2020 West Virginia Wonder Woman Kim Tieman

The mothers, the millennials, and the mavens. Changing our communities.

This is our seventh annual unveiling of 50 amazing women who are raising the bar in their communities, serving as beacons of light in their industries, and forcing change for the greater good. Meet this West Virginia Wonder Woman, Kim Tieman, and many more that are creating a better West Virginia with their can-do attitudes and Mountain State spirit.

Building Others Up is Key

Kim Tieman, the Benedum Foundation program director of health and human services, embodies the West Virginia spirit. “When times get tough, we buckle down and help one another,” she says. She spends every day of her life seeking ways to help others.

A love for work has fueled her career path. Her passion for life and for the people of West Virginia is what continues to drive her. “People in our state want to be encouraged. It’s up to us to do that,” she says.

From AmeriCorps to the West Virginia Voluntary Organization in Active Disaster Relief, teaching, adjudicating for our youth, and much more, she remains dedicated to making her community stronger. She says she has seen significant transformation in people, and they weren’t all young. Solving problems with resourcefulness is a passion of hers, along with connecting people all over the nation to bring in help. “You can’t walk away from that doing anything except believing in the human spirit.” And it makes Tieman keep pushing for great change.

A West Virginian her whole life, she grew up in Jackson County on a 300-acre farm that her daddy still owns. She never stops building people up. She got that, and her caring spirit, from her daddy, too.