Antoinette Battiste: 2026 Tribute to Women Awards Honoree

For four decades, Antoinette has been an important leader advancing the YWCA’s mission to eliminate racism and empower women and girls within the Bay Area and YWCA communities. She first served as a volunteer and on the board of the YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula from 1986-2004. When the YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula closed its doors in 2004, the Board moved to establish the YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula Donor Advised Fund (DAF), investing proceeds from the sale of the building in Palo Alto to provide support through grants to organizations and programs throughout the Peninsula dedicated to the YWCA’s mission. Antoinette was a founding member of the 12-member DAF Board in 2004, and assumed the role of Chair in 2023.

Fiercely committed to the YWCA mission, Antoinette leads the DAF through collaborative consensus building while investing in the next generation of leaders. Under Antoinette’s leadership, the DAF has expanded its impact by increasing the number of agencies who receive grants, establishing connections between agency leadership, and speaking to the needs of the local and YWCA communities. The DAF produced two videos in 2021 to tell the story of the YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula’s history and to honor the legacy of Kay Philips, former YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula Executive Director and original board members of the DAF, and the many volunteer leaders who worked with her. Antoinette was asked to conduct the recorded interviews with Kay; her collaborative leadership style and facilitation skills are evident as she invites Kay to reflect on years of innovative programs coming out of the YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula.

At the YWCA of the Mid- Peninsula, Antoinette’s leadership contributed to the YWCA’s then visionary work of establishing a Rape Crisis Center in Palo Alto; providing job training for women newly immigrated from Vietnam; opening an on-site childcare center with anti-bias curriculum; building a Women’s Entrepreneur program; and hosting Civil Rights workshops for the public.

Antoinette’s commitment to the YWCA’s twin goals is personal. As a first-generation college student at Stanford University in the late 1970s, Antoinette understood the impact her high school counselor had on her life’s trajectory by encouraging Antoinette to pursue her academic ambitions. This understanding shaped Antoinette’s personal and professional path as she devoted her life to empowering other women to pursue their ambitions not only for education, but also for advancing opportunity, equity and racial justice in communities throughout the Bay Area.

Professionally, having served in the business sector in senior level positions, Antoinette pivoted to community leadership in the non-profit world to effect change. She fostered environments where young people, and women and girls, can thrive. After serving as Interim Executive Director of Foundation for a College Education in East Palo Alto, she launched her own practice, Educational Pathways with Antoinette Battiste. As a solo entrepreneur, Antoinette provides college planning and counseling services to high school students and their families while reaching nearly 1,000 students via education workshops in support of community-based organizations.

In the early 1990s, Antoinette played a distinct role leading a series of YWCA Diversity Conferences (1992-95) for Silicon Valley companies and organizations, serving as co-chair alongside senior leaders of Stanford University and Lockheed Martin and bringing Silicon Valley companies into practical work on race and organizational change. She was also a delegate to two National YWCA conventions and is remembered for speaking persuasively to the imperative of “eliminating racism wherever it may exist and through any means necessary.”

Please join us in celebrating Antoinette for this well-deserved honor! PVF is proud to work with the incredible leaders of our donor advised funds and fiscally sponsored projects.