2026 WOMAN OF THE YEAR RECIPIENT

JULIE SALIBA CLAUER ’92

The origin of the word courage comes from the words cor in Latin and cœur in French. Both translate to heart. No one exemplifies this link between courage and heart more clearly than Julie Saliba Clauer ’92. Hers is a particular kind of bravery that does not announce itself. Rather, it shows up quietly and consistently, in service of others—even in the hardest circumstances. She has demonstrated this heartfelt courage over and over again throughout the past eight years, living fully with a Stage IV colon cancer diagnosis while simultaneously becoming a highly respected patient advocate in the colorectal cancer community.

Diagnosed in 2017 at age 43, just months after becoming a first-time mother and at the height of her brand marketing career, Julie responded with remarkable agency and determination. Then, almost immediately, she turned her experience outward to help others facing the same devastating news. As Education Director for Colontown, a support and education community for colorectal cancer patients and their loved ones, she has developed numerous programs and resources to empower other patients. She also serves on the National Cancer Institute’s Colon Cancer Task Force and collaborates with researchers to develop patient-centric clinical trials and improve patient care. 

What strikes those who know Julie is that this generosity is not new. It is simply who she is. She served as All-School President as a Senior at Marlborough and ever since has continued nurturing environments where others can thrive. That commitment has taken many forms—from building strong teams and mentoring others professionally to serving for more than 25 years on the leadership team of an Easterseals of Southern California summer camp, serving on the board of an innovative charter school in Chicago, and even making birthday cakes for foster youth.

Though she continued her education, earning a BS from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and built a marketing career that took her across the country in executive roles, her heart has remained with Marlborough. She has stayed genuinely connected to her alma mater and to the dear friends she made here. She has supported Marlborough as a longstanding member of the 1889 Society and her Class Notes read less like an update and more like a love letter to her fellow alumnae, full of pride in what her peers are building in the world. 

Julie Saliba Clauer ’92 embodies something Marlborough works to cultivate in every student: the understanding that leadership, just like courage, must come from the heart. She sets an example that leadership can be grounded in vulnerability, that impact can arise from adversity, and that inner strength can come from lifting others.

For these reasons and countless others, we are thrilled to honor Julie Saliba Clauer ’92 as Marlborough's 2026 Woman of the Year.

2026 20Y AWARD RECIPIENT

YU-SHING NI ’16

Yu-Shing Ni ’16 remembers being a bright-eyed 7th grader sitting on the floor of Caswell Hall in awe of the All-School Council, sparking an early curiosity about leadership—not as a title, but as a practice rooted in humility, compassion, integrity, and courage. She carried this practice with her throughout her years at Marlborough, where she was active in student leadership, dance productions, and community service beyond the classroom. 

After graduating, Yu-Shing earned dual degrees in Global Food Security and Ecological Agriculture from McGill University, where she co-founded a bulk foods shop, led campus food waste reduction initiatives, and connected student food businesses to soup kitchens across Montreal. Following graduation, she worked on organic farms in Northern California and Oregon, deepening her commitment to cultivating Asian heritage crops, preserving seeds, and stories, and strengthening community supported agriculture. During this time, she also organized with the National Young Farmers Coalition, advocating for USDA Farm Bill policies centered on the needs of young, Black, Indigenous, and people of color farmers—with a particular focus on land access, racial equity, and farmer wellbeing.

Upon her return to Los Angeles, Yu-Shing piloted a culturally-rooted garden education program in San Fernando Valley high schools through Black Thumb Farm, an urban farm and nonprofit dedicated to land connection and healing for communities of color. With the program and the urban farm’s successful establishment, she was called to explore her roots in Taiwan, where she reconnected with family and built relationships with farmers, activists, artists, educators, and seed savers from Paiwan, Amis, and Atayal communities. These experiences ultimately earned her a prestigious Henry Luce Foundation fellowship.

As a Luce Scholar, Yu-Shing was placed with the Inter-mountain Peoples Education & Cultural Association (IMPECT) in Thailand, an Indigenous-founded organization advocating for the rights of Indigenous peoples in Northern Thailand. There, she supported mother tongue language preservation, secured funding for a community-run school in a rural Pgakenyaw village, built a network of Indigenous food sovereignty leaders across Southeast Asia, and developed a database to protect and provide access to traditional knowledge. The year was, in her own words, “one of profound (un)learning”—a continuation of the commitment to equity and community-centered leadership first nurtured at Marlborough.

Today, Yu-Shing is back in Los Angeles, where she is studying to become a Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine at Yo San University and Community Clinic in Culver City. Her path reflects a vision of health that is whole-person, community-defined, and rooted in justice—a vision she has been powerfully building toward since she first sat in Caswell Hall, wondering what it meant to lead.