By Sherry Jackson This is Michael’s story…. I will share it with anyone willing to listen, because I promised him I would never rest until there was a cure for the nasty disease that ended his life way too soon. Cystic Fibrosis. I had never heard of it. Michael was...
By Tiffany Rucker, MBA It all started with vital signs during clinicals. I was in a nursing program, and every night we practiced taking vital signs on each other. One evening, my usual vitals partner was absent, so I was working with the instructor, who was a 30-year...
By Tiffany Rucker, MBA You’ve heard the saying, “you are what you eat,” right? And we understand that bad eating habits manifest into severe health conditions over time. Well, what do you think happens to you physically when you dine on a steady diet of negative thoughts? Let’s...
Dotti Groover-Skipper is grateful for her upbringing. “I was raised to find gratitude in everything, even in the storm. You know, ‘Learn how to dance in the rain’—because that’s not so bad.” Her father was the outreach director for their church, and he was, she said,...
Makissa Lewis is a female U.S. Army veteran committed to supporting other females leaving military service and settling in Florida, which has the nation’s second-largest population of female veterans. “I don’t want any other female to feel how I felt,” she said. “Lost.” In 2004, when Lewis...
Julie Johnson-Weintraub, 48, was born in England and moved to the Northeastern United States with her family at age 7. They relocated, again, to Florida in the mid-’80s. “My mother just loved the sound of living here,” Johnson-Weintraub said. Dropping into a lovely British accent,...
In the busy holiday season, when her nonprofit is providing assistance to more than 10,000 families and individuals across Pinellas County, we sat down with nonprofit executive Melinda Perry to discuss the joy and challenges of transformational leadership. Perry is RCS Pinellas’ Chief Operating Officer,...
The old adage might be that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, but that hasn’t been the case in commercial kitchens. In the restaurant world, the top spot is usually occupied by a man. Maybe even the top two or three spots. Not so in...
Julia Delmerico is a bit bemused to find herself the subject of a profile around passion projects. “If you asked me five years ago if I’d be interested in riding a bike for two days and 165 miles to benefit the community, I may have looked...
By Elliott Potter Gratitude has no time stamp. In earnest form, it exists on a continuum—with a beginning, but no end. A good life builds on gratitude. It’s a snowball effect that starts at a young age. One of the first phrases most children learn is “thank...