Women's Conference

Postponed until further notice

Speakers and panelists will share their Irish background and connection to Arizona, their fascinating career or story, their role in the community, their talents and creativity, along with values championed by St. Brigid: Faith, spirituality, bio-diversity, sustainability, arts and culture, social justice, peace, hospitality and education  
 

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Arizona Irish Women of the Year 2025

Bethany Tso

Bethany is originally from Washington D.C., our nation’s Capitol. Her parents relocated to Arizona in 1970 and she grew up in the Phoenix. She has been married to Delbert for 38 years and has two sons. In her career, Bethany has worked in the dermatology field, specifically in the MOHS skin cancer area for 27 years. In the Arizona Irish community, Bethany has been active for at least 20 years.

She began as a volunteer for the ICC at several events, including the Bloomsday Beerfest, information booth at the St Patrick’s Day Parade and Faire, and many other events through the years. She served on the governing board of the Irish Cultural Center before they merged with the McClelland Library. She is currently a member of the Friends of St Patrick, Chandler Tullamore Sister Cities, and Daughters of Scotia. She is a past member of the Irish Foundation of Arizona and the Welsh League of Arizona before they disbanded. Bethany and Vicki Champion created the Christmas at the Castle event which is celebrated every year at the ICC. Bethany has also visited Ireland several times, one of which included the Gaeltacht on the Aran islands with the Irish language group headed by Vicki Champion.

Bethany is honored to be named the Irish Woman of the Year for the Women’s Conference at the ICC. She feels it’s important to gather in solidarity in honor of St Brigid with the Irish women in the community with hope and resilience and to celebrate their heritage. It’s been a wonderful experience for Bethany to serve in the Arizona Irish community and has made lifelong friends.

Keynote Speakers

Michelle Kauk

With more than 15 years of public affairs experience, Michelle Kauk has worked at the local, state and federal levels of government, in addition to the private sector and non-profit space, specializing in strategic public relations, media and communications campaigns; crisis communications; campaign communications; coalition building; message development; strategic management of legislative agendas; and public policy issues.

She currently is a public policy manager at Meta, working on data center economic development policy.

Throughout her career in Arizona, she has served as an executive with the Greater Phoenix Economic Council as the Senior Vice President of Communications & Public Affairs, and worked for the Town of Gilbert, and the Office of Senator John McCain – in both the Washington, DC and Phoenix offices.

Michelle also worked as the Director of Government Affairs and Research for a niche insurance company in Connecticut, HAI Group, which provides insurance and other special programs for public and affordable housing authorities.

Michelle is co-chair for the Valley of the Sun United Way Women United Steering Committee, and is also a member of the Banner Health Foundation Pulse of the City Soiree Host Committee and the Make-a-Wish Arizona Wishmakers Council. She is also a Flinn Brown Fellow. In 2017 Michelle received the 40 Under 40 award from Development Counsellors International (DCI), and in 2020 was recognized by the Arizona Capitol Times as one of the 2020 Women Achievers of Arizona.

Jennifer Talerico

Jennifer Talerico is a retired technology executive, having spent nearly 3 decades in the semiconductor industry, predominantly at Intel.  Her roles spanned supply chain, marketing and communications, information technology, and strategy.

She has served on the board of the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, chairing the business development committee, and is now serving as Trustee for the Irish Cultural and Learning Foundation. She was recognized as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Arizona in 2023.

She is married to Jim and has 2 children:  Lainey, a senior at the University of Arizona and Zach, a sophomore at Arizona State University.  Her favorite hobbies include traveling the world with her family and friends, and giving back to the community.

Enrichment Activity

Chrissy Dart

Chrissy Dart loves telling all sorts of stories, but her favorites are folktales, myths and legends from her German and Irish heritages.  To help keep these stories alive, Chrissy and her daughter, Rachelle, co-produce Phoenix Folklore Friday at Fiddler’s Dream. Chrissy has told stories all over the state, including for the MIM, the Phoenix Art Museum, the Tempe Center for the Arts, and Arizona Storytellers.  She also teaches Multi-Cultural Folktales for the Storytelling Institute at South Mountain Community College, helps facilitate Sacred Earth/Common Ground storytelling events with Arizona Interfaith Power and Light, and teaches T’ai Chi for the Muhammed Ali Parkinson Center.  She has discovered that the two art forms, T’ai Chi and Storytelling, have much in common.  They both help a person to discover what it means to be human.

Previous winners of Arizona Irish Woman of the Year

2024 – Mary Moriarty