You still have time to get your Kennedy Day tickets, but you need to HURRY.

The Shelby County Democratic Party is having it’s John F. Kennedy Day DinnerSaturday, January 18, 2014.The theme of this event is “The Year of The Woman.” 

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-California, 13th District) is the confirmed speaker. 

After Rep. Lee’s talk, there will be a panel discussion made up of elected/appointed women primarily discussing the challenges of public office, the grit needed to achieve and maintain those offices and the challenge women face running for/being appointed to public office. 

The 2014 Kennedy Day Dinner will be at BRIDGES, 477 N 5th St, Memphis, TN 38105.

“The Year of the Woman” Panelists

Judge Camille McMullen previously served as a state and federal prosecutor in Memphis, Tennessee. She served as an Assistant District Attorney for the Thirty Judicial District from 1998 to 2001. She then served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee from 2001 to 2008. In 2008, Judge McMullen was appointed by Governor Phil Bredesen to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. She made history as the first African-American woman to serve on an intermediate appellate court in Tennessee. She has also served as a member of the Memphis, Tennessee, and National Bar Associations; Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women; the National Association of Women Judges; and as a Master with the Leo Bearman Sr., Inn of Court.

Sara Kyle served as a public defender before her election to the Memphis City Court bench in 1991. Ms. Kyle resigned from her City Judge’s position in March of 1994 to run statewide for the Public Service Commission, the predecessor to Tennessee Regulatory Authority. The Public Service Commission was dissolved in 1996 and replaced by the TRA. Ms. Kyle was appointed to the TRA February 29, 1996, becoming one of the first three members, and served as a Director on the regulatory authority until March 2013. Recently, she considered a 2014 run against current Governor Bill Haslem – she changed her mind about running due to the illness of her mother who just passed. Ms. Kyle is married to state Sen. Jim Kyle.

State Rep. Johnnie R. Turner was appointed to complete the term representing House District 85 in January 2010 after her husband, State Rep. Larry Turner’s untimely death. He represented the 85th District for 25 years. She ran for election to the 85th District seat in 2010 and won. At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Rep. Turner served on the Consumer and Human Resources,Government Operations, Children and Family Affairs, Consumer and Employee Affairs committees. She is also the Treasurer of the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators. A civil rights advocate, Rep. Turner is a former Executive Director of the Memphis Branch NAACP and a retired educator of Memphis City Schools.

Sara Lewis has been a classroom teacher, curriculum developer, grant writer, Title I Project Director, an area specialist, elementary school principal and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. She retired from the Memphis City Schools to become the Executive Director of Free The Children Inc., a demonstration program that addressed the root causes of poverty in selected census zones in North Memphis. In 1991 Lewis became the first African-American to be elected to an At-Large Position on the Board of Education of the Memphis City Schools. Lewis retired from the Board of Education on December 31, 2006 after completing her fourth term. She was re-elected to the Board of Education, representing District 6, on December 7, 2010. Her term of office ended August 31, 2013.

Beverly Marrero was first elected to the 103^rd General Assembly in the Tennessee House of Representatives by-election after Rep. Carol Chumney resigned to become a member of the Memphis City Council. Marrero served in the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2006. In March 2007, Marrero won special election for the Tennessee State Senate seat vacated by then newly elected U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen. She represented the 30th Senate District from 2008 until 2012. Due to redistricting, Shelby County lost one of its six Senate seats which resulted in Marrerro and Sen. Jim Kyle running for the same Senate seat. Marrero also served as delegate for the State of Tennessee in the 1976 Democratic National Convention. She began politics working for the election of John F. Kennedy by going door to door in her neighborhood. She worked in Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio, and New Hampshire for Jimmy Carter's campaign.

Moderator: Deidre Malone served eight years as a Shelby County Commissioner. She became the first African-American woman to serve as chair of the Shelby County Commission and budget committee chairwoman. In 2010, Malone made an unsuccessful bid for Mayor of Shelby County. This year, Malone will again seek the Democratic nomination for Shelby County mayor, hoping to win the right to challenge the incumbent, Republican mayor. She is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Carter Malone Group, LLC (CMG), a public relations, marketing and advertising firm headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to opening CMG in 2003, Malone served as Vice President of Marketing Development for ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Director of Public Relations for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for 10 years. 

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