Ingram’s is a business publication in Missouri and Kansas that annually highlights “50 Kansans You Should Know”. While these individuals are diverse they share values that allow them to better impact their communities, state, and on some levels, even their country. The Partnership is proud of Michelle Cuevas-Stubblefield with Downtown Topeka, Inc for her contributions to our city, MANA de Topeka, and The Partnership’s holistic economic development strategy #Momentum2022.
“In 2004, Michelle Cuevas-Stubblefield helped found MANA de Topeka, a local Latina Leadership Organization. To date, it has distributed more than $45,000 in scholarships to young Latino women pursuing higher education. The MANA conference in Topeka is comparatively huge, almost the size of the conference in San Diego. A former ad-agency executive, Stubblefield was born and raised in Topeka and is a third-generation American of Mexican descent. She holds a strong passion for Kansas’ capital city and the Latino people who comprise the population. One of her biggest battles as part of the Latin American Community in Topeka is “infusing more Latino leadership representation and equity into both public and private sectors of the community.” She’s also helping spearhead MOMENTUM 2022, “a community strategy to improve the quality of life in Topeka and Shawnee County.” She also helped create the Latino Leadership Collaborative of Kansas in 2015, to help the Latino community build the capacity to lead.” (Ingrams.com, 2018)
Other Kansans who represent #TopCity from the list include:
- Tom Bell, Kansas Hospital Association. Advocating for the community hospitals that are at the heart of small-town Kansas.
- Duane Goossen, Kansas Center for Economic Growth. At the nexus between public policy in Kansas – and the dollars that fund it.
- Jim Klausman, Midwest Health. For four decades, transforming the concept of senior living and elder care.
- Larry Robbins, USD 501. Taking a businesslike approach to the challenge of running Topeka’s public schools.
Ingrams.com. (2018). 50 Kansans You Should Know: 2018. Retrieved from http://ingrams.com/article/50-kansans-you-should-know-2018/