Among Houston’s 30 Top Influential Women is HCC’s Neeta Sane

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: It was glitzy and enticing reception and dinner that brought together nearly 300 people to fete and applaud the top influential women from the Bayou City, according to the selection made by the d-mars.com company and its founder and President Keith J. Davis, Sr. The function was held in the ballroom of the Houstonian Hotel in the Post Oak area on the evening of Friday, October 3.

The majority of the women selected are highly regarded professionals, many of them of color, and were announced after a sitdown dinner and music by a local saxophonist. A video tribute entitled “One Woman” and featuring different female artists singing solo, intertwined with video clips of women across the world, emphasized the message of the evening of empowered and successful women.

The founder and guiding light behind the d-mars.com marketing, publishing and website company, Davis, known affectionately by most of his staff as Mr. D-Mars, spoke about his own tough personal journey growing up in the city’s 5th Ward without his biological mother (who died as a teenager) and learning to raise himself up by the bootstraps. Speaking easily in the drawl of the neighborhood he grew up in, Davis welcomed many in the crowd, whom he knew personally, as he counted his good fortune and implored everyone to help others along the road of Life.

The evening continued on with an impassioned speech by Congressman Al Green and closing speeches by women labeled as Icons – State senator Sylvia Garcia and Founder and CEO of Sisters Network, Karen Eubanks Jackson – lauding the work that d-mars.com and Davis have done in the community.  The 30 women who were honored were then announced, and as they walked to the stage to get their picture taken and pickup their award, the emcee for the night read a brief version of their accomplishments. A souvenir brochure handed out for the event also featured all 30 women and the Icons in a tantalizing portrait with a more descriptive biography.

Among those who were honored was an Indian-American, Neeta Sane, the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Houston Community College. She was accompanied at her table with others from the HCC system, and her husband Deepak. Also picking up an award was Kim Ogg, who is running in the November election for Harris County District Attorney. Ogg has recently made inroads into the Indo-American community by emceeing the Indo American Charity Foundation Gala last month and also attending another one of its functions earlier this year.