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Dec. 9, 2025: Three Colorado women in the hall of fame on inclusion, visibility, history, and the future

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WOMEN HALL OF FAME
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
From left: Velveta Golightly Howell is the founder and CEO of Sister-to-Sister International Network of Professional African American Women. Jill Tietjen is an electrical engineer, author, and former president of the Society of Women Engineers. Dusti Gurule is the president and CEO of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights. Photographed at the CPR News studios in Denver, Dec. 4, 2025.

The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame marks its 40th anniversary this year, and today we're commemorating this milestone, talking with three remarkable inductees who’ve shaped Colorado through activism, engineering, community building and fierce advocacy. Velveta Golightly Howell is the founder and CEO of Sister-to-Sister, an international network of professional African American women. Jill Tietjen is an electrical engineer, author and former president of the Society of Women Engineers. And Dusti Gurule is president and CEO of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights.