Recent Profile Articles
With a degree in elementary education and work experience as a manager and a buyer, Amy Ruis takes a well-rounded approach to her nearly 10-year-old business, Art of the Table. "I got the idea because I love to entertain, drink good wine and beer, cook, and bake," she...
Writers block doesn't scare Linda Nemec Foster–she's always writing. As Grand Rapids' first poet laureate, from 2003 to 2005, her literary oven is always cooking, although she hesitates to talk about the projects that are still in the works. "I'm superstitious. If I...
Payton Dewitt is a sweet, happy, 7-year-old girl, just special enough to have a charity named after her. What makes Payton even more special is that she is living with mitochondrial disease. Through Payton's Race for a Cure, the organization founded by her mother,...
When her eyes opened in a hospital room, Holly Werlein had no idea she'd undergone a liver transplant surgery. What's more, the 21-year-old from Traverse City could not imagine that a few years later, she would be founding the Holdol Wear Clothing line and acting as...
Laura Caprara is putting Grand Rapids on the map one event at a time. Her business, Stellafly Social Media, is taking off, and with photography and video coverage of happenings throughout West Michigan and even beyond the state lines, Laura hopes to inspire her social...
For Kim Bode it was all about making connections when she launched her business 834 Design & Marketing. Involvement in local organizations like Grand Rapids Young Professionals gave Kim a foundation of friends, mentors, and supporters during the launch of her...
Although she's not technically from West Michigan, Miss America 2012 Laura Kaeppeler did spend some time in the Grand Rapids community visiting school children and spreading her message of hope for a bright future. Laura was crowned this January and will spend a year...
Donna Betten was like so many chemotherapy patients making frequent trips to Saint Mary's Healthcare in Grand Rapids for her treatments. But a simple box of makeup changed her outlook on her illness and on life thanks to an organization that is providing funding and...
If you've never experienced the West-Michigan Women's Expo, this is the year to go! This year's event at the DeVos Place includes a full line up of exclusive product launches, shopping, networking and seminars is more exciting than ever before. “We change it up every...
You'll laugh, you'll cry (because you're laughing so hard), and you'll boost your health–all in the name of Gilda's LaughFest. The second annual community-wide event is coming to Grand Rapids March 8-18, and Gilda's Club has assembled a cast of laugh-worthy...