Alumnae Recognition

Since 1974, Marlborough School’s Alumnae Association has been honoring outstanding alumnae with the Woman of the Year award. The Woman of the Year serves as an inspiration to all alumnae and students. They are accomplished, enthusiastic, and have contributed positively to the quality of life around them. They embody the spirit of Marlborough. They are a proud Marlborough alumna who has created a place at the table and has worked to change the world for the better.

With this annual award, we seek to reflect the depth and breadth of our alumnae community and celebrate the remarkable impact of Marlborough women in action.

2020-2021 Woman of the Year: Annabel Schwedes Monaghan ’87

Annabel Schwedes Monaghan is an accomplished author whose wit, humor, and eloquence shines through on every page she pens. She is the author of two novels for young adults, A Girl Named Digit and Double Digit (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2012, 2014). She is also the author of Does This Volvo Make My Butt Look Big? (Fischer Press 2016), a collection of essays based on her column that appears on the Huffington Post, The Week, and The Rye Record. Annabel is also co-author of Click! The Girls Guide to Knowing What You Want and Making it Happen (Simon and Schuster 2007). 

Annabel graduated from Marlborough School in 1987 where she was Student Body President. She remembers taking English with Dr. Mary Brackenhoff two years in a row and deciding that the rest of her life would be about books. It was at Marlborough that she developed her love of writing and speaking, and also where she made the best friends of her life. 

She graduated from Duke University with a BA in English and moved to New York to work at Goldman Sachs. She went on to receive an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania, where she launched a short-term career in investment banking and a long-term marriage to her husband Tom.

Annabel continues to write, speak and teach. She is on the novel writing faculty at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. And Marlborough has been the happy beneficiary of her expertise on many occasions. She has spoken with current Marlborough students several times and always encourages them to create and seek out complex, interesting young women in stories, media, and life. Annabel lives in Rye, New York with her husband and three teenage sons. 

First awarded in 2020, Marlborough's Alumnae Association awards the 20Y Award to a young alumna who exemplifies the core values of Marlborough through their personal and professional endeavors. This award is open to all alumnae who graduated from Marlborough within the past 20 years. With this annual award, we seek to recognize and celebrate the diversity, successes, and passions of our young alumnae community.

2020-2021 20Y Award Winner: Maya Humes ’10

Maya has been passionate about politics since Marlborough, and she discovered her true passion - the powerful intersection between politics and communications - during her time at Stanford University. At Stanford, she studied Ethics and Politics, pursued her masters degree in Media Studies, and ultimately wrote her thesis on Black Twitter as a tool for socio-political activism. She also interned at the Los Angeles Sentinel as well as NBC News, and began working in tech communications immediately after graduate school. 

Maya works for the Biden Administration as the Director of Global Campaign Strategy at the State Department. During the 2020 general election, she served as North Carolina Communications Director on the Biden campaign, and during the primary she served as Harris' California Communications Director and then Chief of Staff to Mayor Michael Tubbs on the Mike Bloomberg campaign. In 2018, Maya got her start in politics as Florida Media Manager and then Press Secretary at NextGen America, a political organization focused on mobilizing young voters.

While at Marlborough, Maya was All School President, a member of Drama Ensemble, and played on the varsity tennis team. Today, she is happy to be in LA surrounded by family and friends from every stage of her life. She loves discovering new music and podcasts, long runs in Kenneth Hahn Park, and brunch food of all kinds. 

On March 23, 2019, to honor the tremendous bravery and unprecedented impact that Chelsea, Mikaela, and our anonymous alumna have had on our community, all three women were recognized with the first-ever Marlborough Alumnae Council Courage Award. In addition to the planting of a tree in the school’s Alumnae Garden, a permanent plaque was installed as a visual reminder of the courage and conviction of these remarkable women in working to change Marlborough—and the world for all women—for the better. 

This award will only be bestowed when Alumnae Council wishes to recognize extraordinary alumnae who have left a lasting and meaningful impact on Marlborough and this world we all share. 

2020-2021:
Maya Humes ’10

2019
Chelsea Burkett '02
Mikaela Gilbert-Lurie '13
An Anonymous Alumna