COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — FOX21 News is celebrating remarkable women in southern Colorado who inspire, lead and make a difference in our lives.

Four women were selected as our finalists for the Most Remarkable Woman in southern Colorado, and the winner is Michelle Cordova, a caring nurse with a comforting hand.

FOX21 surprised Cordova with the news Thursday at her job at Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo, in front of several of her coworkers who were happy to see her being recognized.

“She always walks into the door with a smile on her face ready to help people,” said Brittney Muench, a registered nurse at Parkview. “She is absolutely amazing and I can’t think of anyone else that deserves this award more than her.”

“I know Michelle and she is a very humble person and she may not think that she is deserving, but she has been a stellar nurse for all of southern Colorado,” said Renee Elwell, Chief Nursing Officer.

“She has worked in the Emergency Department and that’s where I first got to work with her, and she was an amazing nurse there, and now up here she works on the heart team,” Elwell said. “She’s one of the cornerstone people for our heart team.”

Michelle has spent the last two decades caring for patients at Parkview, and her calming presence and coolness under pressure are appreciated by both her patients and her colleagues, especially during a pandemic.

“When we were in the throes of COVID, she was one of the frontline nurses taking care of all the COVID patients. She’s just an amazing nurse,” said Elwell.

“Michelle is definitely somebody who I would want in the trenches. When we’re in life-saving measures, whether it be a code, or we have a patient come from the operating room, she’s just very knowledgeable and you would want her to take care of anybody. I would want her to take care of anybody in my family,” said Raylene Wetzel, Director of Critical Care & EEG at Parkview.

When she’s not at work taking care of patients, Michelle is taking care of her own family–three daughters and a fiancé who also all agree she is most remarkable.

“When I saw that come across the TV I thought ‘who more than Michelle?’ because since I’ve known her, which is over the last five-and-a-half, six years, she does it all,” said Charles Maglia, Michelle’s fiancé. “She works hard. She works long hours. When she’s off, she’s working here. She takes care of her daughters and provides everything for them, but not only that, she’s just so kind and caring and generous to everybody. She puts everybody’s needs ahead of her own, and I just think she’s outstanding.”

“I think my mom is so remarkable because she puts others so far above herself. She’s so selfless and cares about other people so much,” said Michelle’s youngest daughter, Amaya.

“She does everything for everyone and she doesn’t ask for anything in return,” said daughter Alhya.

“Not a lot of people can do what she does and pull it off as well as she does,” said her daughter Arianna. “She really needs to see it for herself how amazing that she is, because she doesn’t give herself enough credit.”

Cordova will be flown to Chicago for the taping of a Remarkable Women special at WGN studios, where Nexstar’s Woman of the Year will be announced.

The hour-long Remarkable Women special airs on WGN America at 5 p.m. MT on Saturday April, 10.

In recognition of all of Colorado’s incredible women, Gov. Jared Polis proclaimed April 1, 2021 as “Remarkable Women of Colorado Day.”