Ms. Wheelchair Texas Board of Directors

Bonnie Littman Likover

Bonnie was raised in Houston, Texas and attended Stephens College and The University of Surrey in Guildford, England, graduating from Stephens in 1974. She returned to Houston to work at Channel 8 as a public affairs reporter and followed that with a ten year career in advertising and public relations at Houston's oldest independent ad agency from 1975 to 1985. Bonnie has a career marriage to one of Houston's best Orthopedists, Larry Likover. During those 30 years of marriage, they have produced what she refers to as her finest creations: Clay, 30; Lee, 24 and Collin, 14. She is involved in the community in a variety of ways over the past 25 years: The American Heart Assn., March of Dimes, Camp for All, The End Hunger Network, The Center for Hearing and Speech, Bo's Place, Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse, Inspire Women, The Kyle Likover Visiting Author Program at The Kinkaid School, Post Oak Little League, The YWCA, Southern Methodist University, The Fay School, Ms. Wheelchair Texas Foundation and a couple of odd committees here and there for others. She is the owner of Merci Antiques and Fine Furnishings. Her spare time is spent toiling to keep her body as healthy as possible and reading to expand her mind.

Angela Dawn Wrigglesworth

Angela Wrigglesworth, a native Houstonian and 1999 graduate of Texas A&M University, was Ms. Wheelchair Texas 2004. When competing for the title of Ms. Wheelchair America in July of 2004, Ms. Wrigglesworth finished in the top five and placed third runner up. She is a third grade teacher in the Klein school district, was recognized in 2005 by Who’s Who Among American Teachers, and was awarded the 2004 Houston Chronicle Crystal Teacher Award in which she and five other educators were selected out of 1600 nominees for their outstanding teaching abilities. Ms. Wrigglesworth has been an active volunteer for the Muscular Dystrophy Association for many years and is a member of the National Task Force on Public Awareness, a committee made up of twelve people from around the country who act as liaisons between MDA and the media. Her latest endeavor is serving as the President of the Ms. Wheelchair America Program.

Barbara Bass Perlick

Barbara Bass Perlick was born and raised in Connecticut and graduated from Fairfield University with a degree in Marketing. She became a consultant and educated CEO’s on how to grow their organizations utilizing her expertise in sales and marketing. She subsequently created state of the art marketing techniques that enabled her to initiate a new business venture directed at public companies. After her marriage to Steven Perlick and the birth of her two children Shelley and Robert, Barbara’s focus became volunteering. She has chaired many events at St. Francis, Duchesne Academy and The Fay School, where she ultimately became the Chair of the Parents’ Club. She is extremely involved in the National Charity League. Most of her volunteer efforts there include the Ripley House and SEARCH. She also is the photographer for NCL. Besides her family, her other passions are traveling, cooking and photography. Barbara and her husband breed and race thoroughbred horses. She is excited to be a part of the Ms. Wheelchair Texas team.

Michelle Colvard

Michelle Colvard is proud to be a native Houstonian. Born with spina bifida, she has used a wheelchair for mobility full-time since the 6th grade. Ms. Colvard worked her way through college, graduating Summa cum Laude from the University of Houston. She earned her Master's degree in Health Promotion from The University of Texas School of Public Health, where her thesis work examined physical activity participation by women with functional limitations. While still attending graduate school and working in the health research field at Baylor College of Medicine, Mayor White appointed her as Chairperson of the Houston Commission on Disabilities. Ms. Colvard also served on two other volunteer commissions: the Mayor's Wellness Council, where she coordinated efforts to promote health and wellness for Houstonians with disabilities, and the Houston Parking Commission, where she provided input on accessible parking issues. In June of 2007, Ms. Colvard received the Jefferson Award in recognition of her volunteer service and advocacy efforts on behalf of people with disabilities. Currently, Ms. Colvard serves in a new position as the Executive Director of the City of Houston Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities. She stays active with daily exercise at her gym, and participates in a variety of activities such as wheelchair basketball, swimming, kayaking, and snow skiing. She loves cars and races her MINI Cooper in autocross competitions in her spare time, even receiving an award for 2006 Driver of the Year and taking 1st place in her class for the year. This past October, she and her husband Brian celebrated their 11-year wedding anniversary.

Ana Calvo

Ana attended the University of Houston-Downtown where she became president of the disabled student organization. As president of the organization Ana discovered her love for advocating the rights of the disabled. Ana received her Bachelors in Arts of Social Science with concentrations in Psychology and Sociology and a Minor in Political Science in 2002. Upon her graduation Ana was featured in the Texas Magazine for her accomplishments. Ana went on to get her Master in Social Work from the University of Houston College Of Social Work in 2007. In addition to the article in the Houston Chronicle in 2002, Ana was on Patricia Gras PBS show; Marcelo Marini featured a story on Telemundo about Ana’s accomplishments, was recently featured in the HTexas Magazine, and has done numerous television appearances locally. Ana currently works at the Shriners Hospital for Children-Houston as the transition coordinator where she prepares teenagers with disabilities lead a healthy and productive independent life. Ana is very active in the community and currently serves as a Commissioner for the City of Houston’s Commission for People with Disability. Ana was awarded in May of 2008 the Dorothy Caram Commitment to Leadership Award from the United Way Foundation. At the Ms. Wheelchair America pageant in August Ana was awarded the Nicki Ard Award for my advocacy accomplishments. Recently Ana was recognized as one of the 100 Houston Latinas Women in Leadership. As Ms. Wheelchair Texas 2009 Ana promoted her platform of helping the youth to embrace their disabilities and achieve their dreams through education, employment, and community involvement and will continue to be an advocate for people with disabilities. Ana Calvo Ms. Wheelchair Texas 2009 “Empowering today to Become Future Leaders of Tomorrow”

Alissa Steppe Maples

Alissa Steppe Maples was born in New York and raised and schooled in Houston. She left for Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. and earned a BS in Human Development. After graduating, she made her home in Houston with her family and pursued PR and was the Fashion Editor of 002 Magazine. She has been married for 12 years to her sweet husband Kevin Maples and is the mother to Anabelle (9) and Holden (6). She is active at school being the Brownie Leader & Joyful Sounds choir director to her 3rd grade daughter's class. And teaches Art education to her sons Kindergarten class. She also enjoys all of her charity projects. Her most recent was chairing Casa de Esperanza and Heroes for Handbags. She sits on the board of Heroes for Children, Sarah Woolrich Fund and her favorite Miss Wheelchair Texas. Her hobbies include healthy cooking, bootcamp, reading and spending time with her new maltese puppy Chloe.

Toni Harrison

Ask how to make the integrated communications mix of public relations, journalism and advertising synergize to achieve positive results and Toni Harrison will have the answer. Her extensive knowledge comes from having hands-on experience in each industry. Toni is currently an account supervisor in the Houston office for KGBTexas, a San Antonio-based public relations and advertising agency. As a member of the KGBTexas team, she is responsible for strategic public relations and account supervision for Administaff, Wal-Mart Sotres, Inc. and International Bank of Commerce (IBC). Prior to joining KGBTexas, Toni was an on-air reporter for WFMY-TV, the CBS affiliate in Greensboro, NC. While at WFMY, Toni covered everything from breaking news to human interest stories. She was active in many community organizations and hosted a variety of events across the state on behalf of WFMY. Before embarking on a career in television news, Toni was a senior account manager for Los Angeles-based LAGRANT COMMUNICATIONS. She managed accounts such as Nissan/Infiniti, Merrill Lynch, Hilton Hotels and Nestle. In addition to helping raise the profile of these international organizations by developing public relations and advertising strategies, Toni also advised on diversity communications for the African American and Hispanic consumer markets. Toni received a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin and she has taken graduate courses at the University of California at Los Angeles. Toni is a proud member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., The Junior League of Houston and National Association of Black Journalists. She serves on the board of directors for the Ms. Wheelchair Texas Pageant and volunteers with a variety of non-profit groups.  She was nominated for Young PR Person of the Year for PRWeek magazine in 2003 and was recognized as one of Houston’s Minority Achievers in 2001.

Virginia Steppe

Virginia was born in New York, graduated from St. John's University and taught elementary school for two years. When she met her husband Dan of 41 years, they married, had two wonderful children, Daniel and Alissa, and in 1972 they happily moved to Houston. Once her children started school she opened an Interior Design firm, Papillion Ltd., but before long she realized she was doing so much work pro-bono she decided to give her time to more worthwhile causes in the community. Over the past 23 years she been involved in various capacities with Casa de Esperanza, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, The American Heart Association, March of Dimes, Mental Health Association, Memorial Hermann Hospital, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, the Museum of Fine Arts, Ms. Wheelchair Texas and others. In 1999 she became a Mediator and works for the Dispute Resolution Center. As an active mediator she spends time advocating for the less fortunate by teaching future mediators and volunteering in the Civil and and J.P. Courts in Houston. Cooking and traveling are her hobbies, but her best leisure time activity is spent loving her grand babies, Anabelle and Holden.

Angela Hemmen

Angela graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Business-Information Systems. Angela first began her work in non-profit at Camp For All, a barrier free, state of the art camping facility located in Burton, Texas that serves children and adults with a chronic illness or disability. Angela worked for several years on the program staff at the Camp For All campsite and then joined the Camp For All Houston Fundraising office as the Development and Events Coordinator. Recently Angela moved to San Antonio and now works for Southwest Business Corporation (SWBC) in the Investment Services Department. In addition to being on the Ms. Wheechair Texas Board since 2005, Angela is also involved with Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital in San Antonio and is a member of the Baylor Alumni Association.

Liam O’Rourke

Liam O'Rourke is the Student Government President at the University of Texas. He is a fifth year, history major and plans to attend law school in the fall. He was appointed to the Ms. Wheelchair Texas Foundation Board of Directors in June 2007. Liam is the former Director of the Students with Disabilities Agency at UT. The agency is a branch of Student Government that seeks to assist students with disabilities in obtaining the resources they need to be successful at the University of Texas at Austin. They also seek to raise awareness of disabilities on and off campus by dispelling the myths and negative stigmas that shroud the humanity of people with disabilities. Liam also serves as the College Buddy Director for the Best Buddies program at UT, which enhances the lives of people with intellectual disabilities through one-to-one friendships and integrated employment. Last year, Liam, his co-director Lee Bagan, and William Hotze from Texas A&M launched a fundraising campaign for Texans with disabilities called “Raisin’ It for Texans with Disabilities,” which raised nearly $40,000. A large portion of the money will go towards an endowment for students with disabilities at The University of Texans while the rest has been used to cover the costs of disability awareness events. Liam loves his parents, Bill O’Rourke and Carole Snyder, and his sister, Katelyn O’Rourke. In his spare time, Liam enjoys reading, cooking, and training for triathlons, which he does in memory of his father.

Jacqueline Pontello

Jacqueline is an attorney and veteran non-profit administrator who joined Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (AVDA) as Executive Director in August 2004. She has been honored with the Houston Food Bank’s Albrecht Award for Volunteer Service and the Salvation Army Harbor Light Center’s inaugural “Volunteer of the Year” award. Jackie serves on numerous boards and commissions dedicated to improving the quality of justice for abuse victims and the poor, including the Texas Access to Justice Commission’s Comparability Planning Forum, Texas Department of Criminal Justice Commission on Battering Intervention Program Accreditation Standards, the Texas Health & Human Services Commission’s Family Violence Program Allocation Committee, the Texas Family Law Foundation’s Legislative Committee and the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Commission. She co-chairs the Family Justice Center Committee of the HDVCC. She has been an invited speaker at several State Bar CLE conferences, including the 2006 Corporate Counsel Public Service Forum, 2007 Poverty Law Conference (New ABA Standards for Legal Aid Programs: Client Services) and the 2007 Pro Bono Coordinators Conference. She appeared in the 2005 film “Justice for All,” produced by the Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation.