CINspirational People
CINspirational People: Cinny Roy
CINspirational People is a feature of Good Things Going Around profiling diverse people of Greater Cincinnati, what inspires them, and what is inspiring about them. You can read more profiles by clicking on the link at the top of the blog. Do you know someone to suggest? Please reach out. Thanks!
One of my summer interns, Liza Hartke, caught up with Cincinnati resident Cinny Roy, founder of the Eve Center.
The Eve Center is an organization of Christian women committed to promoting emotional, spiritual and relational healing for adult women. This is provided in a safe, confidential environment, at no cost to the client, through one on one peer counseling program, recovery groups, book studies, resource library, and Volunteer Peer Counseling 
Education.
Please learn more about her below.
GTGA Liza: Hi Cinny! Tell me about yourself?
Cinny: I am married with three adult children who we love so very much. I enjoy vegetable and flower gardening, reading historic mysteries, going to bootcamp, eating at new restaurants, being with friends and family
GTGA Liza: How did you get involved with the Eve Center?
Cinny: In 2002, with 1 year to go on my master’s degree in counseling, I thought ‘there has to be a way to honor women’s life walks and all the wisdom they have gathered, teach them to share it with other women but without all of them having to be credentialed therapists.’ I found a model in Indiana, took their first leadership training in spring of 2003, came back to Ohio and on 9/1/03 founded the Eve Center. I had a notebook filled with materials, a laptop, a cell phone but no volunteers, board or location.
By June 2004 we opened our doors with 11 clients and a trained ‘guinea pig’ group of peer counselors. Today we are seeing about 140 women from over 16 counties providing peer counseling through face to face meetings, book studies and recovery groups. Being women only, biblically based, extremely confidential and no cost – well the women come: to give care and to receive care. Over 100 volunteer peer counselors receive 30 hours of basic counselor training. We then grow them, mentor them, lead them so they can care for the women who come. Visualize two consumer groups: the volunteers and the clients; all need hands on care.
GTGA Liza: Tell me a little about the Eve Center Organization. What do you do there?
Cinny: My role has moved from founder, first trainer, day to day operations manager to executive director: oversight, coach, policy development, donor development. We have eight part time staff now. If I do a good job I will work myself out of a job J
GTGA Liza: What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Cinny: It would be seeing women’s lives changed for all eternity. They then impact their spheres of influence: home, family, friends, church, school, work, and neighborhood. This is seen in the lives of the clients AND the volunteers.
GTGA Liza: Who is your biggest inspiration and why?
Cinny: My biggest inspiration comes from women who did not have a good start in life and now need to learn better ways of navigating life. Also my grandfather and my father: each took individual paths that did not follow the expected norm of their professions and society of the time.
GTGA Liza: What is a motto you like to live by?
Cinny: ‘We are all a mess and we all need Jesus’ and ‘come play with me’. The first notes that no sin, no wrong we do is worse than any other. And no one can be better than another before God. Only Jesus clears the deck for me to have a right and healthy and free relationship with God, the Creator. The second motto has to do with how I am: no matter how hard, how awful a woman’s story, WE CAN HAVE JOY and get out of the mess life has thrown.
GTGA Liza: What’s next for you?
Cinny: I am supposed to be on a writing sabbatical. Soon… soon I will take time to finish writing training curriculum so that others who have requested the Eve Center model, can take it to their city, state, wherever, and with God’s leading provide peer counseling for women and men.
GTGA Liza: How can people get involved?
Cinny: Basic peer counselor training is offered twice a year. Next class starts in February. See www.evecenter.org for that and to participate in the groups, studies and face to face peer counseling. AND just a fun fact: over 10,000 volunteer hours in 2014 WHILE the budget is $150,000. There is no better investment to be made to change a woman’s life in this region!
CINspirational People: Denise ‘Ladybug’ Hill
I think I first met Denise when she was training for her first trek, walking the Appalachian Trail in 2004. She wore a heavy backpack as she walked distances in training.
It is hard to believe nearly ten years has passed since I first met my friend Denise ‘Ladybug’ Hill at the gym. Day in and day out she would work with a trainer, and then walk on the track with a heavy backpack. Then, for many months at a time she 
would be gone, on long journeys trekking through rugged, beautiful and sometimes very dangerous terrain in loving memory of her sister who lost a 10 year battle with cancer in 1998.
Cheryl had told Denise she feared being forgotten; Denise wasn’t about to let that happen. Part of Cheryl’s legacy is in the thousands of miles worn by Denise’s feet as a way of raising awareness and money for breast cancer patients and their families. Those charity distance hikes were named Walking for Walden. With the exception of when Denise was sponsored on the Continental Divide Hike, she paid for all of her own expenses giving all of the money raised to hospice.
Denise is the first solo women to have walked the longest world trail in the world measuring 1445 miles, the Ohio Buckey Trail, in the trail’s 60+ year history.
Her journey has also included:
Charity Distance Hiking Adventures:
The Appalachian Trail….2,174 miles….Georgia to Maine, 2004
The Pacific Crest Trail…..4,450 miles….Mexico-Canada…..2006,2007,2008
The Continental Divide Trail, 3,100 miles….Mexico to Canada..( DNF) sponsored-athlete
The Arizona Trail…800 miles…..( DNF )
Mountains Climbed:
Mt. Whitney, 14,505’… the tallest mountain in the lower forty-eight states
Mt. Rainier, 14,410’…the tallest glacial mountain in the lower forty-eight states.
Mt. Kilimanjaro, 19,241′ , the Roof of Africa….Tanzania, Africa
NOTE that Denise only included hikes totaling 500 miles or more in this list. In actuality, her distance was much greater.
Please continue reading to learn more about her story.
GTGA: What is something people may not know about you?
Ladybug: I just renewed my teaching license, grades 1-8 and Reading Certification, grades K-12. I am presently earning a Gifted Education Endorsement through Xavier University’s Graduate School of Education. GPA…3.985.
GTGA: Tell us about a challenge that you overcame in life and how it impacted you.
Ladybug: I was airlifted after hiking 2,258 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail. I was almost to my goal, the Canadian border. I fell into a rushing stream of lava rocks just north of Mt. Adams, WA. I was in angst for nine hours before we made communication and I was rescued. I shattered my tibula-fibula to the extent that several doctors could not count the number of breaks. Dr. James Muccio, Cincinnati,OH, surgically repaired my leg and I worked extensively for months with a physical therapist and personal trainer so that I could go back out west the next year and complete my hike.
GTGA: Tell us about someone who has been a positive influence on your life and why.
Ladybug: My husband, Bruce. We have been married thirty-four years. We have known each other since high school. Together, we bounce ideas off of each other. Also, he allows me the space to serve others and he supports me in each and every endeavor. We are separate, yet one. Marriage works!
GTGA: What is a motto you live by?
Ladybug: Live life in “real time.” Look for the good in everything and everyone. Family COUNTS! Age is a State of Mind. Strong body, strong mind.
GTGA: Tell us about an act of kindness you have done, witnessed or been the recipient of and how that made you feel.
Ladybug: I don’t share my good deeds….
GTGA: Tell us about an activity you love to do and why.
Ladybug: When I am not on a hiking trail, I enjoy serving others through teaching in local school districts.
GTGA: Have you had an experience that has changed your life?
Ladybug: The passing of my parents who had been married for sixty years changed my life forever. My mother and father were such great role models and lived their lives with purpose and passion for family and God.
GTGA: Do you do any volunteer work?
Ladybug: Always….done everything! This is not a good question for me because I do so much volunteer work.
GTGA: What is the best advice you have ever received?
Ladybug: “Be your own hero.” I realize that the quote could be misinterpreted as narcissistic, but if we live our lives serving others without all of the outside attention, media, press releases, bragging, etc., then we are living a Godly life by doing what is right and not making it noticeable to others.
What was your first job and what do you remember most about it?
Ladybug: I babysat for my high school principal and his wife. The kids went to Harvard for which I take full credit. 🙂
GTGA: Tell us about some of your most important life lessons.
Ladybug: Dream forward, but live in the present. Awaken each dawn with cheerfulness and eager anticipation for how the day will unfold.
GTGA: How would you like for others to describe you?
Ladybug: I would like others to describe me as a loving and devoted wife and mother who is passionate, community oriented, and a highly gifted and sensitive woman who knows no limits when it comes to serving others.
CINspirational People: Mara McCalmont
CINspirational People is a feature of Good Things Going Around profiling diverse people of Greater Cincinnati, what inspires them, and what is inspiring about them. You can read more profiles by clicking on the link at the top of the blog. Do you know someone to suggest? Please reach out. Thanks!
Mara McCalmont is a gifted artist in Cincinnati who specializes in capturing the hearts, souls and personalities of beloved pets. On her website, she says, “I have been endeared to animals and nature my whole life and have been involved with many charities dedicated to their protection including Pets in Need,UCAN, SPCA, 
Three Sisters Pet Rescue, Recycled Doggies and numerous other organizations. I have even drawn beside John Ruthevan in support of the Cincinnati Nature Center.” She lives with her husband, Paul, and Zoe, her Weimaraner of perpetual motion.
GTGA: How did you come to choose dogs (animals) as the focal point of your art?
Mara: Animals are fascinating and extraordinarily beautiful. It’s a challenge to capture, in two-dimension, the softness of their fur, the quirkiness of their body language and most importantly, the soul and personality that their eyes portray. They cannot speak and communicate through those eyes. The eyes always come first in my paintings. Only after I am satisfied with them can I continue with the rest of the portrait.
GTGA: We’d love to learn of how your art has touched lives. Can you give us an example?
A: Well, when big macho men cry… that’s always a sign that I’ve done my job well! Recently I was commissioned to paint a family dog, Riley that had passed away unexpectedly leaving two teenage children devastated. The mother was hesitant to ask me to memorialize him, as she wasn’t sure of what the children’s reaction would be. They were thrilled and said “I got him spot on” and they felt ” he is still with us every day, now”. They place tiny treasures from their adventures next to his portrait, which hangs above where his bed once was, and the Mom truly feels that it has helped in their healing process.
There is no better reward from my work!
GTGA: What is something people might not know about you?
Mara: A favorite quote of mine is from G. B. Shaw: “Animals are my friends, and I do not eat my friends!”
My husband and I are long-time vegetarians and believe there is nothing better that you can do for the animals, of course, yourself and for the betterment of the planet.
GTGA: Tell us about a challenge that you have overcome and how it impacted you.
Mara: I had my own small business for 32 + years in advertising and graphic design, specializing in print materials. I found myself, virtually overnight, in a field
that was becoming nearly obsolete with the invasion of web and social media. In my late 50’s I had to make some hard choices about the rest of my life. I had always wanted to pursue painting more seriously than a hobby and thanks to the support of my husband… and his steady engineering paycheck… I decided to jump in both brushes drawn!
It took several years of hard work, practice and honing my style before I started seeing the recognition and acceptance of my work. I still have a long way to go, but feel I am finally on my way!
GTGA: What are some of your simple pleasures?
Mara: I get immense enjoyment from nature whether it be a walk in the woods, tending my gardens, or enjoying an incredible sunset. It never ceases to amaze me of the variety of beauty that surrounds us and that we sometimes walk past everyday and forget to take notice. There is no bad mood, in my opinion, that a butterfly, falling leaf or chirp of a wren wouldn’t change for the better.
GTGA: What is a motto you live by?
Mara: That it’s never too late to start anew. If you dedicate yourself, work diligently, love what you are doing… your passion will show through and eventually gain the respect and acceptance of others.
GTGA: What is one of your pet peeves?
Mara: The perception that art is fun and “comes easy to you”. Yes, I have a talent and enjoy what I do, but art is hard work. It has taken a lifetime of practice, learning to work with the mediums, and countless hours of failures to produce a worthy painting. Yes, this painting might have taken me 5 hours to produce… plus 10 years of self-education and trial and error.
GTGA: Do you do any volunteer work?
Mara: I’ve donated commissions for fund-raising to many local animal non-profits including, SPCA, Recycled Doggies, Three Sisters Rescue and UCAN,
For the last couple years, I have been involved with Pets in Need, which is an organization that allows for low -cost veterinary care to low-income families, a much-needed service and the only one of its kind in Greater Cincinnati. They provide the necessary care often needed to allow beloved pets to remain in their homes rather than be surrendered to a shelter.
GTGA: What is the best advice you have received?
Mara: Actions speak louder than words. Every time I sell a painting or receive a commission, it’s a confirmation of my talent and pushes me to be a bit better when I go back in the studio. Artists are extremely critical of their own work and never feel that they are good enough. Every time I am successful, it’s a “pat on the back” confidence- building push to continue what I am doing… even better than before.
GTGA: How would you like for others to describe you?
Mara: That I am creative, persistent, funny and was as good to fellow humans as I am to the other creatures with whom we share this beloved planet.
#GoodThingsCincy #CINspiration
CINspirational People: Mike LaRosa
CINspirational People is a feature of Good Things Going Around profiling diverse people of Greater Cincinnati, what inspires them, and what is inspiring about them. You can read more profiles by clicking on the link at the top of the blog. Do you know someone to suggest? Please reach out. Thanks!
It’s really not very likely if you have lived in Cincinnati long, that you are unfamiliar with the name LaRosa’s. LaRosa’s Pizzerias have been part of our local community since Buddy LaRosa opened his first location in 1954. They have been a part of education, work, and celebration parties. They have given to charities and schools. They are where families congregate, and where neighborhoods gather. And now they are in the Great American Ballpark. LaRosa’s Pizzerias are no doubt one of the traditions you think of when you think about our great city.
Of the business he founded, Buddy told Fox 19’s Tricia Macke,”You have the zest and the energy to do something you love. And it’s not work. It’s passion, and I always tell kids and I told my kids, try many things until you find something in life that you have passion and a zeal for and then go for it. Give it 110%. Then it’s really not work, everything you do adds to that love, and the love just gets deeper. Just like relationships with the family, your love just gets deeper then you have family, the family gets bigger and then they have grandkids, and that’s what my business is.”
Wow, wouldn’t that be wonderful if all of us were doing work that is our passion?
I met Michael LaRosa, one of Buddy’s children who is now CEO of LaRosa’s Pizzerias, years back (actually on several occasions) when I was working on the Inclusion Leadership Awards Event and we were honoring the company for how they welcomed diverse employees with differing abilities.
Michael and I spoke again the other day for a CINspirational People profile. Mike very much personifies the generous and inspirational nature we have come to know and love about his family.
Lisa: Your family is very involved in our local schools. Why is that important to the LaRosa’s?
Michael: When my dad grew up in a broken home and those early experiences with positive adult role models in his schools really shaped him. What he got outside of the house between his teachers, coaches and others at school is what made him the caring man he is; and so we always wanted to support early schools. Our focus is to support in our community wherever children are being developed.
We have a Pizza Achievement program that any local teacher teaching grades K to 8 can enroll in, and we provide them with award certifications to give to their students for whatever the teachers want to recognize.
Lisa: What is the best advice you have ever received?
Michael: I have had a journal for more than 15 years, where anytime I am somewhere and impressed or influenced by someone, I will write a permanent reminder. I keep it near me, as there are times when I am looking for inspirational and it will always be there.
There is a quote in my journal that I had found somewhere in 1984 that says:
“Welcome every day with a smile! View today as a gift from God filled with golden opportunities. Be a self-starter and let your first hour awake set the theme for a successful day with your positive mindset. Today will never happen again, so go make the most of it!”
The idea is that today is never going to happen again so let’s make the most of it.
Lisa: What has been one of your greatest challenges that you have overcome?
Michael: My older sister was born with a heart defect in the 1950’s and I was very responsible early in life for keeping her in a good place. If she got overly excited, her condition caused her blood pressure to elevate to the point of causing her to be unconscious. My parents told me that whatever my sister wanted to do, that I needed to support her, and prevent her from getting overly excited.
From six years old and up, I was at her beck and call. If her situation was concerning, she would get purple lips. That reality changed when she was about 13 and a doctor at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center was one of first to do open heart surgery on little kids. They did a repair on her that changed her life dramatically.
As a child, that had a huge impact on me. It taught me to value life. Nothing is ever guaranteed because things can happen in a moment and it is gone. That lesson I learned because of my relationship with my sister. She is doing wonderful now.
Lisa: What are three things for which you are grateful?
Michael: Firstly is my relationship with Jesus. I was raised in a faithful family and that is for whom I am most grateful.
I am grateful for my parents and grandparents and anyone who influenced me, their guidance and leadership. I love all the people who have had a hand in making me who I am. I appreciate all of that and they make me want to do that for others. My grandparents came from Europe as immigrants. They worked hard and took risks.
And, I am grateful for Coach Bill, my junior and senior high school football and wrestling coach, and teacher. I was an introvert who was unsure of myself and anxious in situations. He taught me to believe in myself and be confident. I try to do that in my role today with other people because it is so important.
CINspirational People: Ron Harper
CINspirational People is a feature of Good Things Going Around profiling diverse people of Greater Cincinnati, what inspires them, and what is inspiring about them. You can read more profiles by clicking on the link at the top of the blog. Do you know someone to suggest? Please reach out. Thanks!
I have known Ron Harper for years, from back when he worked in radio. Ron is gifted with the most incredible voice that can be modified in so many ways, and he 
uses his gift as both a voice talent, writer and producer and website video producer.
Please learn more about Ron below.
GTGA: What is something people may not know about you?
Ron: I co-wrote an episode of Laverne and Shirley. Actually I wrote the scene for WKRP, but the agent I had at the time wouldn’t present it to Hugh Wilson. By the magic of Hollywood, it landed instead in a Laverne and Shirley. It was a learning experience. Not entirely fun.
GTGA: What is one of your favorite childhood memories?
Ron: The neighborhood where I grew up in Ft. Worth was full of creative and enterprising brats like me. The two brothers across the street would buy candy and soda and resell them in a “snack bar” on their front porch every summer. The rest of us were hired on and actually made some money for a few days “work”. The rest of the time we were writing or performing neighborhood plays. A few of us approached the management of a large shopping center and convinced them to let us use their community room and stage for one of our productions. We probably did 4 or 5 performances and donated the ticket sales to the local foodbank.
GTGA: Do you do any volunteer work? Please explain.
Ron: A few years ago I worked with an organization that would invite emerging leaders from around the world to the US to get a feel for how business is done and American life and culture. I got to meet radio personalities from Poland, the manager of a racetrack in Hong Kong, and a woman who had escaped the KhmerRouge in Cambodia as a young woman. Each one had a remarkable and compelling story.
GTGA: Tell us about one of your simple pleasures.
Ron: I learned to cook from my Mom when I was young, and I still like doing that very much. My wife says that’s one of the reasons she married me…and I don’t let her in the kitchen.
Besides that, we have two cats each with very different personalities. The female calico is a daddy’s girl, and the male shorthair is a mama’s boy.
