We asked you to tell us about inspiring women in your life. We went through hundreds of nominations in our Remarkable Women contest. Now, we’ve named our Remarkable Woman of the Year.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — By the time she was 14, Stacy Johnson had lived in 10 foster homes. When she grew up, she vowed to make a difference in the lives of children experiencing the same process. So she opened an emergency shelter for kids called Central Texas Table of Grace.

Her incredible story is part of the reason she was named a KXAN’s local Remarkable Woman of the Year, an effort to recognize the great contributions women have made in our communities. Remarkable Women is part of a nationwide Nexstar Media initiative.

In addition to opening the shelter, Johnson works each year to raise money to keep it running. And, she created a program called Grace-365 which helps teens who age out of the foster care system rent their own homes and transition into adulthood.

“Every single one of them has a story. Every single one of them matters. They’re just all worth it, they all have so much potential,” she said.

Now that Johnson has been named KXAN’s Remarkable Woman of the Year, she qualifies to be named Nexstar Media Group’s national Woman of the Year.

“I think I’m actually in shock from hearing this news,” Johnson told KXAN’s Sydney Benter on Tuesday. “If you would have told that little girl in the group home what my life would look like today, I never would have believed it. That’s what I’m trying to tell these kids I take care of every day: It’s not always going to be like this.”