Each year in August, The Commercial Record honors a select group of women from the finance, insurance and real estate sectors in Connecticut with our Women of FIRE Awards. This year’s winners continue a tradition of excellence in business, community involvement and leadership.

This is the fourth year The Warren Group has honored women in these traditionally male-dominated industries. Since the beginning of the program, we have read the nominations from employees, partners, friends, coworkers, bosses and neighbors, and winnowing that list of glowing praise into 13 winners is always a daunting task.

Once we’ve managed it and the winners have been notified, the profiles and photos begin to arrive, bringing these women into clearer focus. With respect and admiration for what they have achieved, and the ideals they held dear along the way, we invite you to read their stories, beginning on page 22. Every year, we are reminded again of the many contributions these women make to their industries and their communities – and why it’s important to continue to recognize their accomplishments.

We honor these women for the work they have done, but we also do it to recognize how far they – and the rest of us – have come. We still live in a world where female CEOs are asked by major news outlets how they balance being a good mother with running a multinational company – and male CEOs are asked what kind of cars they drive. But we have come a long way from the experience of one of this year’s winners, who discussed her move back to America with a career advisor who asked her what position would best accommodate her husband’s work schedule. Or from another winner, who had to hide her promotion from her male coworkers, lest it spark a riot.

One of the threads that unites all of our winners is that they work hard for the work itself. Whether they are shepherding a company through a major recession and out the other side, helping a child open her first bank account, or serving on the boards of multiple chambers of commerce, these women say that they love the work they do – and that no matter the challenges tossed their way, coming into the office every day is a joy and a privilege.

It is possible – as our winners make clear – to reach this pinnacle without sacrificing one’s humanity, to burst through that glass ceiling without raining down shards on those at the bottom of the ladder. One of the most common descriptors of our Women of FIRE is “mentor.” These are women who realize that to lead a strong and successful team means encouraging all of the members to be leaders as well.

As one nominator wrote, neatly describing all of our recipients: “All told, she is a leader, a role model, an expert in her field, and one of [our organization’s] shining stars.”

Congratulations to the 2014 Women of FIRE, who remind us to celebrate accomplishments large and small, and who are – all of them – shining stars.