles in your youth and had to be prodded by a professor to run for student government in college. Is that part of the reason you work with local girls’ groups?
"Probably, and I think part of it is just being grateful. Other women reached out to help me and mentor me when I was younger, so I want to be sure I’m not just looking ahead, but also thinking of all these young women coming up behind me. We need to encourage them and tell them that somebody’s going to be calling the shots, and it really should be them. It may sound scary, but if they care about people and they’re smart, they’re going to bring a lot to the table.”

Find out more about our other Most Admired Woman winners here and here. Meet all of them and past winners at our Most Admired Woman event June 27!