Khristopher J Brooks

@AmericanGlow

Elaine Spaull has been many things in her life: lawyer, university official, councilwoman, nonprofit leader.

And now she can add Athena Award winner to that list.

During their 30th annual awards luncheon, the Women's Council, an affiliate of the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce named Spaull the 2016 Athena Award winner. The award is given annually to a female professional for her achievement in business, community service and the advancement of women.

The council also announced Melanie Wolk as winner of the Young Professional Award.

In a room full of Rochester's elite women in business, advocacy and non-profit management, Spaull shared her love for the city.

"I am Rochester's daughter, born and raised here, and I love it here," she said. "Nobody in this city has had more opportunities here than me. I've had some incredible jobs here."

Spaull has spent 14 years as the executive director at the Center for Youth. Under her direction, the center has expanded to three new locations and added 20 new programs. In 2014, the center helped more than 20,000 young people in the Rochester area.

Spaull plays a huge role in Fashion Week of Rochester and represents the East district on the Rochester City Council. She holds a bachelor's degree from George Washington University, along with a master's and a law degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

The Athena Award is named after the Greek goddess Athena, who was known for being a compassionate judge and diplomat. Spaull now joins Amy Tait, Lynne Maquat, Anne Kress, Judity Baumhauer and Kitty Van Bortel as recent winners.

Spaull beat 11 other finalists for the award and Wolk bested nine other finalists.

The chamber’s CEO Bob Duffy said the other nominees were fantastic business leaders and it was probably difficult to pick a single winner from this year’s nominees.

“I can’t imagine what the judges did to pick this,” he said.

At Thursday's ceremony at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center, Wolk became only the second woman to earn the Young Professional Award. She is a legal partner at Trevett Cristo Salzer & Andolina who has a political science and sociology degree from Manhattanville College and a law degree from Pace University.

In her acceptance speech, Wolk told the crowd that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in September and has undergone aggressive and exhausting chemotherapy treatments. She then thanked her family and employer for helping her to continue to practice law and help the community despite her illness

Top officials at Wolk’s law firm describe her as an instrumental part of the company’s future. The firm’s president, Louis Cristo, in particular noted how much Wolk is willing to take on.

“Melanie is the first to volunteer her time and energy for the betterment of the community and legal profession,” Cristo said. “Despite being a mother of a rambunctious toddler, chairing the Women’s Leadership Council for the United Way and being an active board member on many legal and non-legal entities, she recently agreed to sit on the Monroe County Bar Association’s ethics committee.”

Duffy called Wolk an inspiration to everyone in Rochester and added that the pool of nominees for the Young Professional Award “really defines the future of our community.”

Since being diagnosed with cancer, Wolk said she has learned one vital thing about being a leader: You have to be willing to ask others for help.

“So many leaders think they have to do it all themselves,” she said. But when you ask others for help, “you include them in the mission and give them the opportunity to become leaders. Because that’s what we all need, more leaders.”

KJBROOKS@gannett.com

