​This is a joint event lunch meeting with Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce and the Northern Kane County Chamber of Commerce "Women in Business."

WIM Fox Valley (WIM) kicks off the new year with nationally recognized trainer, speaker and coach Suzanne Ness, President and Co-founder of Forward Effect Coaching, who will present “Answering the Call: strategies for making 2020 your best year yet" on Thursday, January 9, 2020.

The joint event lunch meeting with the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce and the Northern Kane County Chamber of Commerce “Women in Business” will be held  at The Haight, 166 Symphony Way, Elgin.

Click here to make reservations.

In her topic on planning, Ness notes that setting goals and making plans starts with a strong vision. Join Ness as she shares strategies designed to help you achieve your goals and bring your vision to life.
Ness is a small business owner, certified coach, and elected public official. In this talk, she will share some of her own strategies toward achieving results, answering your own “call,” and having a great year! Ness is the. She has led hundreds of sessions in a variety of organizations throughout North America. As an ICF certified coach with a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management, she continues to train, coach, and empower workforces and organizations, specializing in all aspects of communication, leadership, presentation skills and team building. She is adept at connecting with others and inspiring the power of learning.
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She has served on the Northern Kane County Chamber of Commerce board and is an online Adjunct Professor for the School of Business at Purdue University Global. She also developed a Young Leaders Coaching and Mentoring program for Teens at Dundee Crown High School. She is married, has two college age daughters, a stepson, a granddaughter, and lives in Crystal Lake IL. She is an avid reader, runner, and traveler and enjoys spending time with her family and friends.

​This month’s meeting sponsor is Pat Szpekowski, APR, president of PR Strategies & Communications, Inc./PmS advertising, inc. in Elgin. A co-founder of both WIM Fox Valley and the Northern Kane County Chamber of Commerce Women in Business organizations, Szpekowski provides award-winning public relations, custom creative graphic design, and candid event photography for businesses and not for profit organizations.

WIM Fox Valley welcomes executive coach and national speaker Linda Deering Dean, RN, MSN on Thursday, December 12th.

The lunch meeting will be held at Emmett’s Brewing Co. at 128 West Main Street in West Dundee with networking at 11:30 a.m., luncheon and program at noon. Meetings adjourn at 1:00 p.m. Cost for members is $25.00 and non-members $28.00. Area women in business are welcome to attend this complimentary month’s presentation. Reservations can be made by clicking here or walk-ins are always welcome!

In her topic of “leading for life”, Deering Dean will present how leadership is a function, not a position. The topic will cover leadership skills, such as: to get different results, the process must change; people must behave differently; and a leader’s job is to make sure that required behaviors are being done in all circumstances.
 
Deering Dean has over 35 years of experience in healthcare clinical, operational and executive leadership.  She has a passion and ability to deliver outstanding results for service, quality, safety, engagement and finance.  In her most recent role as President of Advocate Sherman Hospital, she led the organization to significant improvements and national recognition, including: patient engagement increased from 40th to 90th percentile; employee engagement improved from the 50th to 90th percentile; physician engagement improved from the 45th to 85th percentile; serious safety events decreased by 85%; and operating margin moved from 0% to +8%.
 
Linda has served as a national speaker through her participation in the Studer Group.  In this role, she fulfills her passion for improving work environments for leaders, employees, partners and customers while improving operational results.  

​This month’s meeting sponsor is Joy Symonds, co-owner, Symonds-Madison Funeral Home in Elgin. Proudly veteran and family-owned, Symonds-Madison Funeral Home has served Fox Valley families with compassion and excellence for over 90 years.

WIM Fox Valley (WIM) will hold its annual complimentary guest luncheon on Thursday, November 14, 2019 featuring local Latino Film Festival founder and editor Margarita Mendoza.The lunch meeting will be held at Emmett’s Brewing Co. at 128 West Main Street in West Dundee with networking at 11:30 a.m., luncheon and program at noon. Meetings adjourn at 1:00 p.m. Cost for members is $25.00 and non-members $28.00. Area women in business are welcome to attend this complimentary month’s presentation.   Please click here to make reservations.
Mendoza of Elgin is an experienced journalist and public relations professional. She is a translator, and the editor of the international award-winning Spanish language monthly newspaper, El Observador, for the Catholic Diocese of Rockford.
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In 2012, Mendoza launched and has directed the Latino Film Festival Elgin. Several years ago she started the Latino Film Festival Aurora. She is featured in the book series Today’s Inspired Latina, founded by Jackie Camacho-Ruiz.

She is also a director of Colombia Hoy and edits the Panamericano Hoy, a Spanish language newspaper focused on optimistic news.

She and her husband Enrique reside in Elgin and are the parents of three daughters. In 2007, Mendoza graduated from the Elgin Leadership Academy. She studied at the Universidad Autónoma De Occidente, in Cali, Colombia, a Master in Organizational Communication; graduated from Social Communicator/Journalist; and has a Political Science, Certified.

Sponsor for this month’s meeting is member Melissa Davidson, CPA, of Davidson Pargman and Company LLC. Davidson takes pride that her firm provides a total commitment to building one-on-one relationships with each individual client. Services include a variety of financial, tax, and advisory needs.
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​White, a mother of  3 children, is also a student and a welder. She is trying to show everyone that it is never too late to follow a dream, no matter how different it may be. She’s a trendsetter and is paving the way for women everywhere to see there is a need for them in the trades. 
 
She recently graduated from Elgin Community College with 2 certificates: one in Basic Vocational Specialist in Welding and Basic Vocational Specialist in MIG Welding. She also earned a 3G and 4G certificate in MIG welding and graduated with high honors. 
 
White was recently chosen to be on the cover of Elgin Community College’s Inspire magazine and has been included as part of a special publication in the national magazine “The Welder” along with 3 other women. She has excelled in the field and is currently employed with JN Machinery in East Dundee. White is still pursuing her education and has gone back to gain her Associates in Applied Science in Welding Fabrication Technology.

The lunch meeting will be held at Emmett’s Brewing Co. at 128 West Main Street in West Dundee with networking at 11:30 a.m., luncheon and program at noon. Meetings adjourn at 1:00 p.m. Cost for members is $25.00 and non members - $28.00. Area women in business are welcome to attend this month’s presentation. 
​Please click here to make reservations.
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Sponsor for this month’s meeting is Faith Clark, CLU, financial representative of Northwestern Mutual in Schaumburg. Her financial services practice focuses on spreading financial literacy and empowering women to be financially successful.

​Rabbi Frisch Klein has been an entrepreneur and strategy consultant for high tech companies. She serves on several local boards including the Chicago Board of Rabbis and the 16th Circuit Court Steering Committee on Family Violence. She blogs as the Energizer Rabbi and is the author of two books, one of which is coming out this fall.

The lunch meeting will be held at Emmett’s Brewing Co. at 128 West Main Street in West Dundee with networking at 11:30 a.m., luncheon and program at noon. Meetings adjourn at 1:00 p.m. Cost for members is $25.00 and non members - $28.00. Area women in business are welcome to attend this month’s presentation. Reservations can be made by clicking here.

​Sponsor for this month’s meeting is Attorney Janet W. Ellingson of Elgin. Her areas of practice include family law, estate planning, real estate and litigation.

Members and guests are welcome to attend the WIM Fox Valley (WIM) evening celebration dinner with featured speaker, Kathy Melone, Advancement Director of Mutual Ground in Aurora, on Thursday, May 2, 2019 at the McGraw Wildlife Foundation, 14N322 IL Route 25, in Dundee.

Networking, appetizers, and a cocktail party with wine begins at 5:30pm with a buffet dinner being served at 6:15pm. Cost for members is $30.00 and non members - $35.00. Area women in business are welcome to attend this month’s presentation. Reservations are preferred for this event.

To make reservations, please click here.

Melone will share life lessons during her talk, “Screw It, Let's Do It: Life Lessons I've Learned (So Far)”. She oversees all of the fundraising, marketing and outreach efforts of Mutual Ground, a non-profit organization serving victims, and survivors, of domestic or sexual violence. The agency serves more than 1,400 members of our community each year through their prevention programming, intervention services and on-going support. 

She worked in the corporate world for 10 years, most recently at Kraft Foods, before leaving to work full-time in the non-profit sector. She has spent more than 20 years at various non-profits, previously serving as Director of Development at Fox Valley Hands of Hope in Geneva, Chicago Cares in Chicago and Anderson Animal Shelter in South Elgin. 

Melone received her B.S. and M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is involved in the Rotary Club of Geneva, Rotary Club of Aurora, and serves on the St. Charles Cultural Commission. She lives in St. Charles and in her free time enjoys playing tennis, running, and hanging out with her three teenagers.

Meeting sponsors are WIM Fox Valley members and REALTORS® Kathryn Festen and Georgianna Sinnett of the Baird & Warner office in Barrington. 

​Women continually seek advice and solutions regarding the effect environmental chemicals have on hormone balance. Dr. Jennifer Mercier of Expect a Miracle in St. Charles will provide answers for overall wellness and health at the WIM Fox Valley meeting on Thursday, April 11, 2019  at Emmett’s Brewing Co. at 128 West Main Street in West Dundee.

Networking begins at 11:30 a.m., with luncheon and program at noon. Meetings adjourn at 1:00 p.m. Cost for members is $25.00 and non members - $28.00. Area women in business are welcome to attend this month’s presentation. 

To make reservations, please click here.  Walk-ins are always welcome!

Dr. Jennifer Mercier has been in practice since 1996 and has a genuine passion for serving women in many capacities from adolescence to menopause. She started her practice as a massage therapist and progressed into home birth midwifery and eventually Naturopathy. Her specialties include functional endocrinology (balancing hormones naturally), infertility, pelvic pain, and c-section recovery. She loves her practice and says “it is like a family of women seeking to be more balanced.”  

She is a graduate of Trinity College (1995) and the Chicago School of Massage Therapy (1996).  She has also completed the Midwifery Training Program at Miami Beach Maternity Center (2000) and the Central States College of Health Sciences - Naturopathic Program (2007). 

​This month’s WIM Fox Valley sponsor is Amy Schillinger, LMFT, AT, EMDR, founder of Balance Stress Management & Therapy. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist, and art therapist. Her holistic and integrative mental health practice is located in Elgin and St. Charles. 

WIM Fox Valley (WIM) presents an entertaining evening with WIM board member Kyla Duewel Brittain, who will teach attendees a short, easy and fun dance routine to get people moving and celebrate spring on Thursday, March 14, 2019.

The evening meeting registration and networking begins at 6:00pm at Emmett’s Brewery Co.,located in downtown West Dundee at 128 West Main Street. Cost for members is $25.00 and non members - $28.00, which includes heavy hors d’oeuvres appetizers and a cash bar.

Area women in business are welcome to attend this casual evening presentation. Reservations can be made for the event by clicking here.  Walk-ins are always welcome!!

Duewel Brittain is the Member Relations Manager at Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation in Dundee. She has followed her life’s passion and has been dancing for 25 years and teaching for over 15 years at local studios in the Fox Valley Area for ages three through adult.  She enjoys specializing in first dances and birthday parties and spreading her love of dance and movement to everyone.

She graduated from Kendall College, Chicago, in 2010 with a Bachelor's in Hospitality Management. Since graduation, she has worked for famed attractions including The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN and Soldier Field in Chicago. She is a lifelong resident of Elgin. 

​Meeting sponsors are WIM Fox Valley members and REALTORS®  Kathryn Festen and Georgianna Sinnett of the Baird & Warner office in Barrington. ​

It’s never too late to be concerned about the integration of finances and relationships which impacts the state of financial harmony. Find out more from  Nancy Effert of Effert Financial Solutions, Inc. In Barrington, at the WIM Fox Valley meeting on Thursday, February 14, 2019  at Emmett’s Brewing Co. at 128 West Main Street in West Dundee.

Networking begins at 11:30 a.m., with luncheon and program at noon. Meetings adjourn at 1:00 p.m. Cost for members is $25.00 and non members - $28.00. Area women in business are welcome to attend this month’s presentation. Reservations can be made by clicking here.  Walk-ins are always welcome!

With over 20 years’ of corporate experience focusing on actuarial and management consulting, Effert brings considerable knowledge of the financial services industry to her signature wealth management approach. Her straight forward style provides a holistic methodology which includes wealth planning, risk management, business services, investment services and financial planning. Her clients benefit from her wide array of expertise and solution-based approach.

Effert is as engaged in the community as she is with clients. She is proactive in supporting non-profit and business leadership organizations as a volunteer, fundraiser and trailblazer. Author of several financial articles and publications, she speaks on various financial-focused topics.

​This month’s WIM Fox Valley sponsor is Joy Symonds, co-owner, Symonds-Madison Funeral Home in Elgin, which has served Fox Valley families with compassion and excellence for over 90 years.

Kick off the new year with a focus on good health.  Family therapist Amy Schillinger, LMFT, AT, EMDR,  founder of Balance Stress Management & Therapy, will present at the WIM Fox Valley meeting on Thursday, January 10, 2019  at Emmett’s Brewing Co. at 128 West Main Street in West Dundee.

Networking begins at 11:30 a.m., with luncheon and program at noon. Meetings adjourn at 1:00 p.m. Cost for members is $25.00 and non members - $28.00. Area women in business are welcome to attend this month’s presentation.

Reservations must be made for attendance by clicking here.  Walk-ins are also welcome!

Schillinger is a licensed marriage and family therapist, art therapist, and is trained in EMDR, Mindfulness, Neurofeedback. She is completing her 200 hour yoga teacher training. 

Schillinger is the founder of Balance Stress Management & Therapy, a holistic and integrative mental health practice in Elgin and St. Charles. The practice serves individuals, couples, children, and families and is in network with most insurance providers for their behavioral health component. Balance Stress Management & Therapy blends traditional counseling techniques with alternative therapies such as occupational therapy, Neurofeedback and QEEG brain mapping, Art Therapy, Reiki, and Yoga Therapy to help everyone get closer to their center.

​This month’s WIM Fox Valley sponsor is Michelle Santucci, owner of Little Mac Boutique and Rodan + Fields consultant in Elgin.