Woman of Distinction
When she applied for Odyssey in 2009, Keena was homeless and sleeping on the floor of a barbershop with her young son. Fifteen years later, Keena is not only a successful entrepreneur with a UW bachelor’s degree but also the recipient this month of a prestigious 2024 YWCA Woman of Distinction award. Emily Auerbach writes in her nomination letter, “Keena Atkinson is an incredible superstar who embodies the mission of the YWCA to overcome racism, empower women, and work for the betterment of all.”
Keena joins other Odyssey students and staff in winning the YWCA Women of Distinction award. Odyssey’s Director, Emily Auerbach, as well as Odyssey’s Director of Development and Community Partnerships, Jenny Pressman, received this honor in the past, along with Friends of Odyssey Board members Christy Clark-Pujara and Brenda Gonzalez. Teresa Tellez-Giron, Odyssey Class of 2004, Jasmine Banks, Odyssey Class of 2013, and Edith Hilliard, Odyssey Senior, previously won the award for their community activism.
Keena’s story inspires all those who hear her speak. Whether reciting poetry to Senator Tammy Baldwin, UW Chancellors Becky Blank and Jennifer Mnookin, Madison mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, large audiences at churches and service clubs, or classes of new Odyssey students, Keena moves her listeners to tears and motivates them to find inner strength.
In a poem called “Rich Poor Woman,” Keena narrates her escape from domestic abuse to self-empowerment, opening with hard-hitting lines:
“Rich is better than poor until the cost to be rich is paid in intoxicated blows to my teenage body / Kicks and fists delivered by the father of my child soaked in alcohol and rage.” Though destitute, homeless, and eating at soup kitchens, she felt rich when she discovered the freedom to start over, “growing in confidence, creativity, and boldness . . . knowing no limits, breaking cycles and chains.”
Keena recounts the devastating effects of racism on her as a young girl in a poem called “Journey to the Journey”:
I was a little black girl who sobbed after school every day
Because my skin wasn’t fair enough for my peers to find me fit to play
I began to hate myself, my hair, my skin,
My little black girl light started to dim.
But Keena kept carrying her light, watching it go from dim to bright during her Odyssey journey. “Little did I know, my Odyssey would feed my brain,” she notes, describing her liberation through language and education. “I didn’t know then that five years later I’d have a small business, a new baby, and a bachelor’s degree. . .. learning to love my beautiful black self.”
Keena now describes herself as “a single mother to two sons, activist, speaker, multi-family housing owner, master stylist, writer, actress, and sharer of knowledge, thought and wisdom,” as well as the founder and CEO of R’oujie Wellness Company.
Hear Keena share her powerful writing in this Badger Talks podcast, and view her story in Odyssey’s 20th anniversary video.
We congratulate Keena for all she has accomplished!