CINspirational People: Sherry Hopkins
CINspirational People is a new feature of Good Things Going Around profiling diverse people of Greater Cincinnati, what inspires them, and what is inspiring about them. Know someone for us to consider? Please submit your idea.
Sherry Hopkins
GTGA: What is an accomplishment you achieved that you are proud of?
Sherry: Overcoming my fear of public speaking!
GTGA: Tell us about someone who has been a positive influence in your life.
Sherry: My Grandfather, William Symons, who lived to be 100 years old, embodied the spirit of living life to the fullest, and believed that five words applied to 
anything worth doing: knowledge, education, curiosity, imagination, and perseverance. His strong work ethics began as a 10-year-old boy working 20-hour days for a grocery store, during the summer. With a boy scout’s handbook, he made his first ham-radio receiver using a “coherer” and 2 electric doorbells. After taking violin lessons, he played in the high school orchestra, and went on to become a Concert Master for Symphonies in Indiana, Illinois, California, Florida, and Cincinnati. Working as a Radio Engineer for WLW in Cincinnati, he witnessed the Flood of 1937. He held a variety of engineering positions for Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, in Munich, Berlin, and other Cities across Germany. He designed and built the first portable sound projector and portable public address system. We have so much to learn from this generation of individuals!
GTGA: What is a motto you live by and why or how has it impacted you?
Sherry: I have quite a few…here are two of them: “In the end we only regret the chances we didn’t take” and “Work like you don’t need the money, love like you’ve never been hurt, dance like nobody’s watching.” These resonate with me, because too often people make fear based choices, and if you follow your passions, you’ll be successful!
GTGA: What is your biggest motivator?
Sherry: The passing of time.
GTGA: Tell us about an act of kindness you have done, witnessed or been the recipient of and how that made you feel.
Sherry: A few years ago, I made “care bags” for homeless people, filled with deodorant, toothpaste, razor, crackers, fruit snacks, pudding, etc., and gave some of them to friends and family to keep in their cars for the opportunity to give to the needy.
GTGA: Tell us about what you do and what are some of the reasons why you enjoy it.
Sherry: Having served in the U.S. Army following High School to take advantage of the G.I. Bill for college, and working in the corporate world for 30 years, I’ve been fortunate to follow my passions and have my own company, “Sherry Lachelle Photography”, and am a freelance photographer for Local 12’s online magazine, “Cincinnati Refined”. I also take people on trips around the world as a Tour Director through my “Travel Spirit Meetup”, and help elderly people organize their homes. These are all things I love to do and did them for free before they turned into money-making ventures. If you haven’t heard, Scientists have identified a “travel” gene and I’m sure I was born with it!
Xavier University Students Made Prosthetic For Assistance Dog
Tiny, a beautiful, gentle golden retriever being raised and trained through nonprofit 4 Paws for Ability to give independence to a child with a disability, got some assistance of her own.
The young girl who knows n
o strangers was born with part of her front, right leg missing which caused some challenges when it came to being able to be of help to someone else. Laurie Maier, Tiny’s foster parent, reached out to Xavier University’s new Center for Innovation and within hours, a solution to Tiny’s mobility challenges was within reach.
Students in the Introduction to Making class (led by Professor Gary Lewandowski) designed, worked with prosthetist Christine Reedey to make a mold, and produced a prosthetic using a 3D printer. It was a huge accomplishment that took several prototypes to find the design that worked.
CINspirational People: Amy Scalia
We are eager to share our first CINspirational People feature focusing on Amy Scalia, publisher of Cincy Chic. CINspirational People will spotlight a broad range of people in Greater Cincinnati and some of what inspires them. Please read what Amy shared with us.
GTGA: What is an accomplishment you achieved that you are proud of?
Amy: Being a mom is hands-down my greatest accomplishment. Not just because bringing a child into the world is a miracle (which it is and it’s amazing!), but we experienced many issues getting pregnant. I wrote more about that here — but in short, after years of thinking I might not ever be a mom, I was able to and she’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.
Second to that achievement is starting my business, being the proud owner for eight years, and the impact we have on the community. We provide weekly content to 25,000 subscribers, help hundreds of local businesses grow through our services, and we donate nearly $20,000 annually to local charities through our events.
Mabel Storer
GTGA: Tell us about someone who has been a positive influence in your life.
Amy: My grandma, Mabel Storer, was one of the first female newspaper reporters in Ohio. She had so many amazing stories, and it sparked a life-long fascination with media. She had such a giving heart, too, and that inspired me to add the philanthropy arm of our business where all our event proceeds are donated to select local charities.
GTGA: What is a motto you live by and why or how has it impact you?
Amy: “Go to sleep with a dream and wake up with a purpose.” This is my motto because I think it’s important to not just dream, but also figure out a way to bring those dreams into reality.
GTGA: What is your biggest motivator?
Amy: Life is short. What more motivation do you need?
GTGA: Tell us about an act of kindness you have done, witnessed or been the recipient of and how that made you feel.
Amy: My husband has a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis and it’s gotten much worse over the past few years. In fact, he got double hip replacements last year and double knee replacements a few months ago. All of this while I was pregnant and then with a newborn. I’d be writing this from the looney bin if it wasn’t for the kindness of others. They came out of the woodwork for us. Bringing us food, helping us bring in and put together baby furniture, do yard work, you name it. Even just recently, we were at a restaurant after Pete got his new knees and we had the baby with us. The restaurant had a 45 minute wait and someone who already had a seat gave us theirs so we didn’t need to wait and they sat there and waited again for a table. I couldn’t believe it. These past few years have been my most challenging by far, but I’m humbled by and so thankful for all the acts of kindness that got us through it.
GTGA: Tell us about what you do and what are some of the reasons why you enjoy it.
Oh gosh. What don’t I do?! haha! My main responsibility is running Cincy Chic, an online publication in Greater Cincinnati. I also oversee its sister publication in Columbus, which is called Cbus Chic, and its “brother” publication called Cincinnati Profile. In addition to that, I blog for Cincinnati.com and am on-air talent for Star64. What I love is that every day is different, but what remains constant is that everything I do tells the stories of local business owners and helps them grow.
Please Help Me Welcome My New Blog Interns
For those who know me and/or have followed Good Things Going Around, you probably know this is a project that truly comes from my heart. I want it to be a place where others can visit – either on my site or through one of my social media networks – and leave inspired, or at least to have their day brightened as a result. My problem has always been finding the time to keep up with it while also maintaining my paid work.
Interns have been invaluable to me. A few months ago I spent a day on the campus of the University of Cincinnati interviewing students to work with me. I was looking for someone who also is a positive thinker and who shares my belief that everyone has the potential for making important contributions.
I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I found not just one but two incredible students with different gifts and interests who want to make a positive difference in this world – and I am truly honored that they want to do that with Good Things Going Around as a vehicle.
Through the end of the summer you will be reading and seeing their work. Please support their energy by resharing posts when they impact you. You will find links to posts on my social media networks too so please follow Good Things Going Around on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Liza came up with the idea and name for a new Good Things project, CINspirational People!, which will spotlight a broad range of people in our community and some of what inspires them. She was so excited about it that she called me days after her interview to tell me she couldn’t stop thinking about it. It is such a wonderful idea and Liza will do a great job heading this up. Katie and I will also be contributing CINspirational People! Posts.
Why I am a Good Things Intern: Liza’s words
Words cannot describe how excited I am to be a part of the Good Things Going Around blog project. CINspirational People! is a new project that we have created to share inspirational stories and spread the positivity throughout the world! I could not be more humbled to have the chance to work with Lisa on this amazing project and hope that you will find a little bit of happiness through each one of my posts.
Please click here to read Liza’s letter of introduction with more information about her.
Katie is a very talented writer and has a passion for sharing the stories of diverse people. Through her writing she will explore many subjects, highlight human strengths and maybe even vulnerability, and inspire you to see the world from different perspectives. You will no doubt be impacted by her contributions.
Why I am a Good Things Intern: Katie’s words
When I was first searching for an internship for the summer, I was immediately drawn to Lisa’s project and its primary purpose of spreading positivity and light into the world via the written word. Too often, we focus heavily on the negative in favor of ignoring the positive. In searching for an internship, I wanted to find a position that would allow me the capacity and ability to use my writing and editing skills to implement positive change in my community, however that might be. Lisa’s blog project is just that. I have high hopes that this will be a space where I will grow both professionally in my writing, editing, and interpersonal communication skills, and personally, in my growth as an individual.
Please click here to read Katie’s introduction letter with more information about her.
Cincinnati Volunteers Raising Money For Amber Rooks Family
At 24, sweet, funny, Amber Rooks, died after a car struck her and four other utility works of the new Liberty Center retail development last month. Friends want to community to join them at a party, May 23, that Amber would have loved – to help raise money for her beloved son who lost his mother way too soon.
The Memorial Day Mixer will be 1 to 9 pm at Sharon Woods Trail, Saturday May 23. Activities will include volleyball, corn hole tournaments, balloon toss, potato sack races and more. Food will be sold and organizers ask attendees to bring their own drinks. For more details, please visit the event’s online page.
“Besides challenging the community to come together in this time of loss we want to challenge everyone to help make us all safer by creating what we hope will come to be known as Amber’s List,” said organizer Whitney Lawson. Amber’s List is platform that no one should drive under the influence and that as a family, group of friends, or an organization; we can help each other.
“We challenge such groups of people to create a list of names, phone numbers, and areas close to where they live so that if someone knows that they should not drive there is a willing community to embrace them and make sure that individual and the rest of us are safe,” said Lawson.
theChive Cincinnati is a local organization that focuses on the idea of community with the goal to make the world 10% better. theChive has pinpointed a charity model, just like that of a flash mob. A common ideology of Chivers around is. “We stand tall as individuals and as tall as Everest when someone needs us. We are small percentage wishing to change the world into the best it can be and will not back down for our values.” We invite everyone from all communities to join us for this memorial day mixer for a great cause. If you cannot attend this event there is a gofundme page set up for Dylan at http://www.gofundme.com/DylansChiveFriends.
