(Photo of retired South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Kaye Hearn by Donna Isbell Walker)

Retired South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Kaye Hearn, South Carolina State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, and Judge Nancy Gutierrez were honored by the organization Women in Leadership at a dinner Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Columbia.

The event was the annual Leading Women Dinner, which recognizes women who have made significant contributions to South Carolina in elected or appointed office and those who have blazed trails in civic leadership.

Gutierrez, who received the Rising Star Award, is the first Hispanic woman judge in Jasper County and in the city of Hardeeville. In presenting the award to Gutierrez, Richland County Councilwoman Chakisse Newton called her “an example to young women leaders in the state.”

Accepting the award, Gutierrez shared her advice to young women who may be thinking of a career in public service: “Don’t let fear hold you back. … Don’t be afraid of failing.”

Cobb-Hunter, a community activist who represents Orangeburg County in the South Carolina General Assembly, received the Leadership Legacy Award. She was the first African American woman elected to statewide office in South Carolina, and she’s currently the longest-serving representative in the State House.

“She has tirelessly made it her life’s work to ensure that our rural communities don’t vanish,” Newton said. “… It is hard working serving others. We do it because we want to, but sometimes the road is hard.”

Accepting the award, Cobb-Hunter encouraged other women to run for office because “there are very few women on either side of the aisle in the General Assembly. … You (young women) are the leaders. You are the ones who are standing on our shoulders, and so you’ve got to get engaged. We’re leaving a real mess for y’all.”

Hearn, the second woman to serve on the South Carolina Supreme Court, received the Leading Woman Award, Women in Leadership’s highest honor. When she retired from the court last year, Hearn was the longest-serving member of the South Carolina State Court Judiciary.

When Hearn retired, that left South Carolina as the only state in the nation with an all-male Supreme Court, and “her influence and advisement” led the Judicial Merit Selection Committee and the General Assembly to consider female candidates for the vacancy, Newton said. That led to the unanimous selection of Letitia H. Verdin as the newest Supreme Court justice.

“There is no limit to what we as women can accomplish,” Hearn said. “Every single day that we have the privilege of being on this earth, we have the power to choose our better history by standing up for ourselves, standing up for other women, and standing up for what we know is right.”