Applicant Display

The course was recommended to me by a family friend. I am new to Naples and I am looking to be more involved in volunteer organizations in Collier County.

From 2018 to 2020, I was the Co-Chair for the Albemarle county Historic Garden Week Tour for Virginia. Over 2000 guests were expected to visit our county and we planned to conduct a bus tour of the homes and gardens on display. Personally, I managed a team of 30 other volunteers to coordinate the event.

I hosted a 200 person art auction at my home in Virginia in 2018. All of the attendees were women and the funds raised supported the domestic violence shelter.

Charities that help children and women.

I am extremely organized and personable. I am willing to listen to others and value their contributions. Our family lives full time for the school year in Naples and we are invested in the community.

The most important group that I lead is my family. On a daily basis, I encourage my family to do their best in all aspects of life: school, sports and helping others. I demonstrate my commitment to volunteering and being a positive person at all times. Although my husband and daughters sometimes question my plans, they are always appreciative of my efforts and the positive effect is has on our family life. Being an excellent role model is my life goal.

I regularly volunteer in my daughters’ school: Community School of Naples. I assist the sports teams and I have trained to be a Substitute Teacher.

2018-2020 ALBEMARLE GARDEN CLUB – Historic Garden Week Tour Co-Chair

2016-2020 VILLAGE SCHOOL, Girls Math Tournament Committee

2017-2020 WOMEN’S INITIATIVE FUNDRAISER, Committee Member

2016-2017 MERIWETHER LEWIS SCHOOL, Birthday Book Club Chair

2013-2014 ST. ANNE’S BELFIELD SCHOOL, Silent Auction Committee

2012-2014 VCCA GALA, Decor Committee

2010-2013 UVA CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL GALA, Decor Committee

2010-2014 ST. PAUL’S IVY CHURCH, Sunday School Teacher

2001-2009 JUNIOR LEAGUE OF LONDON, Holiday Bazaar Chair

She is bright, educated, committed and easy to get along with. She was an outstanding student at Columbia and has led an honorable life since. She has the experience and the energy to be of service to our communities for some time.

GNL gives me and many others the opportunity to better understand and serve the beautiful community of Naples.

I have been blessed to have a wonderful career in Financial Services and lead many others to achieve success, but my biggest achievement is fatherhood. My wife and me have raised four beautiful children to be hardworking and faith filled citizens in society.

I started the Dupage County chapter for an organization called Legatus. Legatus was founded by Tom Monahan who started Ave Maria University and Dominos Pizza. The organization was created to allow Catholic leaders to pass values and stewardship to their employees. Our chapter won several awards and something I am very proud of.

Faith based and nonprofit. Have gotten involved and supported Nash to Naples most recently.

Good motivation and leadership skills and comfortable speaking publicly.

I ran the East Coast for a distribution company under Met Life and was responsible for 16 individuals. We were ranked #1 every year in revenue. I was also the #1 specialist at Merrill Lynch all 14 years I was employed at the firm. These results helped to cultivate a culture for the firm going forward.

It’s very simple…I think it’s all about giving and trying to make this community a better place to live.

Legatus – Naples Chapter Vice president becoming President 1/23

Legatus – Dupage County Chapter President 2013 to 2016

I believe Jeff would be an excellent addition to GNL. Jeff is a “doer” and would certainly serve on local, Collier County non-profit boards, as well as contribute his time. He has a wealth of knowledge that would help our community, and resides here in Naples full time. I believe we need more full time residents who can help some of these local organizations during the summer months. Hurricane Ian is a prime example of local people helping local people.

Lived in Naples since 2000, moved from PA. Employed with Moorings Park since 2002.

I am interested in giving back to the community as well as, continuing to grow as a leader and learn from other distinguished members of our surrounding community.

Creating and building a new department of Wellness at Moorings Park. In 2007 I was chosen to be the first Director of Wellness at Moorings Park. I was able to lead our organization over the time span of 11 years in a Wellness philosophy which continues to play a significant role in our mission of successful aging. With that came a redesign of a small fitness center and later the creation and build out of the 38,000 square foot Center for Healthy Living. During my tenure I also successfully piloted, created and developed a thriving Personal Training program for residents and worked collaboratively with FGCU to integrate Exercise Science interns into the Wellness program which has continually helped to back fill our Exercise Specialists positions.

At age 50 I became a grandmother for the first time, however due to unfortunate circumstances revolving around alcohol and substance abuse by my daughter and her partner, at age 51 I became a grandparent raising a grandchild. I quickly had to realign my life and seek out resources in our county which I had no idea existed. As I muddled through I met so many grandparents in similar circumstances, many older than me and raising multiple children both here in Collier and Lee County. I realized grandparents needed support and resources and decided to initiate a county Task Force. The Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Task Force was created with many local non-profits involvement. After a year of meetings and preparations the first Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Support Group was held. Word spread and grandparents were even coming from Lee County. The group was successful but became too much for me to continue to organize and maintain. Luckily one of our community partners (Valerie’s House) stepped up and took the group over and it continues to provide support as needed to grandparents raising grandchildren.

Mental health, addiction, child advocacy, and seniors, dementia.

I enjoy facilitating groups, training, and making presentations. I am social, friendly and am adept a building relationships. I have experienced the results of the opioid crisis first hand and can relate to those who have been impacted. I have worked in the field of senior care, wellness and hospitality for my entire career and have a specialty in dementia training.

I was chosen by Moorings Park to lead and adopt our “Best Friends” dementia philosophy. This entailed creating a “Best Friends” Task Force and leading them through the strategies needed to implement the program. I worked closely with David Troxel, creator of The Best Friends Approach to develop campus wide training and signature programming that still exists today and is an integral means by which we care for residents who have neurocognitive impairmennts so that they feel safe, secured and valued.

As a professional in Collier County for over 20 years I have met many leaders who have inspired me, many of whom are residents at Moorings Park. I have always sought out mentors who have guided me, especially strong females. I hope to do the same for others. My mother was a former Rockette and owned a Dance School for over 50 years, so I grew up dancing which provided me with opportunities to dance in nursing homes as a child and see the joy it brought to those who we were performing for. This engrained in me a love for seniors and volunteering and it is the reason I chose my profession. This experience when I was a young child provided me with an invaluable foundation for life, it gave me confidence, empathy and an understanding of the importance of service to others. I hope to continue to evolve in these ways and pass on the love for community and service, to my 8 years old granddaughter.

Celeste is a special person. She combines a high level of efficiency with a very warm and approachable manner. Each person that engages her finds that she concentrates on their needs. Importantly,
she also has a Get Things Done approach which is delightful when it is your concern she is working on. I have always thought that you can obtain a sense of how a person would engage as a volunteer by how they behave in dealing with colleagues and friends. Celeste is hallmarked by her leadership qualities, her curiosity, and her ability to join together people of like interests and needs. That is the true measure of a volunteer! I have known many GNL candidates in my time and I can say that GNL would be proud to include Celeste among our Master Class members and would be even more proud when we see how she would reflect against the high standards of GNL service. I strongly recommend her acceptance as a Masters Class member.

Over the past 4 years I have been active playing USTA/CTA team tennis(PB CTA team captain), taught tennis at Vineyards and Veterans Parks. Member of the Pelican Bay Tennis Advisory Group. Currently President of the Stratford at Pelican Bay. Ran for a seat on the Pelican Bay Foundation Board in 2020. Member of the St. William Knights of Columbus, I recruit and staff three Volunteer Voting Precincts, and ran the St. Patrick’s Dinner Dance in March 2020. Happily married with two grown children. Live in Naples full-time and love it!!

Interested in expanding my knowledge and contribution in Naples beyond Pelican Bay and the tennis courts. I’ve been coming to Naples, visiting my parents and brother since the early 80’s and have watched its growth and development.

Achieving Senior Vice President at AVON and leading a diverse sales organization. Grew the sales organization to 600+ independent Contractors. Mentoring executives globally to assume increasing responsible leadership roles.

Supporting AVON’s Breast Cancer Awareness initiatives including 3 day walks raising millions of dollars.

Developing a greater awareness of Naples past, its evolution and future development plans. Supporting community efforts to enhance our quality of life…arts, walks, sports, social, restaurant and neighborhood events.

Leading and supporting diverse organizations, soliciting feedback and facilitating a recommended path forward on projects including financial, strategic and pragmatic action plans.

Transitioning 600+ thousand Avon independent contractors from mailing in purchase orders to online ordering. Had to sell them on what to do not tell them what to do. Show the benefits and incentivize the new behavior.

Looking forward to the benefit of being part of a motivated team that is interested in making Naples an even better place to live and visit.

Community education and involvement is very important to me. I am from a smaller village in upstate NY, Skaneateles, and lived there for over 30 years. It will always be a part of my soul as I was very involved and part of the community. I wish for the same integration, involvement and ways to contribute and make a difference while living in Naples, which is my new hometown. I was speaking with my friend who is a member (& my sponsor) for GNL, and in conversation, she told me about GNL & we both felt it was exactly what I was looking for and needed to achieve being involved and to feel a greater sense of purpose here. I am super excited to learn more of the history, environmental issues which we face and ways to contribute to this great small city!

Although I am a realtor for my career; for many years I taught yoga and lead retreats, both domestically & internationally. Teaching yoga to others has been my most significant career leadership contribution as I have made a profound, positive difference in many people’s lives. With yoga, I teach full spectrum wellness: yes, physically, how to become stronger, better balanced and more supple, along with ways to heal the body, but perhaps more significantly are ways I have helped others to overcome obstacles of lacking in confidence and to move towards their full potential.

I was on the board of Skaneateles Festival for several years, which is a non-profit organization that brings incredibly talented musicians to play in the summers. When I was involved many years ago, the festival was in its infancy stages and it was wonderful to be a part of its tremendous growth. The Festival now brings in such talent as Wynton Marsalis, Hilary Hahn and The Silk Road Ensemble to mention a few. I am still an active member of the Festival, but no longer on the board

The environment gives me great concern. It is very important to me to learn more about our environment, red tide, and building which can effect our environment. I also am a lover of music and culture and would like to see more growth in this area. And of course, wellness is my passion.

I am a great communicator and connector of people. I am energetic and practice positive wellness which I put into all that I do. I am a creative thinker.

Besides yoga, which when I teach brings change to all, in some manner or another; our neighborhood was flooded out by Hurricane Ian. I live in a small community of 20 individual homes but we are in a Condo association. As is natural with a disaster of this magnitude, the emotions that one experiences with a lost ran the magnitude. I believe that I was quite influential to pull us together and to work towards rebuilding our homes and making our little street the sweet gem which it was. I was the best communicator amongst us, responding to group texts and spreading positive hope. My neighbors have asked me to run for president of our association which I have agreed to do. The new term begins in January, 2023.

Clean water is my passion. I like to boat, swim and play in the water. I am a lover of nature. I also crave creativity. I enjoy adventures, travel and new experiences.
I had a home furnishings store for 9 years in Skaneateles, NY, which specialized in antique pine furniture which I hand selected while in Denmark and imported to my store, called “Windward Passage”
I created a line of white linen clothing trimmed with European lace called “Linen Dreams”. I am friends with Tommy HIlfiger and he was kind enough to help guide me through this process.
I also created an online business, called Scarlet Ribbon, that sold designer jewelry and accessories marketed towards men for their spouses’ birthdays and anniversaries.
I am a mother of one son, Sam, who resides in LA and has his own successful product design company.
I’m an innovator who likes to make things happen and would very much like to be an active member of GNL!

Bonita Arts, Volunteer

Skaneateles Festival Board Member, 2010-2014

Susie is a wonderful person who truly wants to help people and be more involved in Naples. She is a proven leader in her community in Naples and Skaneateles. She is a strategic and creative thinker and has an incredible ability to motivate and inspire people. When I spoke with Susie about my experience so far with GNL she became very excited and said that she was searching for something exactly like that. She has determination and a strong work ethic and I know she will be a great asset to the community.

I am a full time real estate broker t John R Wood properties, I live in Mediterra in North Naples and am very active there, I am also a business owner of 2 coffee/kava shops in Naples, as well as own rental properties and am very involved in local charities in Collier County.

I have always heard great things about this program and since Naples is growing so fast I feel its important to be involved on a more in depth understanding of everything in the county.

I have been with my mother in the top 25 local realtors in Naples since 2007. That is out of over 8000 local agents through just Nabor.

We donate from every single transactions to a local charity. We are very grateful for the support of our clients entrusting us with their real estate transactions that we feel very strongly that it is also important to give back to our community as well!

I was a contributing member of the C’MON guild for years to get the project off the ground

very involved with the United Way locally and serve as a board member in Mediterra for the annual campaign

building, youth, environment

I know a lot of people of influence and I am good at capital campaigns, networking efforts, marketing and putting the right people in touch with others that enable people to further their interests on so many levels

Helped years and years at Community School of Naples through their advancement office and financial aid departments. Helped raise awareness and money through a fashioin show at Waterside Shops to raise the most money for a similar event. I also mentored many young men through pop warner football programs and directly helped them as they were high school level kids with their college application process, scholarship applications and local charities applications.

I believe Naples is growing very quickly and its very important to help new family’s in Naples be able to quickly adjust and land safely so they can also contribute asap.

mothers hope, american cancer society, juvenille diabetes foundation, Coldwell Banker in Pittsburgh annual Christmas luncheon,

Tade is a dynamic person who has already demonstrated a personal commitment to help those in our community who are underserved and who is interested expanding that commitment. I believe that she will, if accepted into the program, develop into a class leader and work successfully with others to give back to the community.

Understanding the greater Collier County Community is instrumental to my successful leadership at Grace Place. To meet the literacy needs and goals of the Golden Gate Community, which ultimately impacts the entire Collier community, requires an understanding of the overall health, educational opportunities, and challenges of Collier County. Collaboration and connections are so important. They are the building blocks to problem solving. In my time at Grace Place, I have worked to connect with our partners – David Lawrence Center, NCEF, CFCC, SWFL Blue Zone Project and many of the area faith groups and civic organizations. During my professional career I have been committed to the communities that I work and live. When I was a child, my father was a city council member, his recognition of working to better our community was instilled in me at an early age and continues today.

During my tenure at South County Outreach in Orange County California, I led the team to secured the 2019 California Nonprofit of the Year recognition.

I will never be prouder than my role at South County Outreach, housing homeless working families. It was a role that took personal and professional stamina, but the outcomes were life changing for the families and intrinsically gratifying for me. During my tenure, we housed 200 families. My role at Grace Place and my prior role at Loras College, allow me to help prevent the need for a South County Outreach. Working to end poverty before homelessness through education and literacy is vital. I have witnessed first generation college students earn a degree – the pride of the student and the parents and of my team as we understand what that opportunity and success would mean. My career and community involvements have been intentional choices. I work best when working to solve a problem that improves the lives of those around me.

My ambition is to help others. It surprised me when I was younger. It can sound trite. It feels like it should be expected and does not need to be talked about. It has become a part of me. My helping is not in the form of health care, first responders, or direct teaching, but in helping others find solutions and resources. This is one of the reasons this opportunity is important to me – find solutions for local people, I must know all the local resources and people who can help me work to generate solutions for those families in our community facing literacy and poverty-based challenges.

I joined Grace Place for Children and Families in October 2020. I have spent 25 years in youth education and human services for underserved communities. My focus recently has been on understanding the unique challenges faced by small to midsize nonprofits. Most recently I served as the CEO at South County Outreach, a hunger and Homeless Services Agency in Irvine, California, where I led the agency to earning the distinction of 2019 California Nonprofit of the Year and chairing a county-wide, 18-agency member Family Solutions Collaborative. My prior experience with the Boy Scouts of America solidified my fundraising and property development skills on a national level. In addition, I served as the chief spokesperson, having programs featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Oprah, among others, as well as national and local print media. My career began at Loras College, in Dubuque, Iowa, where I worked in public relations and recruitment. I hold a Master of Arts degree in Public Relations from the University of Northern Iowa and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Journalism from Iowa State University. My husband, Michael, live in Bonita Springs, having relocated to SWFL in July of 2020.

In partnership with the Board of Directors of South County Outreach, I worked to developed a 5-year strategic plan to ensure the successful transition from federal funding to individual funding to support to form a continuum of housing options to meet the diverse needs of the vulnerable family homeless population.

I am a member of the Collier County Public Services Review & Ranking Committee, member, (2020, 2021, 2022). It has allowed me to bring experiences and insights that I have to benefit my new community. It has also afforded me the opportunity to learn more about the nonprofit community in Collier as well as the staff at the County and other civic minded members.

Collier County Public Services Review & Ranking Committee, member

Iowa State University Alumni Club of SWFL, member

Family Solutions Collaborative – immediate past chair and founding member

Orange County Senior Citizen Advisory Council

Laguna Niguel Homeless Task Force

Public Relations Society of America member

University of California, Irvine, Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation

First, I am a strong believer in the GNL mission and Lara is a candidate who will gain much from the GNL experience and then be able to give back much to our community. Lara will benefit from each of the days in the GNL schedule. She will meet others in GNL and the community who will be a resource to her as CEO of Grace Place. Lara has developed strong leadership skills through her previous experiences. With more knowledge, education, and understanding about Collier County, she will be better equipped to provide leadership and to help more people in the Golden Gate community and Collier County. I highly recommend Lara for membership in GNL….cannot think of anyone better!