OUR highly motivated women have proved that with talent and hard work you can overcome glass-ceiling obstacles and reach the heights in the profession you choose.

Lisa Dennison served for many years at New York’s prestigious Guggenheim Museum. She was hired as an exhibition coordinator in 1978, promoted to assistant curator in the 80s, collections curator in 1991, curator of collections and exhibitions in 1994, and deputy director and chief curator two years later.

Today Dennison is chairman of Sotheby’s North and South America, responsible for international business development.

Freya Schnabel said when she decided to go into medicine, there were only doctors and nurses, "and you know where I fit in." She spent 51 years in a male dominated profession, and today she’s on top in her career. Dr. Schnabel is director of breast surgery at NYU Medical Center and professor of surgery at NYU School of Medicine.

Caryl M. Stern has been a vital activist in civil rights, having served as chief operating officer and senior associate national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Today she is president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

She’s proud of a tetanus campaign she made with Salma Hayek in March 2008 in Sierra Leone. After that Stern went on alone to promote breast feeding in Africa.

She urged more women to engage in this work. "We need to feel empowered to bring our abilities to the table," she said.

Marlene Barasch Strauss has been giving lectures for 25 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, Florida, and also on cruise ships. What could be better?

For their accomplishments, these four women were honored by the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York at a luncheon at the Pierre Hotel. President Lynn Tobias presented the awards while Paula Zahn served as emcee. Zahn, co-host of Sunday Arts on WNET/13, is developing a magazine show to premiere in the fall on the Investigation Discovery Channel.