St. Cloud, Minn. – We are excited to announce this year’s ATHENA Award recipient is Michelle Pape!
Selected through a nomination process hosted by the Women’s Fund of the Central Minnesota Community Foundation, Michelle Pape has accepted the 2023 ATHENA Award. The ATHENA Award is a lifetime achievement award recognizing exceptional women leaders who inspire others to achieve excellence in their professional and personal lives. Michelle was chosen for the ATHENA Award because of her dedication to coaching and leading women at all stages of their careers.
The mission of the ATHENA Award is to recognize and honor Central Minnesota women who have achieved excellence in their careers and who inspire others. Criteria for selection includes demonstrates excellence, creativity, and initiative in her business or profession; provides valuable service by contributing time and energy to improve the lives of others in Central Minnesota; and actively assists women in realizing their full leadership potential.
Since 2004, Michelle has been the Founder and Owner of Next Monday. Next Monday is an executive coaching company that focuses on personal and professional growth. Michelle says the goal of Next Monday is, “to create a safe, trusting place where people feel valued and uplifted for being the unique person that God created them to be. I want each person to know that they belong, that they are enough, that they are perfectly imperfect, similar yet different, and that women can be in community together building up one another.”
With a background in sales and marketing, Michelle started her career selling products at home parties and later went on to accept an entry level marketing position at one of Minnesota’s largest fish wholesalers. Over the next few years, she moved up through the company and went on to lead their sales and marketing team. After 15 years, Michelle realized that she wanted to become a professional coach and she started Next Monday, “because no one starts something new on Tuesday or Friday, right?” says Michelle.
Along with her work at Next Monday, Michelle is also a philanthropist. Notably she’s served as a Board Member on the Capital Development Project Committee for the YMCA.
Tara Gronhovd, Owner of Align Strategy nominated Michelle for the ATHENA award. She says when Michelle Pape believes in something, she’s all in.
“With the St. Cloud Area Family YMCA, Michelle was a board member who passionately believed in the Y’s ability to expand its vision beyond the status quo it had become. She worked tirelessly and stepped out of her comfort zone to become one of the lead fundraisers for the campaign that helped to build our new YMCA…In addition to her work with worthy causes, Michelle is thoughtful about continuing to support women well into the future.”
Michelle Pape will be honored September 14, 2023 at the Central Minnesota Community Foundation’s Annual Celebration of Philanthropy event, hosted at the Park Event Center.
Past recipients of the award include Susan Mackert 1988, Colman O’Connell 1989, Peg Meyer 1990, Ann Thelen 1991, Nancy Fischer 1992, Diane Gohman 1993, Diana Murphy Podawiltz 1994, Dorothy Simpson 1995, Cheryl Lightle 1996, Connie Cross 1997, Sonja Sorensen Craig 1998, Patti Gartland 1999, Colette Carlson 2000, Marj Hawkins 2001, Sandy Neutzling 2002, Betty Schnettler 2003, Barb Carlson 2004, Joan Volkmuth 2005, Patt Adair 2008, Jan Bensen 2009, Elaine Bauerly 2010, Cindy Faye Johnson 2011, Molly Renslow 2012, Maxine Barnett 2013, Patricia Welter 2014, Ann Cofell 2015, Lynn Grewing 2016, Linda Eich DesJardins 2017, Tarryl Clark 2018, Bernie Perryman 2019, Dorraine “Dorrie” Larison 2020, Debra Leigh 2021, and Geri Bechtold 2022.
Since 2002, the Women’s Fund of the Central Minnesota Community Foundation has been dedicated to strengthening the community by improving the lives of women and girls. The Women’s Fund has granted nearly $1.6 million to support local programs in three core focus areas: girls age 10-18, women in transition and elder women.
The Central Minnesota Community Foundation (CMCF) attracts and administers charitable funds for the benefit of the local community. Since 1985, CMCF has grown to over $143.7 million in assets and awarded over $148 million in grants to non-profits. The CMCF is governed by a local board of directors and is a partner of CommunityGiving, which is a collaborative of community foundations united under a single framework to create efficiencies that maximize the impact of our donors. Collectively, CommunityGiving administers over 1,000 funds totaling nearly $195 million. Learn more at CommunityGiving.org/CentralMN.
