By Blake Deshazo | The Selma Times-Journal
Two influential women in Selma and Dallas County have been recognized by AL.com for the impact they have had on their communities and the state of Alabama.

Sheryl Smedley, executive director for the Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce, and Felecia Lucky, executive director for the Black Belt Community Foundation were included in the 2016 Women who Shape the State.

“I was completely floored,” Lucky said. “I was a little bit in disbelief, but more than anything else, just humbled by the nomination.”

More than 100 women across the state were nominated for making an impact in their communities, and 30 were selected for the award.

“I am beyond honored to have been recognized as one of the women shaping Alabama,” Smedley said. “I don’t feel like anything I do on a daily basis is necessarily extraordinary. I just work as hard as I can to respect everyone, support our community in any way I can, and build Selma up every chance I get.”

While Lucky is proud of her work, she hopes the nomination is a reflection of the work the foundation does.

“I’d love to think that it is the idea that through the Black Belt Community Foundation … that they saw more than anything else that we are working with the community to transform the community into what the community wants to be,” Lucky said.

“Through the foundation we’ve worked really diligently to do programming around arts and culture in our region.”

One of the projects she is most proud of is the Black Belt 100 Lenses project.

“Through that program we were able to equip students from the ninth through the 12th grade across the Black Belt region to really document the culture,” Lucky said. “We were excited to work with young folks who were able to go out in the communities, and they did a much better job of painting a fair picture.”

Smedley said one of her greatest accomplishments was working on the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, which brought more than 100,000 people to Selma.

“That took a lot of planning and a lot of organizing, and we had all these people here,” Smedley said. “We had all these people coming to a small community of our size.”

Smedley and Lucky will be recognized in Birmingham on Nov. 3 for their achievements along with the other women from across Alabama who chosen for the award.