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Former WHAS11 anchor emcees event honoring 8 women from around Louisville

​Thursday's honorees included educators, volunteers and leaders in the arts.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — From science and healthcare to the arts; eight Louisville women were honored by Presentation Academy Thursday night for their leadership.

Presentation alumna Monica Kaufman Pearson emceed the Tower Awards. She grew up in Smoketown and became the first Black woman to anchor the news in Louisville on WHAS11 in 1973.

Thursday's honorees included educators, volunteers and leaders in the arts.

WHAS11 asked Pearson if she saw her own journey being a trailblazer in Louisville and her long career as the number one news anchor in Atlanta, Georgia reflected back to her.

"Even when I graduated in 1965, I didn't see women like them in positions like theirs," Pearson said. "So I hope that when young Pres girls here tonight see these women, they know what we've been telling them for years. You can do anything if you get the education and stick to it."

PNC Broadway President Leslie Broecker called herself lucky.

"I was so lucky not to witness the glass ceiling, and I think what Pres does, is erode that glass ceiling and says to young women you can be anything and they prepare them to do it," she said.

Presentation Academy has students from 35 different zip codes, and will be 193 years old in November.

The Tower Awards is the all-girls Catholic high school's biggest fundraiser.

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