Del Tech Owens and alumni will honor two on Women’s Day, March 7

Lili Kohr and Debra Puglisi Sharp will be honored at the 18th annual Women’s Day Celebration Wednesday, March 7, at The Clubhouse at Baywood in Long Neck. This event is presented by Delaware Tech and the Owens Campus Alumni Association; the celebration highlights the achievements of exemplary women and benefits the Alumni Association Scholarship Fund.

Women’s Education - Women’s Empowerment is this year’s theme. Although the honorees are not educators in the truest sense, their distinct efforts to educate others will have a lasting influence.

Honoree Lili Kohr was born and raised in the Republic of Panama and came to this country when she was 17 years old. Now she, her soul mate Archie, and their four children reside in Bethany Beach. In her limited free time, Kohr and her children paddle board in the Atlantic, garden, and send handwritten letters to loved ones.

Her path to becoming a successful entrepreneur began in Pennsylvania in the 1990s. Kohr bought and resold handbags, holding parties in her home and marketing them on eBay under the name Bella Bags. Even a move to Bethany was not a deterrent: she still sold to her fans in Pennsylvania twice a week - and in two months added 20,000 miles to her car’s odometer.

A fascination with the fast-paced life of fashion and a dream to own a business came to fruition in 2006 when Kohr founded Tiger Lili in Rehoboth Beach.

Another dream was fulfilled when she participated in and won the Mrs. Delaware pageant in 2008 and served as the first Latina at the Mrs. America Pageant.

Following her passion for philanthropy, Kohr founded Lili Kohr’s Crusade for the Children of Africa to support a small orphanage in central Zimbabwe. In addition, she makes semiannual visits to the country with Dynamis World Ministries, bringing the children bags of clothing; she has also been instrumental in creating a means for regional children to attend high school.

Each March, Kohr produces a fashion show at her store, giving young ladies and women the opportunity to audition to model and represent Tiger Lili's best. The proceeds from this show usually benefit the orphans in the Kadoma farm-orphanage she supports in Zimbabwe.

Kohr also volunteers in the planning and execution of the annual Couture & Class Fashion Show hosted by the Owens Campus of Delaware Technical Community College. Proceeds from the event benefit international education, which supports study abroad scholarships and the Fund for Global Understanding.

Debra Puglisi Sharp, formerly of Newark, now resides in Lewes. Married for 25 years to Anthony “Nino” Puglisi, she is the mother of twins Melissa and Michael. She has been a registered nurse since 1989 and is now married for almost 12 years to Bill Sharp.

In her early years of employment, Puglisi Sharp worked as a medical transcriptionist. When her twins were 12 years old, she pursued her dream and attended college, graduating from Delaware Technical Community College, Stanton Campus, in 1989 with an associate degree in nursing. Since 1992 she has been a hospice nurse, working for various healthcare organizations, including Delaware Hospice in Milford. Currently, she works on a per diem basis in the Infusion Department at the Tunnell Cancer Center and at Cadbury at Lewes. She has a true passion for providing professional and compassionate end-of-life care.

For the past nine years, Puglisi Sharp also has focused her efforts on inspirational and motivational speaking, the result of becoming a published author in 2003.

In April 1998, Puglisi Sharp became a victim - and ultimately, a survivor - of a violent crime. She was bludgeoned, raped, abducted and held captive for five days by the man who murdered her husband, Nino, in their home.

“Shattered: Reclaiming a Life Torn Apart by Violence” is ’s story of how she turned anger, grief, despair and pain into courage. Not only are her writing and subsequent lectures therapeutic for Puglisi Sharp, her work has inspired victims throughout the country and has given law enforcement, counselors, health professionals and college students an invaluable victim’s perspective.

Now required reading in criminal justice courses at many universities, the book was endorsed by noted crime author Anne Rule: “An important book and a gripping read!” “… it hands a portion of power and belief in herself to every woman who reads it.”

Puglisi Sharp was appointed by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner as the public representative on the Delaware E 911 Emergency Service Board and served for five years. A former member of the Contact Lifeline Board, she currently is cochair of the Sexual Assault Network of Delaware.

In addition to other appointments and awards, in 2007 she received the U.S. Attorney General’s Special Courage Award.

This year the Alumni Legacy Scholarship is being funded by Diana L. Young, former English instructor at the Owens Campus, in memory of her mother, Betty LaPorte.

The mistresses of ceremonies will be Ruth Ann Minner, former governor of Delaware, and Dr. Harriet Windsor, former Delaware secretary of state. Both women have given their personal and professional support to this event for many years.

Underwriter for the event is Sussex County Council. To date, Delaware Electric Cooperative, the University of Delaware, and Wilmington University are table sponsors.

Tickets for the dinner are $40 per person; cash bar begins at 5:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6. Reservations should be made by Monday, Feb. 27. For information or to purchase tickets, go to www.dtcc.edu/owens/womensday or call Alison Buckley, alumni coordinator, at 302-855-1607.