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Women of Influence

PORTRAITS OF POWER

CURTAINS UP

WHERE TO DINE, NIGHT AND DAY

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Visionary women Talk success, power, and changing The ciTy— for The beTTer!

on 100 years of The paramounT

Gail ChovanJune RodillauRa huffmanChRisty & tuRk PiPkin

AUST N WAY

Top, Tienda Ho ($90). Garment, 701 S. Lamar Blvd., 512-462-4667; shop garment.com. Necklace, Nanis ($3,283). Benold’s Jewelers, Northwood Plaza, 2900 W. Anderson Lane, 512-452-6491; benolds.com. Cuff ($695) and bracelet ($297), Peppina. The Boutique on Stonelake, Gateway Shopping Center, 9910 Stonelake Blvd., theboutique onstonelake.com

opposite page: Dress, A.L.C. ($645). Valentine’s Too, Davenport Village, 3801 N. Capital of Texas Hwy., 512-347-9488; valentines austin.com. Hoops ($7,375), bracelet ($5,720), and ring ($1,650), Mary Ray. By George, 524 N. Lamar Blvd., 512-472-5951; bygeorgeaustin.com. Necklace, Master Goldsmith, Inc. ($6,000). Benold’s Jewelers, Northwood Plaza, 2900 W. Anderson Lane, 512-452-6491; benolds.com. Heels, Céline ($770). By George, 524 N. Lamar Blvd., 512-472-5951; bygeorgeaustin.com

The Confidence BuilderMEREDITH WALKER

A Houston native who cocreated Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, Meredith Walker has a gift for bolstering confi-dence, offers a casual familiarity, and has a soft spot for pets. She moved to Austin in 2006 from New York, leaving her job as the head of the talent department at Saturday Night Live, where she became close friends with Poehler. They conceived Smart Girls (amysmartgirls.com) in 2008 as a multimedia platform to inspire and encourage young women during adolescence. Smart Girls quickly became a 24-hour job: “This feels like there’s so much more at stake.”

inspiring and inspired: Last summer Walker spearheaded a Smart Girls Summer Camp in Austin. She also volunteers with the Austin Animal Center and serves as a mentor at the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. Women like Molly Ivins and Linda Ellerbee have inspired Walker, 45. She sees Austin as the perfect place to celebrate and share their legacies. “So many women here are pas-sionate about social justice and change for the better.”pet project: Smart Girls, which is working toward nonprofit status, has a large adult following interested in the subjects covered, ranging from community activism to pet adoption. The site will soon feature animal “singles ads,” with friends such as Jack Black chan-neling a shelter dog. “He’ll be like, ‘I’m just looking for someone who is pretty consistent with food,’” says Walker, whose new dog, Banjo, definitely hit the jackpot.power point: “I love what I do—advocating for young women, encouraging them to find their own passions, to embrace their own tal-ents, and to change the world by be-ing themselves. If I am able to help even one young woman achieve that, then I would count myself as very successful.”

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