this goes to kimberly ellis. executive director of emerge california. [applause] in addition to being the executive director, she also serves on the bridge and community development commission and prior to becoming the executive director, she was the national affiliate's director. kimberly is passionate about empowering women and helping women emerge as leaders in private industry, government, and d d the non-profit sector. [applause] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> thank you also much. thank you, shelley, for putting together this event. when i did a little bit of research, i found out that this woman was a force to be brought in -- to be reckoned with. she was a young woman who was full of passion and love, and life, she was going places. she had aspirations of being an attorney in serving in elected office. tragically, her life was ended at the tender age of 43. so, when i've thought about some of the common threads and qualities that annie and i shared, the one that stood out in my mind was passion. she was a pas