Kristine Pettoni Courageous Leadership Award

Created in 2020 to honor the legacy and life of Kristine Pettoni from the NextUp Atlanta Region, Kristine embodied a courageous leader demonstrating resiliency, vulnerability, and set a higher standard in everything she accomplished. Kristine always found time to mentor, lead, use her voice, include others, and leave this world in a better place as she fought her battle with cancer. To learn more about Kristine’s life and legacy, click  here.

Criteria:

Award consideration is based on someone who has demonstrated resiliency, reveals vulnerability, confronts reality head-on, seeks feedback and listens, gives credit to others, and establishes higher standards for their team.

2024 Award Winner

Elise Keeler, NextUp Cincinnati

Elise exemplifies the spirit of the Kristine Pettoni Award through her courage, resilience, and commitment to making a positive impact. Despite facing immense personal hardships, including sexual assault and the tragic loss of her best friend and her father, she’s shown remarkable strength and vulnerability, openly sharing her struggles with mental health to support others.

She’s raised more than $13,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and she’s made a meaningful difference by actively speaking up about her own challenges to reduce the stigma around mental health. Our winner’s journey from darkness to light, her unwavering resilience, and her dedication to helping others make her a truly deserving recipient of an award that honors courage.

Previous Winners

2023 Recipient

Cherish Kelley, NextUp Nashville

2022 Recipient

Dianne Galang, NextUp Anywhere

2021 Recipient

Rachel Doll, NextUp Toronto

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