Atlanta magazine has long recognized those among us who are doing extraordinary work in our community to make us and our city better. We are pleased to introduce this year’s Women Making a Mark honorees, 13 exceptional women who have left—and continue to leave—their mark on so many.

These honorees are committed to their professions and their community. They exhibit tireless dedication, strong leadership, and impassioned goodwill. They’re leading major philanthropic organizations, fighting cancer, blazing trails for women in sports and law, improving schools, and battling the stigma of disability. In short, they are all making a mark, and we trust their stories will move you as much as they did us.

We began the 2018 selection process many months ago by asking our readers to help us identify women they believe are shaping the community. After receiving the largest number of nominations to date, our team read each nomination, deliberated, and came to a unanimous conclusion. As you can imagine, selecting these nominees was challenging, as all of the women are doing incredible work.

A special thank you to our long-standing hotel partner and host, The Mandarin Oriental Atlanta, for hosting our Women Making a Mark luncheon, and for serving as the backdrop for the photo shoots and video interviews of our honorees. I especially want to thank the hotel’s director of communications, Sophie Dier, who makes the process a breeze each and every year. Thank you, too, to Blo Blow Dry Bar, which provided the honorees with hair and makeup services the day of their photo shoot.

Congratulations to all of our Women Marking a Mark honorees!