Rachel Reynolds: August 2010

Rachel is a local business owner of Romp n’ Roll Mechanicsville and a powerhouse fundraiser for the non-profit launched by she and her equally-awesome husband, Roger Reynolds. Their non-profit, CJ’s Thumbs Up Foundation CJStuf.org was created in honor of their daughter, Charlotte Jennie, who was undergoing cancer treatment; they Reynolds family received so much support they decided to pay it forward with $10,000 in donations to families suffering from terminal illness. Charlotte sadly passed away in January 2010, and CJStuf.org serves as a reminder of her beauty and will continue to support families undergoing similar hardships.

Mary Fisk-Taylor, May 2010

Full disclosure: Mary Fisk-Taylor is a sponsor of Richmondmom.com. But even if she weren’t, we’d think she was a super Richmond Rockstar. Why? Through her businesses, Hayes & Fisk and Real Life Studios, Mary and her partner, Jamie Hayes, give tens of thousands of dollars to charities all over Richmond through their charitable donations of time, photographic services, and beautiful prints. They’ve taken the time to photograph many of the families that benefit from Children’s Health Involving Parents (CHIP) among others, highlighting everything that’s beautiful about being small business owners in Richmond, VA: giving back. We’re proud to be a partner with a business who helps the Richmond Community and helps to capture its beauty, one photo at a time.

Nikole Sarvay, April 2010

Nikole Sarvay is a Richmond mom with a mission. Just this month, she took it upon herself to spend hours upon hours crafting beautiful fabric roses as part of a fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis. The disease, which is touching one of her newborn family members, can be very crippling; in particular children are severely weakened by this disorder. Many children cannot even pronounce (let alone understand) the disease and it’s often called “65 Roses.” To this end, Nikole launched a campaign to sell 65 beautifully-handmade roses and unexpectedly sold out within a day or two. Read more about the 65 Roses Project on Nikole’s blog, A Happy Nest.

Kyra Oliver, March 2010

Kyra Oliver lost her precious infant son, Hayes to SIDS, and immediately launched a worldwide campaign to prevent SIDS deaths through her Hayes Hitzeman Foundation. This amazing Richmond, VA based non-profit educates parents everywhere about SIDS and with their now-famous onesies, to keep infants sleeping on their backs. We think this is one rockstar mom who has taken a terrible tragedy and now shines the light for other parents. Thanks, Kyra.

Diane Campbell, December 2009

Diane is the president of the non-profit children’s choir, City Singers Children’s Choirs, here in Richmond. It is through Diane’s (volunteer!) hard work that this marvelous group exists.  City Singers Children’s Choirs perform the highest caliber of distinguished children’s choral music from the body of classical, traditional, and modern compositions from around the world. Our goal is to inspire the highest level of artistic choral performance while bringing together youth of the greater Richmond area in a joyful appreciation of their ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity.  We serve children throughout the greater Richmond area from grades 2 through 12, regardless of whether they are able to provide tuition through our need-based financial aid and scholarships. Diane not only serves as president of our board, but she also works tirelessly as our general manager, parent volunteer coordinator, and parent volunteer, even though her daughter is not singing with us this year. Just one of those jobs would be a lot of work, even as a paid position, but Diane volunteers all of her time with us, while managing her full-time career.  In addition to the above, Diane’s husband is very ill with Parkinson’s Disease.  I can only imagine the pain of seeing a loved one suffer so, but Diane bears this cheerfully and with optimistic resolve as she cares for him. Diane and her husband, Colin, have two children, who are actively involved in their school arts programs—choir and orchestra. 

Jennifer Mistal-Kashinejad, October 2009

Jennifer Mistal-Kashinejad is a Richmond mom on a mission: she has become an advocate for her son, Aden who is on the autism spectrum, and for parents everywhere fighting for health care coverage for the critical services that children on the spectrum desperately need. Jen has gone to the General Assembly and to the Capitol and has organized events to raise funds for autism research, just to name a few. She is a mom on a mission, and we think she is a hero-model for Richmond moms!

Patience Salgado, September 2009

Patience Salgado isn’t just kind. She’s built an entire persona around kindness, giving, and charitable acts. This Richmond mom of four, with kids ranging from nine to under one year old, creates “acts of kindness” in the Richmond VA community that benefit all Richmond kids. For example, this month she’s organizing Guerrilla Goodness through her website, www.kindnessgirl.com. What’s it all about? It’s a simple, but caring act of writing inspiring messages for Richmond schoolchildren to encourage them during the early days of the school year. Just, well. . . because. And for that and all that you’re doing, Kindnessgirl, we think you rock.

Lyn McDermid, July 2009

Our July ‘09 Rockstar is Margaret E. “Lyn” McDermid, Senior Vice President—Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Virginia Power. She was nominated by Paula Gulak, who thinks she’s an amazing technology leader, parent, grandparent, mentor, and friend! McDermid was named to Computerworld’s list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2004.” She was appointed by Gov. Gilmore to be a member of the Chief Information Officer Advisory Board and a member of the Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Council. She is a member of the Board of Trustees at Mary Baldwin College, Foundation Board at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Board of Directors for the Greater Richmond Technology Council (now called RichTech) Board of the Richmond Forum, and CIO Forum and is active in United Way and Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Richmond. WOW, a smart woman who cares, too. Now that rocks.

Anne Fox, June 2009

This is not a photo of Anne Fox, but rather her new venture “Little Red Truck Landscaping”, which we feel propels her to rock star status. You see, as with many Richmond VA corporate women she was downsized from her financial analyst position. So, after some serious soul-searching Anne followed her passion, which is far from sitting behind a computer screen poring over spreadsheets. Anne has always loved and thrived with living things—namely of the green and beautiful kind—and decided to launch her own venture. Now, she’s transforming neighborhoods in her very own Northside area and beyond Richmond. So to you, Anne, we say YOU GO GIRL and get those nails dirty while making our yards look goooood. Anne may be contacted at: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and the Little Red Truck website.

Linda Robinson, May 2009

“She thinks of everyone before herself!” says Karen Lynn, who nominated Linda Robinson. “She’s my nanny and a mother of 5. Her youngest is 16. I’ve never known someone to have such a kind heart! Besides caring for my 3 boys as if they were her own children, she used to go once a week and give my 94-year-old grandmother a bath. Her entire working career as been spent caring for others. We consider her a member of our family.  One of the most interesting things Linda has shared with me is that her best friend growing up could not have children and Linda was a surrogate for her. Now that’s selfless considering she’d already carried 5 children of her own!” There was recently a homicide in an apartment complex near where Linda used to live, and when she heard the gun shots, instead of hiding like most people would have, she ran outside when she heard the wounded boy screaming. Linda stayed with him until an ambulance got there, and boy basically died in her arms. This is just the kind of person she is.

Jenn Rhoden, April 2009

Jenn is a spectacular person all her own.  She uses her gifts and abilities to bless others, simply said.  She is a reading teacher at a low socio-economic school, she is a part of the leadership team in our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), she is active volunteering in church and still takes time to develop herself by participating in a book club.  She does all of this while being an involved mom of two kids (Avery 5 and Miles 4) and a supportive wife to a minister (which has it’s own set of responsibilities).

All of this is great, but what I admire about Jenn the most is her desire to reach out to others.  Many of us have great intentions, but Jenn puts action behind her thoughts.  I just moved her about six months ago and was floundering as a wife, mom, and individual having just moved from my home, friends and family.  Jenn grabbed ahold of me and made sure I made friends and got involved.  She provided SANITY for me in a desperate time.  Thanks, Jenn for being a Rockstar!—Chara Robinson

Karen Hannon, March 2009

Karen Hannon really kills us with her kindness. Seriously—she has built an entire operation out of random acts of kindness, and you’ll see her around town distributing her amazing Community Kindness Calendars. Through her partnership with local media and businesses, she created Operation Community Kindness sponsored by her site, SpotlightRichmond.com.

“Our goal is to create a culture of kindness by engaging people, businesses and corporations, not-for-profit, community and faith-based groups to come together in support of the children, faculty and staff in our schools. We strive to call forth the goodness in our children; making them aware of the many acts of kindness that are being done for them and giving them an opportunity to respond with their own acts of kindness. Research indicates that emphasis on positive social behavior (modeling the value of kindness) has decreased incidents of bullying, improved attendance and helped to create a better, safer learning environment.” Rock on, Karen, and thanks for making Richmond a kinder place.

Lynn Hughes, February 2009

Nominated by Gin Brockwell, Lynne Hughe’s success is derived from extreme sadness: she lost both of her parents by age twelve. Lynn turned her grief into a dream-come-true for other children who would experience similar loss: she created Comfort Zone Camp.

Comfort Zone Camp is a camp that offers a respite from the storm for children who are grieving. Hundreds of kids have benefited from Lynn’s hard work, revealed here in the Comfort Zone Camp testimonials. There are also reading materials and other grief support services.

Lynne’s hard work as the Founder/CEO of Comfort Zone Camp now benefits kids in Richmond, VA, New Jersey, and California. Thanks, Lynn for bringing smiles to children who need them the most!

Amy Strite, December 2008

Why do we like Amy Strite so much? Simply put, she helps kids all over Richmond reach their potential with an amazing organization called CHIP of Greater Richmond: Children’s Health Involving Parents.

Amy works extensively with those in the private and public sector in collaborative effort to assess current and changing need, evaluate the effectiveness of service delivery, and plan for appropriate responses to community need. With her passionate team, Amy ensures that CHIP serves hundreds of families in the Richmond area, maximizing their potential through increased medical care for children and family support services. A full list of outcomes is available on the CHIP site.

A part from her professional positions, Amy has served the community in a variety of ways including sitting on the boards of The NAMES Project Central Virginia, Virginia Supportive Housing, and The National Association of Social Workers-Virginia Chapter. WOW. That’s giving.

Tabitha Geary, November 2008

Everyone is talking about her. This is no scrap-booking, photo-taping, ordinary gal. Her products are memorable and will stick with you for a lifetime (some literally!)Your browser may not support display of this image.

Tabitha Geary, owner of her own creative company, Tabitha Geary is an entrepreneur, a mother-of-five, and her work has been featured by Entrepreneur Magazine, Lifetime Television, Mom Talk Radio, Work Magazine and other national and local outlets.

And, if that just wasn’t enough, she’s going to Air on Martha Stewart this month. As my mom would say, “For Pete’s Sake, that’s amazing!”