Women in the Workplace

Colleen “Cookie” Wilson will be sharing her unique wisdom on the topic of mentoring in all seasons of life, the importance of mentoring, and things she’s learned about mentoring over the years at our May Women in the Workplace event on May 8th. Prior to her retirement, Cookie worked for 20 years in the social services field. She and her husband, Denny, are an active part of the Kosciusko County community and have three married children, along with seven grandchildren.

Suzanne Light, likes to be call Suzie. She grew up being the leader of 11 younger siblings and credits family, church, Girl Scouts and 4H as formative experiences in establishing strong values.  She has been married for 48 years and has two children and one grans child.

Suzie is the retired Chief Executive Officer of the Kosciusko County Community Foundation from 1995 to 2020.  Under her leadership, the Foundation grew assets from $400,000 to over $58 million. Suzie did her undergrad work at Goshen College.  And her Masters degree in Leadership from Trine University. Both degrees earned while she as full-time mom and CEO.  

In retirement, Suzie has started her own consulting business to advise nonprofit organizations on governance and boardsmanship.  She continues to be purposely engaged in our community and wears many hats – Please join us as she speaks to Where is Your Leadership Hat?

We’re excited to host a three-woman panel: Leading Spirituality Through Loving People At Your Workplace as our March Women in the Workplace event. Join our host, Laura Robertson, and our panelists: Carrie Bianchini, Maria Demopoulos, and Kathy Haddad as we learn how to view our professional spaces as our personal mission fields. All three panelists live and work in Kosciusko County and have a strong focus and love for serving our community.

Carrie Bianchini
Carrie and her husband, Shawn, own and operate Shawnanigans Food Truck and Catering. They love serving their community through delicious food and authentic hospitality. Carrie is also a licensed mental health therapist with a love of crafting.

Maria Demopoulos
Maria and her husband Greg moved to the Warsaw/Winona Lake area 25 years ago and immediately fell in love with our community. Maria has been a special education teacher for Warsaw Community Schools for the past 23 years, with the last 15 focused on traveling to all of our local schools to serve our students on the autism spectrum.

Kathy Haddad
Kathy and her husband Rich are parents of four children and grandparents to two. Kathy has worked in the orthopedic industry for 18 years and views it as her mission field. She has a love of chocolate, summers spent on the lake, and (of course) great shoes.

We’re excited to welcome Aimee Lunsford as the speaker for our February gathering. She has been in education for 25 years and is in her 10th year as the building principal of Lincoln Elementary. Aimee will share her insight into navigating seasons of parenting, new leadership and work opportunities, and unexpected changes the world throws at us. God is always at our side gently reminding us that we can handle any life change by depending on Him to maintain peace in our lives.