Selingo named 2024 recipient of Athena Award

Sep. 24—WILKES-BARRE — For 31 years, Tracey Selingo has dedicated herself to building bridges between the heart of a brand and customers' souls — including establishing Fork Over Love — and on Tuesday she was honored as the 2024 Athena Award.

The Athena Award was established in 1985 and it is presented to a woman who has attained and personifies the highest level of professional excellence in her community in a meaningful way, and most importantly, has generally assisted women in attaining their full potential.

The Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted the 2024 Athena Panel Luncheon Tuesday at the Westmoreland Club's Grand Hall, 48 South River St., Wilkes-Barre.

Prior to the announcement, a panel of Athena honorees shared their insights on career advice, professional growth, and personal empowerment. This year's panel included: Ruth Borland, 1990 Athena Award recipient; Lindsay Griffin-Boylan, 2023 Athena Award recipient; Jessica Ives, 2023 Young Professional Athena Leadership Award recipient; and Susie Kluger, 1986 Athena Award recipient.

Elizabeth Graham, 2009 Athena Award recipient, hosted the event and she read an email that was submitted by Pam Masi of Cosenza Italian Restaurant, regarding why Selingo was the perfect choice for the Athena Award.

"The pandemic challenged everyday life from small towns to big cities," Masi wrote. "It struck to the heart of our physiological needs, safety and security, and our love and belonging. It is during the worst of times that the best among us appear to help regain control — Tracey Selingo is one of those individuals.

"As a woman-owned business, everything that I relied upon seem to disappear during the pandemic. I lost employees and customers, overnight my business practices were out of line for what the world needed. All of this not only hurt my bottom line, but was threatening my future in a business that I loved.

"Fork over Love was a lifeline, a light house on the horizon that helped to build back all that was lost. Through the simple act of connecting restaurants with a community in need, it helped to feed empowerment, team work and re-strengthen many of the bonds that were broken."

Fork Over Love began as an emergency response in January 2021 to bridge the gap between two groups severely affected by the pandemic — the working poor and small, independent restaurants. Both experienced different levels and types of food insecurity.

Selingo said she was "deeply overwhelmed" at being selected the 2024 recipient of the Athena Award.

"It is such a beautiful award," Selingo said. "So many women have received this for their support of our community. I'm truly honored to be in their company."

Selingo worked in advertising agencies in New York and Philadelphia before returning home to Northeastern Pennsylvania to start one of her own. Her devotion to creative, engaging communication has helped many businesses — from high-tech and higher education to aviation, health and beauty, pharmaceutical, financial, legal, and beyond.

She said she has also spent over a decade helping women harness the divinity within themselves so that they may discover their power and thrive. She said she draws on a deep understanding of intuitive intelligence to see life from angles that inspire growth, compassion, courage, acceptance, belonging, wholeness, and love.

In March 2020, she turned her attention to her kitchen, where she spent hours whipping up dinners to lure her two college-aged sons out of their new ZOOM classrooms. Food has always provided connection, but Selingo said through the lens of the pandemic, she realized just how much security a hot meal served with love can provide.

On Jan. 8, 2021, Selingo founded Fork Over Love.

She said her focus has always been on empowering people, places, and things to come together, embrace change, and live fulfilled.

Selingo holds a Master of Arts in Advertising from the SI Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Scranton.

She is the proud mother of those two young men mentioned earlier, Jake and Henry, and lives in Shavertown, with her husband, Dave, and their dog, Tuck.

Past Athena winners

1985 — Anne Vernon

1986 — Sue Kluger

1987 — Mary Ann Keirans

1988 — Evelyn Gurbst

1989 — Phyllis Belk

1990 — Ruth Borland

1991 — Anna Cervenak

1992 — Joan Evans

1993 — Susan Shoval

1994 — Rosemary Sigmond

1995 — Rose Tucker

1997 — Ina Lubin

1998 — Elly Miller

1999 — Christine McLaughlin

2000 — Phyllis Mundy

2001 — Ellen Smith

2002 — Mary Erwine

2003 — Denise Cesare

2004 — Judith Ellis

2005 — Maureen Bufalino

2006 — Dr. Patricia Donohue

2007 — Jill Schwartz

2008 — Lisa Baker

2009 — Elizabeth Graham

2010 — Donna Sedor

2011 — Catherine Shafer

2012 — Lissa Bryan-Smith & Marilyn Millington

2013 — Jackie Brozena

2014 — Katie Lambert

2015 — Lori Nocito

2016 — Patrice Persico

2017 — Barbara Maculloch

2018 — Kathleen Dunsmuir

2019 — Tara Mugford Wilson

2020 — Ruth Corcoran

2021 — Kathi Bankes

2022 — Zubeen Saeed

2023 — Lindsay Griffin-Boylan

Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.