A lifelong resident of Little Rock, Cynthia East attended public schools and graduated from Hall High School in 1966. During her senior year, she took a six-month trip around the world, an experience that sparked a lifelong passion for travel and history. She later earned a BA in English from the University of Arkansas in 1970, where she was a member of Mortar Board, served as a ROTC sponsor, and was president of Chi Omega.

Shortly after graduation, she married Bob East and moved to Manhattan, Kansas, where she worked as a bookkeeper for the Chamber of Commerce, gaining valuable business experience. Upon returning to Little Rock, she joined Cranford/Johnson/Hunt in the creative department, where she developed strong organizational and production skills.

In 1977, she founded Cynthia East Fabrics, turning a passion for textiles into a successful and enduring business. The store has become known for its dedicated staff, loyal clientele, and lasting impact on the local design community.

Deeply committed to community service, she has supported numerous organizations and served in leadership roles with groups including the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Camp Aldersgate, and the Junior League of Little Rock. Her strongest passion has been her involvement with Little Rock Public Schools, inspired by her family’s role in the 1959 effort to reinstate wrongfully dismissed teachers during the Central High crisis. She has since served in various volunteer and leadership roles, earning multiple honors for her contributions.

A breast cancer survivor, she has also supported others facing similar challenges. She and her husband, Bob, have been married for more than five decades and have two children and four grandchildren. Together, they established the East Family Foundation, supporting education and community initiatives, and funded scholarships at the University of Arkansas and UALR.

Marsha Martin is a creative product designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She is the founder of Onyx Brands, Inc., a company providing professional-quality beauty products to consumers since 1990. 

Marsha began her career at the Walmart corporate office in Bentonville, Arkansas, where she worked alongside founder Sam Walton. Her passion for beauty and product innovation inspired her to launch Onyx Brands. In 2021, she sold a majority stake in the company and partnered with a private equity firm to support Onyx Brands Inc continued growth.

With a degree in cosmetology, Marsha brought technical expertise to the nail care category. Under her leadership, Onyx introduced professional polish removers, now the #1 product in the market, and was the first to bring pure acetone to retail consumers. The brand has since expanded into foot care, specialty bath, kids’ bath products, LED makeup mirrors, and beauty accessories—all at accessible price points. Onyx products are available in most major national retailers including Walmart, Target, Meijer, Dollar General, and TJ Maxx.

In addition to her work in beauty, Marsha is an active real estate builder and investor and serves as CEO of Dream Big Investments, LLC. Her portfolio includes waterfront residential developments along 30A in Florida, a shopping center and warehouse project in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and office building partnerships in Northwest Arkansas. Marsha says designing and developing real estate is much like product design, you dream it and watch it come to life! Recently Marsha has taken on a consulting role for a Walmart vendors to lead their launch at Walmart. 

Philanthropy has long been central to Marsha’s life. She has served on the Board of Directors for the American Heart Association, Multiple Sclerosis, Enactus, and currently serves on the Razorback Foundation board at the University of Arkansas and she also chaired the Heart Ball for two years. Marsha has been a frequent guest speaker at American Heart Association GO RED events across the US.

When she is not developing new products or overseeing investments, Marsha enjoys attending Razorback sporting events with family and friends. She is known as the “Blonde in Boots” that sits courtside at Razorback basketball games. She is a proud “Mimi” to four granddaughters and one grandson. She loves relaxing on the water in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and Alys Beach, Florida or watching their horses race.

Cynthia E. Nance is Dean and the Nathan G. Gordon Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law. She earned her B.S., magna cum laude, from Chicago State University, her J.D., with distinction, from the University of Iowa College of Law, and an M.A. from the University of Iowa College of Business.

She joined the faculty in 1994 and served as dean from 2006 to 2011 and again from 2022 to 2026. She was the law school’s first Director of Pro Bono and Community Engagement. Her teaching and scholarship focus on labor and employment law, workplace legislation, poverty law, and lawyers as leaders. Nance is a past chair of the Association of American Law Schools Sections on Labor and Employment Law and Employment Discrimination and an AALS Fellow.

Nance’s scholarship has appeared in journals including the Iowa Law Review, the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, the Rutgers Law Review, and the Brandeis Law Journal. She has presented on legal and educational issues across the United States and internationally, including in Mexico, Brunei, Cuba,  Singapore, the Netherlands, and Ukraine. Notably, she served as the keynote speaker for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ inaugural Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration.

Nance is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and immediate past President of its Board of Governors. She serves on the American Bar Association Board of Governors, including its Pension Committee, and is a member of the ABA House of Delegates. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and The Labor Law Group, where she recently completed service on the Executive Committee. She also served for six years on the Arkansas Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. A past Chair of the American Bar Foundation Fellows, she currently serves as a State Chair and is a former Eighth Circuit member of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary.

An Arkansas Television Commissioner, Nance has also served on the Arkansas Bar Foundation Trust Committee and on the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, including service on its 2025–2026 Special Advisory Committee. Her additional legal service includes the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty and the National Association for Law Placement Foundation Board. She was appointed by the Arkansas Supreme Court to the Arkansas Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program Committee, where she currently serves. Her additional affiliations include membership in the Arkansas Chapter of the International Women’s Forum, Harold Flowers Law Society, an affiliate of the National Bar Association, Hispanic National Bar Association, NAPABA and service as a board member of the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame. She previously served on the boards of WelcomeHealth and Bikes, Blues & Barbecue of Northwest Arkansas.

She has demonstrated a strong commitment to expanding access to legal education through her philanthropy. She endowed the Eual Dean and Fern Nance Scholarship at the University of Arkansas School of Law in honor of her parents and established the Dennis Shields Scholarship at the University of Iowa College of Law, recognizing the admissions leader who first opened the door to her legal education.

Additional examples of her commitment to service include prior service on the Law School Admission Council Board of Trustees; as a Council member and Section Delegate of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law; on the Interfaith Worker Justice Board; and on the Advisory Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. She also served as an Anti-Racism Trainer for the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

She has been widely recognized for her service and leadership. Her honors include the 2025 Sistas-in-Law Lifetime Achievement Award and Flame of Justice Awards; the 2024 John L. Colbert Lifetime Achievement Award from the Northwest Arkansas Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Council and Arkansas JLAP Distinguished Service Award; the 2023 Association of American Law Schools’ Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lifetime Achievement Award and the Carrying on the Legacy Award from the Harold Flowers Law Society; the 2021 Richard S. Arnold Award for Distinguished Service in the Western District of Arkansas from the Eighth Circuit Bar Association and the University of Iowa Hancher-Finkbine Medallion; the 2018 American Bar Association Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award; the 2017 Arkansas Bar Association Presidential Award of Excellence and Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Mary Louise Williams Guiding Star for Public Service Award; the 2016 Community Leader Award from the Northwest Arkansas Worker Justice Center; the 2014 Individual Educator Achievement Award from the Northwest Arkansas Democratic Black Caucus; the 2012 American Bar Association Spirit of Excellence Award; the 2007 Arthur A. Fletcher Award from the American Association for Affirmative Action; the 2005 Arkansas Bar Association Outstanding Lawyer-Citizen Award; and the University of Arkansas’s 2004 Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award for Public Service.

She has previously received the Northwest Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission Individual Achievement Award and has been recognized as one of Diverse Issues in Higher Education’s “25 Women Making a Difference,” a “Woman of Influence” by Arkansas Business, and one of the most influential lawyers on Twitter by On Being a Black Lawyer. She has also been named one of Arkansas’s “12 Most Powerful Women” by AY Magazine and Talk Business & Politics. Nance is the inaugural recipient of the Harold Flowers Association’s Judge Andree Layton Roaf Award of Excellence and a recipient of the University of Arkansas Women Law Students’ Gayle Pettus Pontz Award. In 2009, the Black Law Students Association named its chapter in her honor.

Sharon Allen was a trailblazing leader in Arkansas’s health insurance industry whose four-decade career with Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield left a lasting impact on healthcare delivery both statewide and nationally. Born in Russellville and raised in Ola, Allen began her career with the company in 1968 as a claims clerk and quickly rose through the ranks—becoming the organization’s first female manager within a year. Without a college degree, she steadily advanced to executive leadership, ultimately serving as chief operating officer and, in 2002, becoming the company’s first female president.

Allen’s expertise in Medicare and healthcare financing earned her national recognition, including service on the Executive Committee of the Medicare Part A National Users Group and as co-chair of the Health Care Finance Administration’s Utilization Review Technical Advisory Group. In Arkansas, she championed initiatives to improve health outcomes, expand access, and educate communities on preventive care. Among her most enduring contributions was the establishment of regional offices across the state to better serve local communities and the launch of the Arkansas Fitness Challenge, promoting wellness among Arkansans.

A dedicated advocate for women in business, Allen mentored and uplifted countless women throughout her career, often opening doors where few existed before. She served as president of the Arkansas chapter of the American Business Women’s Association and was named its Woman of the Year in Philanthropy in 2008. Known for her strong work ethic, leadership, and generosity, she inspired others to pursue opportunity and excellence.

Allen’s legacy continues through the lasting impact of her work in healthcare and through the Bridges Allen Award, an annual honor at Arkansas Blue Cross recognizing exceptional employee service. Her life and career exemplify perseverance, leadership, and a commitment to improving the well-being of others.

Phyllis Louise Dillaha Brandon was born on July 31, 1935, in Little Rock, the only daughter of Calvin Arthur Dillaha, a pharmacist, and Vera Burt Dillaha. She discovered journalism in junior high when she and her classmates convinced their English teacher to launch a school newspaper—and won a prize for one of her first articles. By her senior year at Little Rock High School (now Central High), she was editor of the Tiger. She went on to earn a journalism degree from the University of Arkansas in 1957, where she was associate editor of the Arkansas Traveler, elected secretary of the senior class, inducted into Mortar Board, and named to Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities.

Returning to Little Rock as one of just two women reporters at the Arkansas Democrat, Phyllis was quickly assigned to one of the most consequential stories in Arkansas history. In September 1957, her editors sent her to Central High School—bobby socks and National Honor Society pin in place—hoping she could slip inside as a student during the integration crisis. She arrived to find guards at every door. Instead, she stood in the crowd of protesters, reported the mob scene, and called in her story from a pay phone at a nearby filling station. She was also an original member of the Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools, one of the first organized groups of white moderate women to publicly oppose Governor Faubus and demand that the city's closed high schools be reopened.

After marrying and raising two sons, Phyllis remained deeply engaged in civic life. As president of the Little Rock PTA Council in 1974, she formed a committee to investigate school lunch quality and began asking questions about the price of milk. When the cafeteria director mentioned the price was "always the same," Phyllis recognized price-fixing immediately. The subsequent antitrust lawsuit went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court—the dairies lost, executives went to prison, and Little Rock schools began paying significantly less for milk. It was, as the Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History noted, an antitrust settlement that made Arkansas history.

In 1986, publisher Walter Hussman invited Phyllis to found the High Profile section of the Arkansas Democrat. For twenty-three years, she produced weekly cover profiles of Arkansans making a difference—interviewing General Wesley Clark at NATO headquarters in Belgium, covering Clinton White House state dinners, reporting from Paris and London, and championing the state's cultural and philanthropic life with her camera always in hand. Bill Clinton later said, "Phyllis had a gift for telling stories and celebrating Arkansans. Her profiles gave us honest portraits and offered rare insights to the people who were making a difference. She was a trailblazer in the newsroom who served as a mentor to dozens of reporters who came along after her." When she left the section, editor Griffin Smith signed her farewell card: "Thanks for winning the newspaper war."

Phyllis Brandon was inducted into the University of Arkansas Journalism Hall of Fame, recognized by Watershed for her philanthropic journalism, and named the inaugural Arkansas Woman of the Year by Women and Children First in 2007. She served on the Pulaski County Election Commission, was twice a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, and was a lifelong Episcopalian and member of Rotary Club 99. She died on January 11, 2020, in Little Rock at age 84, survived by her sons Alex—a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner—and Philip, two grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter. For six decades, she told other people's stories with warmth, precision, and an unerring instinct for what mattered. In doing so, she wrote a remarkable story of her own.

Dorothy Reddell Caldwell was a pioneering leader in child nutrition, education, and community service whose work transformed school meal programs at the local, state, and national levels. Born on a farm near Cotton Plant, Arkansas, she graduated with honors from Cotton Plant High School at age 16 and went on to earn a degree in English from the University of Arkansas, where she was a campus leader and the first in her family to attend college.

She began her career as a home economics teacher in Marianna, Arkansas, later serving as Director of Food and Nutrition for the Lee County School District for two decades. There, she modernized and centralized school meal programs, dramatically increasing student participation and expanding access to breakfast and healthier food options. After earning a master’s degree in food systems administration from the University of Tennessee, she continued her impact as Director of Child Nutrition for the Arkansas Department of Education, where she expanded training programs and increased the number of schools offering breakfast statewide.

Following the death of her husband, Marvin Caldwell, in 1983, she became publisher of The Courier-Index newspaper and later served as the first female president of the Lee County Chamber of Commerce. Her leadership extended nationally through roles with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and as president of the School Nutrition Association and the School Nutrition Foundation, where she helped develop influential standards and programs that continue to shape child nutrition policy.

A respected mentor and advocate, Caldwell inspired generations of women through her leadership, service, and commitment to education. She remained active in community and professional organizations throughout her life, including more than 65 years with P.E.O. Sisterhood.

Her many honors include national and state recognition for her contributions to nutrition and public service, including lifetime achievement awards and acknowledgment in the Congressional Record. Caldwell’s legacy endures through the policies she helped shape, the leaders she mentored, and the countless children whose lives were improved through better access to nutritious meals.

Vada Webb Sheid was a pioneering Arkansas legislator and the first woman to serve in both the state House and Senate, with a public career spanning five decades.

Born August 19, 1916, in Izard County, she grew up in Calico Rock and later attended Draughon School of Business in Little Rock. She began her career in public service as Izard County welfare director and later worked for the state. After marrying Carl Sheid in 1940, the couple settled in Mountain Home, where they owned and operated local businesses.

Encouraged by her father, Sheid entered politics, winning election as Baxter County treasurer in 1960. She was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1966 and later to the Arkansas Senate in 1976, becoming the first woman in Arkansas to serve in both chambers.

Known as “Miss Vada,” she built a reputation for her personal approach to constituent service and her focus on education and infrastructure. She played a key role in establishing Arkansas State University–Mountain Home and North Arkansas College and was instrumental in advancing highway improvements and the construction of bridges over Norfork Lake—her signature achievement.

After losing reelection in 1984, she was appointed to the Arkansas State Police Commission and later returned briefly to the House from 1993 to 1994. Sheid spent her later years in community service before retiring. She died on February 11, 2008, in Mountain Home.