Recent Profile Articles
Stacy Stout previously served as the inaugural Director of Family-Centered Philanthropy at the Steelcase Foundation, spent over seven years as the City of Grand Rapids’ inaugural Director of Equity and Engagement, and is deeply involved with the local community in a...
Our lives wouldn’t be what they are without the stellar local establishments found around every corner of West Michigan, from the newly founded to the well-established and everything in between. Those local staples are what the West Michigan Woman Readers' Choice...
Did you know? According to the National Museum of the American Indian, it's estimated that in the 130 years followinag first European contact, Native America lost 95% of its population, along with a disruption of tradition and enormous loss of land....
Tiawanna Ezell is a 10-year cancer survivor whose journey with Stage III cancer shaped her passion for advocacy, community, and hope. A devoted mother of three daughters, Tiawanna lives each day with gratitude and determination, embracing the beauty of the...
Shannon Gales first felt pain in her left breast during a long run in late August 2023. When she showered, she confirmed it was a lump. All the feelings she felt 25 years earlier came rushing back. Her next several weeks were filled with mammograms, ultrasounds,...
Renee Belkin-Lang has fought cancer twice in her life, and continues to take medication to prevent reoccurrence. She was diagnosed with breast cancer (DCIS) 16 years ago, then two years later she was diagnosed with a Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST), which grew...
When one of Lisa Knight’s 11 children was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was there to be her caregiver. “Family is one of the greatest gifts we have and we must help preserve that to the best of our ability,” she said. Now, her daughter is cancer-free, has retired...
When Kent Deemter was diagnosed with cancer as a young husband and father, his world was turned upside down. That same day, one random thought made him laugh: What if his friends and family could go bald digitally, no clippers required? His sister-in-law heard about...
Julia Hahn had already lost her father to small cell lung cancer and witnessed her mother’s breast cancer survivorship when she was diagnosed herself with Stage IV pancreatic cancer in 2023. After her diagnosis, she’s had chemotherapy, 30 days of radiation, and a...
Erin Murray was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer at age 29 when she was six and a half months pregnant with her son Evan. “It was the biggest shock of my life, since I was feeling healthy and ecstatic about having a baby!” Erin recalled. “The following months...