Before she became a well-known name wielding outsized influence in the Milwaukee art scene, Polly Morris was a dancer. She began studying modern dance as a 7-year-old in New York City, taking classes with world-renowned instructors. After earning a Ph.D. in 18th-century social history, Morris moved to Milwaukee in the late 1980s and taught at UW-Milwaukee. In 1992, she co-founded the local dance school and performance company Danceworks. An interest in multi-disciplinary programming brought her to UWM’s Peck School of the Arts, where she led marketing and outreach.

Laura Bray comes from a family committed to investing in Milwaukee and its people. Growing up on the city’s East Side, Bray saw her father, a social worker and parole officer, build friendships with those he worked with, helping support their paths to a better life. Her mom worked as provost and a nurse educator at Marquette University, and her brother eventually became a successful local musician.

If you’ve been to Milwaukee, you’ve probably seen, or even been inside, a building Alicia Dupies has helped build. After graduating from UW-Madison, Dupies took on her first construction gig: building a school in Kenya as a volunteer. She’s since worked her way up to leadership roles in the male-dominated field, including her tenure as director of project development at Mortenson Construction.

Born in Acapulco, Mexico, Mariana Rodriguez migrated to Osh­kosh with her family at 8 years old. While her family came to the U.S. for a better life, Rodriguez encountered difficulties no young person should face. Eventually, as a teen, Rodriguez experienced dating violence. Her work today is dedicated to stopping cycles of trauma for future generations of Latinx individuals and their families.

Like many little girls, Lynne Dixon-Speller’s first foray in fashion started with Barbies and paper dolls. But her love for the craft of designing and making clothes stood the test of time. One summer, when Dixon-Speller was in her early teens, her grandmother Edessa – a master seamstress – moved into the family’s home in Tennessee. “She honed my craft,” Dixon-Speller says.

Mary Ewens, an older sister of Betty Ewens Quadracci, was like most of her first-grade classmates – until she wasn’t. Attending St. Robert’s Parish School in Shorewood, she felt a call to become a nun. “All the little girls loved our first-grade teacher and wanted to be like her,” says Ewens. “But then they changed their minds – and I didn’t.” Ewens made her dream official in 1953, when she joined the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, a group of nuns in southwestern Wisconsin committed to promoting peace and justice in society, preaching and teaching to spread the message of Jesus.