Dawn Pomaybo blazed a trail for herself using her expertise and skills in networking to help women reach their highest potential.

The Deer Lakes School Distinct alum, who resides in East Deer, runs her own business and is executive director of the Pittsburgh chapter of the national organization Women Interactive Network (WIN).

“It’s rewarding, and I have had this organization for so long,” Pomaybo said. “It has been my way to give back.”

Pomaybo launched her business, “Pomaybo Inc.” 20 years ago. She does human resource outsourcing with experience in helping and consulting organizational development.

She got involved as executive director for WIN-Pittsburgh in 2006, when the organization was a networking group. When the organization folded as a networking group, Pomaybo incorporated it into Pomaybo Inc. The reorganization was seamless for Pomaybo, who hit the ground running with growing WIN-Pittsburgh.

“I built off of everything I tried to start there. We were able to move forward very quickly,” she said.

Pomaybo’s work includes philanthropy. Each month, she chooses a different charity to help the community and each other. Fundraisers are held to raise proceeds. They have done a clothing drive with Dress For Success Pittsburgh. The organization gathered supplies for female veterans for the Veterans Place of Washington Boulevard.

While WIN nationally is a for-profit organization, Pomaybo said, WIN-Pittsburgh does not share in it profits. The local chapter recently launched “WIN-spiration,” a fiscally sponsored program to help seek grants and help more women in need.

The pandemic has not stunted Pomaybo’s progress growing her network. She said WIN-Pittsburgh hit banner numbers this year. In 2020, she said the organization held 34 in-person and virtual events and served almost 500 participants.

A brother network, Gentlemen’s Interactive Network (GIN), was launched in December.

“We are really proud and happy with how things came out in the pandemic,” Pomaybo said.

Alecia Suto, who has worked with Pomaybo since 2018, quickly saw her as a mentor and role model.

“She cares so much about everybody and everything she is involved in,” Suto said.

As Pomaybo prepares a new year of networking opportunities and growing the WIN platform, she is grateful for what her chapter has been able to provide.

“There is such a need out there for people wanting to connect,” she said. “I am so grateful we have an avenue for people to do philanthropy work and support each other.”

Tanisha Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact

Tanisha at 412-480-7306, tthomas@triblive.com or via Twitter @tanishajanae.

(8) Congratulations to the 2021 WIN Woman of the Year! | LinkedIn

On December 15th, we held the 2021 Annual Holiday Party®, a WIN Signature event during which time the 2021 WIN Woman of the Year was announced! The event was held at the beautiful Bella Sera Event Venue in Canonsburg with over 120 attendees dressed to the nines in their beautiful gowns, tuxedos and suits. It was the event of the season! The celebration included the recognition of so many individuals and companies that came out to support the lovely ladies of WIN.

We are very thankful for our Silver Sponsors, Cozza Law Group, Veterans Place of Washington Boulevard, Coyle Transport Services and Beitler Trucking. In addition, we also want to thank our signature sponsors, Encore Event Designs, Tucker Arensberg Attorneys, Maria Allshouse, Bella Sera, USX Federal Credit Union, Dress For Success Pittsburgh, Jeff Hancher Enterprises, Krista Lorenzo Running Realtor, Moxie Events, and Michel Wright of Holland Mortgage Advisors.

In a special tribute, Veterans Place of Washington Boulevard, donated their entire table to the recent thirteen fallen heroes:

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David Espinoza, Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee, Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, Corps Cpl. Daegan William-Tyeler Page, Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario, Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, Navy Hospital Corpsman Max Soviak

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the nominees, all introduced touchingly by someone special in their lives. The four nominees were Connie Capiotis, Lynn Doehring, Tiffany Huff-Strothers and Colleen Manzini. It was with immense pride to honor these amazing women and name Tiffany Huff- Strothers as the 2021 WIN Woman of the Year. Please learn more about Tiffany here.

This year, the 2021 RiseUP award recipient was presented to Christina Keener. The RiseUP award recipient is presented to a WIN member that continually strives to be positive, supports others and shows true compassion. This was started during the 2020 pandemic, where we saw individuals rise-up and continue to show heart and love to others.

In addition to the sponsors, the nominees, members, and supporters of WIN, I would be remiss in not acknowledging the tireless work of our volunteer leadership team, Kelly Frost, Lori Mesta, Alecia Lynn, Dominique Murray and Colleen Manzini. Without the tremendous leadership and support of these ladies, we would not be able to bring you the lunches and signature events. They truly embody the mission of building a community of women who encourage and support each other both professionally and personally.

Both 2020 and 2021, have shown us continuous growth and the strength of the women that we serve. Without the community of women that so loyally supported this organization during these times, we would not have been able to have grown to where we are today!

A few of our successes:

• Exponential growth in membership & attendees;
• The launch of WIN-Washington led by Lori Mesta;
• Fiscal sponsorship approval in consultation with Connie Capiotis;
• The launch of a Men’s Only Network with our male supporters;
• Successful rebranding under the watchful eyes of Kelly Frost;
• The launch of WIN-Spirations, a fiscally sponsored program;
• And, so very much more!

We are very excited to bring to you WIN-Spirations, a fiscally sponsored program whose purpose is to reduce poverty and build gender equity by providing networking, professional mentoring, and education to women experiencing economic hardship.

In addition, the excitement continues to build with the launch of GIN, the Gentlemen’s Interactive Network, where professional men network with a purpose. Please stay tuned for our website launch, which will announce the upcoming events and information on membership. Please join GIN & GIN-Pittsburgh on our Facebook page, Facebook group, LinkedIn and Instagram. A division of WIN Womens Interactive Network LLC

We are women who network with a purpose. We are all at a point in our lives and careers that we are willing and able to give back to the community and others thru volunteering and serving. I am so thankful to the community of women that continue to show us their support and love. They have truly built this organization into what it is today. 

Please take a moment to learn more about WIN, GIN and WIN-Spirations, all divisions of WIN Women’s Interactive Network LLC. We are always open to anyone wanting to take a step further in their own personal and professional development, male or female, and welcome volunteers, new members and donors to our fiscally sponsored programming.

Reach out to us, info@na-win.com to learn more and find out how you can help.

we all WIN when we WIN together,

Dawn Pomaybo, Executive Director, WIN

 412-963-6311, info@na-win.com, www.na-win.com

*photo credits: Dominique Murray Photography

https://thealmanac.net/news/women-s-interactive-network-experiences-year-of-growth/article_68cda53e-8b54-11eb-aa92-cbeda1d9ecef.html

"Happy 2020! Congratulations to our WIN Women of the Year, January events & more..."  January Newsletter

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