Business Excellence

Zettra Goodman Waters

Connecting with people is part of everything Zettra Goodman Waters does. And although she’s engineering enterprise strategies and overseeing millions of dollars in mortgage loans as Executive Vice President of Freedom Mortgage Company, she’ll be the first to tell you that she’s in the customer service business.

“When we work with our borrowers, it’s not transactional,” says Zettra. “We’re giving people a future. Owning a home is an asset. When your kids are going to college or going to get married, you can draw from that asset. And it’s one you can pass on.”

Empowering these futures is a large responsibility, which is why Zettra makes sure her team is fully equipped to take on the challenge – one hire at a time. “I call it skill vs. will: I’d rather take someone who doesn’t have every skill, but I can teach them because they’re willing to go the whole nine yards. That may be my person.”

Leading by example and being honest from the start about what to expect is a large part of her management style, but she also is sure to build those connections by telling her people how much they are valued. It all contributes to the high number of Freedom’s employees who stay with the company for decades at a time.

Zettra has been with the company for 25 years.

“Setting aside dedicated time to connect with your people and tell them how much you value them is critical,” Zettra says. “People feel appreciated, they behave differently, they feel empowered. And they perform better.”

Her committment to empowering people and building community both follow Zettra outside the office as well, as she serves as Board VP of Operations at Camden’s Cathedral Kitchen and as a Charter Member of the South Jersey Section of the National Council of Negro Women.

As a Camden native, she was inducted into the Camden Schools Foundation Hall of Fame in 2018.

When she heard she had been awarded the Women of Excellence – Business Excellence Award, it reminded her of the work she does to empower women. “It’s important to talk about how we need to make sure we’re supporting each other as women,” she says. “We need to be seen and heard and given opportunities to lead.”

Game Changer 

Aubree Marchione

Aubree Marchione was teaching a dance class for students who use wheelchairs when she heard a line that confirmed she was in the right place, doing the right thing: “This was the first time there were ever expectations of me.” 

Many of the students realized that if they could learn to dance, they could also go to college, they could get married, they could have a job. 

“That was when I said, ‘This isn’t just about dance, this is about changing lives,’” says Aubree. “Dancing transformed the way these students thought of themselves and how they fit into the world.” 

The class was organized by American DanceWheels Foundation, a nonprofit where Aubree has choreographed, taught and performed for more than 20 years. She’s now the organization’s Creative Director and has taken on a larger role of helping people using wheelchairs to express themselves and, oftentimes, change their lives completely. 

Aubree has choreographed dances to be performed for Pope Francis’ global tour and at the 2015 Pan-American Games. The foundation’s latest project, co-created by Aubree, is a show called, “The Dewberry Tales.” 

A compilation of vignettes performed by different artists using wheelchairs, the show features stories inspired by the performers’ experiences. Each performance carries a personal touch from the performer. 

“One guy is a fifth-degree black belt martial arts Sensei and uses a wheelchair,” Aubree says. “So we incorporated martial arts into the dance. He tells the story of protecting his girlfriend from an abusive boyfriend. You don’t have to be disabled to relate to these feelings.” 

The cast has workshopped “The Dewberry Tales” twice so far to rave reviews. The plan is to continue performances and find investors to support the next steps for the production. 

Together. 

“I know this award is about me, but I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for the people I work with,” Aubree says. “It’s their stories, and I’m just choreographing them, trying to put their stories into movement.” 

 

Leadership

Ashanti Holley, PhD

Some people find their calling late in life. Others – like Ashanti Holley, PhD – are born into it.

“Both my parents were educators and impressed on me to be of service to other people,” Ashanti says. “I remember playing with my dolls and teaching them to sit down and listen during class.”

That early practice has served Ashanti through nearly two decades of education leadership in Burlington County. In her previous role as Assistant Superintendent of Equity & Diversity, Ashanti led BCIT School District to earn the NJDOE Lighthouse Award, which is only awarded to six out of NJ’s 600 school districts every two years.

She went on to become CEO and Superintendent of Burlington County Institute of Technology and Special Services School District in 2024. And while her day-to-day may not always look exactly the same, her driving philosophies remain.

“I look at our district as a high-reliability organization,” Ashanti says. “Like a surgical unit or an airline, we’re managing human lives. A missed opportunity could alter a student’s trajectory forever, so I foster a culture of ‘Let’s get it done for the students.’”

It’s a culture where students can give feedback through the Voices at the Table program, cell phones are not allowed during instructional time (which started before Gov. Murphy’s suggested ban) and every student is expected to graduate with a plan, opportunity and skills to succeed.

“As a district, we reject the idea that any student outcome is out of reach,” Ashanti says. “If a student is not succeeding, we’re not asking what’s wrong with the student first, we’re asking how we need to adjust the system. We hold ourselves accountable and intervene early.”

Ashanti leads by example and pulls on her past experience in mediation to help both her staff and her students adjust to the changing world. Through it all, she cultivates a practice of respect and a positive mindset with practices like sending Motivational Monday videos to the district staff.

She also emphasizes self-respect, especially for her students. “The first thing I tell anyone who feels out of place in a school system is that it doesn’t automatically mean something is wrong with you. Don’t internalize a system failure as a personal failure.”

 

Inspiration

Nimit Kaur

When Nimit Kaur immigrated with her family to the U.S. from India, she was the only blind student in her 5th grade class. And in the whole school district.

It was different from her boarding school in India, which she attended because Indian public schools didn’t allow blind students, but just as isolating. Nimit says she learned resilience from her family. 

“My family told me, ‘Your disability is not going to be an excuse,’” she says. “‘You’re going to do everything your brother and sister are doing, even if it’s with support or different adaptations.’ I grew up with that perseverance and that level of independence.” 

Nimit trained with a variety of accessible technologies, adopted her service dog, Chardonnay, and joined mentorship programs that enabled her to go to school, go to college, complete an internship with Senator Cory Booker, start a foundation with her family and become a Disability Services Coordinator and Area Grant Planner at Camden County Health & Human Services. She has also helped other blind individuals learn accessible technology and consulted with companies to make their own websites and offerings more accessible. In 2024, she was awarded Camden County’s MLK Freedom Medal. 

It’s an impressive resume, whether a person has a disability or not. And Nimit wants to make sure any blind person can accomplish just as much, if not more. “It’s important to use your voice if you’re able to, especially for those who don’t have a voice.” 

Nimit is a walking testament to her name, which means instrument in Hindi. And she encourages others, especially those without a disability, to use their own voices.  

“Sometimes people are so nervous just to be around me,” she says. “And trust me, you might not say anything, but I feel the discomfort. My advice is don’t be afraid to start a conversation with someone, just say hello. You saying hello might be the one interaction they get in their day and can mean a lot.”

 

Publisher’s Award

Derry Holland

Since her days as an intern at Oaks Integrated Care (then Family Services of Burlington County), Derry Holland has found her motivation from one place: the people she serves.

“Going through treatment and recovery is hard work,” she says. “So for those who show up every day, even though they may be living in a motel or on the street or in an unsafe house, they are still putting in the effort for themselves, to help themselves. I’m thankful they get up and give it a go again each day.” 

Now as CEO of Oaks Integrated Care – 40 years after that internship – Derry leads more than 2,400 employees who deliver health and social service programs to tens of thousands of people affected by mental illness, developmental disability and addiction. The more than 200 programs at Oaks range from food pantries and community homes to mental health urgent care and family support services. 

When Derry took the helm in 2016, she made expanding the organization’s substance abuse response and resources her top priority. “People were dying. 

So many people struggling with an addiction came to us, and we had all of this skill for the mental health side, but we needed to have a different hand to be able to hold out.” 

That work has included earning grants and recognitions from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration as Oaks expanded their programs to support individuals struggling with addiction. 

Oaks has grown over the years just as Derry has. And when she looks back to the earlier days of learning the ropes as an intern, she has a message to her younger self: 

“It will continue to be positive, empowering and challenging,” she says. “You’ll acknowledge the resilience and the wins with the clients, when they finally get their first apartment and have the voucher to pay their rent. Plus, the staff – when they are working and go to school to get that degree to move onto the next role. 

There’s so much positivity.”

Woman to Watch

Estefany Rodriguez Morrison

When Estefany “Stef” Rodriguez Morrison was participating in Urban Promise’s “More than a pageant” beauty pageant, she decided to demonstrate her painting skills.

Live on stage. 

And upside down.  

She had only started painting a few years before as a freshman at Pennsauken High School. But she decided a new technique was the move: painting live on a canvas that is upside down, then flipping it around at the end to reveal an incredible painting. 

“I had never done this before, so I practiced sketching it a lot,” she says. “When I finished, everyone was like, ‘What is that?’ Then I flipped it around and it was like, ‘There’s Jesus.’” 

She won first place. And her art career was off. 

Stef continued to perform live paintings at events. She volunteered with Urban Promise to teach afterschool programs and provide art classes to underserved schools. When she graduated from TCNJ, she joined Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) while also teaching art at Pennsauken High School. Now she serves as Supervisor of Creative Labs at PUAM. 

And in the middle of all that, she launched her art business. Stef’s Creation brings art to young people who don’t always get to experience it, especially girls of color like herself, and aims to inspire the next generation of artists. 

“A child’s freedom and how they create is so inspiring to me,” she says. “I get to help them see that we can make something out of nothing.”  

One of her students, a fellow immigrant from the Dominican Republic, became Stef’s assistant. Another is about to graduate art school and become an art teacher. A third is in art school now. The success stories just go on and on. 

And so does Stef’s. 

She’s working towards her ultimate goal: having a home base to offer classes in all different types of art. And she continues to partner with local nonprofits to support and build community through art. Her latest project is commissioned portraits to raise money for Urban Promise’s Ambassadors of Hope program. 

“Art is in everything,” says Stef. “And you can learn so much through art. Art isn’t just for children. If we could embrace our inner child and create more, we’d see that.” 

 

Lifetime Legacy

Nilsa Cruz-Perez

Nilsa Cruz-Perez almost didn’t run for the New Jersey Assembly. But then she got a phone call.

“A woman called me and said, ‘You have to run,’” says Nilsa. “Here I am from Puerto Rico, I have a heavy accent, and she’s telling me I have to do it because I have to open that door.” 

As a single mom, Nilsa was working for then-mayor of Camden, Arnold Webster, who also encouraged her to run. She prayed about the choice, and decided to enter the race. In 1995, she became the first Hispanic woman elected to the NJ Legislature. She didn’t waste a moment. 

That year, while Camden was being branded the worst city in America by media outlets, Nilsa took to the assembly floor to ask for $175 million to start Camden’s renaissance. She was met with overwhelming pushback. 

“My colleagues said that sending money to Camden was a waste of time, because ‘Camden had no hope,’” she says. “So I brought pipes from Camden to show during my speech, because I would turn my water on and stuff would come out through the water. And I said, ‘These people are no different than any person in the state of New Jersey, we just need a chance.’” 

She’s been fighting for the people of her city ever since, becoming Assistant and then Deputy Majority Leader throughout her Assembly career, and today serving as a State Senator. 

More than 30 years later, Camden is almost unrecognizable. It didn’t happen overnight, she says, and there is still more progress to be made, but the difference is breathtaking and one of her proudest achievements. 

As groundbreaking as that transformation is, Nilsa says her legacy is something else entirely.  

“I opened that door,” she says. “That’s my legacy. Helping other women. It’s how many people follow, and I’m proud to say that I’m going to fight for you, if you want to do this, because I want to make sure if I open the door, that line behind me is a long one.” 

 

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Photography by David Michael Howarth
Shot on location at Collingswood Ballroom
Styling by Sarah Gleeson

Hair for Derry Holland by Peyton Roselli/Rizzieri, Moorestown.

Hair for Nimit Kaur by Christina O’Donnell/Rizzieri, Moorestown. 

Hair for Aubree Marchione by Zelma Santangelo/Rizzieri, Moorestown.

Hair for Sen. Nilsa Cruz-Perez by Tiffany D’Argenzio/Rizzieri, Moorestown.

Makeup for Derry Holland, Nimit Kaur and Sen. Nilsa Cruz-Perez by Liv Frazier/Rizzieri, Moorestown.

Hair and makeup for Stef Rodriguez Morrison and Ashanti Holley by Caniya Caldwell/Pick-up for Jessie Hair Studio by Caniya, Mt. Laurel.

Makeup for Zettra Goodman Waters by Vanessa Lopez.

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SJ Mag’s Women of Excellence are chosen by a selection committee after our audience nominates women they know. The 2026 Selection Committee: Carli Lloyd Hollins, Mayor Quinton Law, Lisa Ferraro, Jeannine Cook, Leslie M. Walker, Rachael Glashan Rupisan and Greg Carlisle.

 

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