Zonta Club of Miami Lakes announced the recipients of the Ida Snow Awards for 2015-2016. The award is given to Zonta’s Outstanding Member and is named in honor of the club’s first president and founder of Snow’s Jewelry.
Mary Ellen Nerod was named the Fall Recipient of the award as Zonta’s Outstanding Member. She received her BA in Organizational Communications from Youngstown State University in 1984. During a 20-year career with General Motors, she worked in many different positions including Manager of Communications for Engineering.
She married Richard Nerod in 1999 and retired from GM. Her new husband’s office was in Miami Lakes and she became a permanent resident. She joined Zonta in 2010 and has tirelessly given her time to help empower women and assist them to become self-sufficient.
In honor of the legacy of the late Betty Lou Meador, she was named the Spring Recipient of the Ida Snow Award. In the 1950s, she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, moved to Miami and married Robert B. Meador. She served as a dental hygienist in the Miami Lakes area and was very active with the Town of Miami Lakes citizen committees.
Over Meador’s 53-year career, she received many accolades in private practice and was named a Professor Emeritus at Miami Dade College from 1976-2006. She joined Zonta in 1997 and tirelessly gave her time to the club’s many projects to help the community and to help empower women.
Meador’s award was accepted in her memory by her daughter Pam Calabrese.