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How She Leads

Virtual Panel on Women and Leadership

As part of our Common Grounds Series, a panel of women from Roxbury share their stories and experiences to help us understand and appreciate their journeys.

Some lead from the board room, some from behind the scenes, and the ones with kids are often master jugglers,  Women's role in society continues to change and evolve.  Hear from a panel of local women the stories of their challenges and achievements, and the support and/or the opposition resistance they encountered along their journeys.

Panelists will include:

Jakki Cobb is a wife and mother of three daughters and “Mimi” to one granddaughter.  Born and raised in Morristown, Jakki and her family moved to Landing 15 years ago.   After a 30-year career with CIT, most recently as Vice President of External Reporting, Jakki was downsized in January 2019.  She describes herself as semi-retired, splitting her time as a basketball mom and serial volunteer.  She serves as Executive Secretary of the Morris County NAACP, Treasurer for Carette’s Inc., and is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the Morristown Area League of Women Voters.  Previously, as a licensed minister, Jakki’s advocacy and volunteer service was through her faith community, and she led bible studies at the Morristown Correctional Facility and Market Street Mission.  For years she encouraged people to “look up and live” and wait for change; now she actively looks for ways to bring about changes she had prayed about for so many years.  She reminds us that we have to be the change we want to see.

Kathy DeFillippo is serving her third three-year term on the county commissioner board. She has twice served as freeholder director, and is the board’s liaison and 2020 chair of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. She also is the county governing board’s liaison to Human Services.  Kathy was a councilwoman in Roxbury Township from 2006 through December 2013, serving as mayor in 2009 and deputy mayor in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and as a member of the Zoning Board.  Freeholder DeFillippo has a long history of public and community service.  She is a past president of the Roxbury Area Chamber of Commerce and retired in 2016 from the board of the NJ Metro Chapter of the National MS Society after serving as a trustee for 10 years, remaining active as an advocate in government relations. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz with a BA in education and special education, Kathy is a retired Certified Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor.  She was the director of a sheltered workshop for physically and mentally handicapped adults in New York before working in the insurance industry in the Washington, D.C., area, providing medical management and vocational rehabilitation services to injured workers.  Kathy and her husband, Bob, have lived in Roxbury since 1994 with their three children, Scott, Laura Jean and Rob. She and Bob are also a proud grandparent to 5 grandchildren.

Neha Mehta completed her undergraduate degree at New Jersey Institute of Technology majoring in Chemical Engineering in 2000.  Since then, she has been working with the Department of Defense as a Primary Explosives and Detonator Team Lead for the Explosives Development Branch, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ.  She is a subject matter expert (SME) in the field of primary explosives and detonators and leads a team to develop environmentally friendly green energetic materials.  She holds many publications and over 12 patents.  A resident of Roxbury Township, she enjoys spending time with her husband and 2 boys and she loves hiking, traveling and cooking.   

Laura Oliynik has lived in Roxbury for most of her life, growing up here and now making it home for husband Matt and her three daughters, ages 2, 4 and 6.  On this panel, she represents her viewpoint of stay at home parents.  Certified in instructional supervision and as an elementary school teacher, Laura for seven years taught 4th grade in Jefferson Township.  She has volunteered as a kindergarten room parent, in the school library and media centers, and as catechist for 5th grade religious education at St. Therese Church.  As a parent of a child with multiple food allergies, she coaches other parents as they begin caring for a child with food allergies.  Her interests include local history, environmental initiatives, and educational opportunities for children and adults.

Rachel Smith is a 2016 Roxbury alumna, who served as both Editor-in-Chief of the Roxbury Review and President of RHS Student Government. She graduated from The College of New Jersey in May 2020 and holds degrees in Communication Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality studies. In college, she served as President of the Women's Center, Vice President of Community Relations in Student Government, and Vice Executive Chair of Women In Learning and Leadership. Rachel has a passion for activism and advocacy and has interned for Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, TCNJ's Office of Institutional Diversity Equity and Inclusion, and the Community Relations Office of Governor Phil Murphy.  In her current role as a Critical Needs Outreach Coordinator for the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund, Rachel assists in efforts of food insecurity outreach, funding for housing and rental assistance initiatives, and resolving digital divide issues for students across the state. In June 2020, Rachel helped establish Roxbury Coalition for Social Change, an alumni-founded community to push for diversity, equity, and accessibility in Roxbury School District. 

Diane Williams, President and CEO of Jersey Battered Women’s Services, is responsible to the JBWS Board of Directors for all current operations of the agency, the development of agency procedures, the ongoing financial health of the agency, and the management of all agency staff.  Prior to joining JBWS in July of 2018, Diane had over 20 years of experience in the non-profit field working with families impacted by trauma and abuse with fifteen of those years in management and executive management positions.  From 2012-2015 Diane was an adjunct professor at Montclair University’s Masters in Child Advocacy Program.  She has had a private practice in Morris County since 2006 specializing in treating victims of trauma.  Diane earned her Bachelors in Social Work from Kean University and her Masters in Social Work from Fordham University with a specialization in working with children and families.  She is a NJ licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and is certified to provide clinical supervision.  Diane has been a Roxbury resident since 2004.

Radwa Ali, Moderator and Library Director of Roxbury Public Library, started her library career as a middle school volunteer at the Plainsboro Public Library. Through high school and college, she continued to work there, gaining experience at the customer service desk, reference and children's departments, volunteer management, collection development, and the technological needs of a public library. After she attained her BA in Information Technology and Political Science, as well as a MLS degree from Rutgers University, Radwa worked at the Johnson Public Library in Hackensack as their Technology Librarian, then as Director of the Bogota Public Library. She has been the Director of the Roxbury Public Library since 2017.  Radwa is currently a board member of the Morris Automated Information Network (MAIN) consortium of libraries in and around Morris County,  co-chair of MAIN's DigiTech committee, former board member of NJLA, former co-chair of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System Technology Committee, and a member of the Roxbury Rotary Club.

Common Grounds Series: Co-hosted by the Roxbury Public Library, Unity in Community and Roxbury Coalition for Social Change, Common  Grounds workshops and panels are designed to educate the community in order to allow a difference of opinions to be discussed. By exploring difficult civil conversations to reach a common level of human understanding and compassion on an array of topics, these panels will give community members the tools in order to have these conversations within their neighborhoods.  Virtual Programs include: Skills for Bridging the Political Divide (9/29), How She Leads (10/21), Race and Racism (12/2), multi-generations in the workplace (tbd) and LGBTQIAP (tbd).

Register online or by calling the library at (973) 224-7119.

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