Being a step-parent can present challenges, such as trying to understand your new responsibilities as a parent and in some cases, integrating what can be two very different households into one family. Christina Roach, founder of Success for Steps (www.SuccessforSteps.com) understands these challenges firsthand, as both a Stepfamily Coach and National Certified Counselor, but also as a step-mom herself.

“When I became a stepmother, it was my first experience in a step-family, going through the process, not sure what my role was or how things in the household were supposed to be handled. I did a lot of research and found few available resources,” says the Ohio native.

Many people have great ideas but don’t act upon them. Often, the most difficult part is determining the best method and timing for bringing that great idea to market. Two years ago, Carrollwood mom Carrie Scheiner found the perfect way to combine two passions into a unique service she could provide parents and their kids.
 

“When my son was about 7, I realized that a lot of the better educational programming like Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer didn’t appeal to kids who were his age. Programming for them was pretty much entertainment only and the kids would just sit on the couch. I was disappointed by that,” says the New Jersey native. “My husband I were passionate about leading a healthy lifestyle, and I thought there’s got to be a way that you can get kids doing something while learning something in front of the TV.”
 

Writer, editor, voiceover actor, theatre performer, radio host, children’s book author…Yes, these are all the same person: Brenda Darnley Martin. With such a broad variety of honed skills and talents, it makes answering the question ‘what do you do for a living’ not so simple to answer.
 

“I tell everybody I’m ADD and wake up and wonder what I’m going to be today,” the Michigan native says with a laugh. “It’s real hard to say what I do. I used to think I wanted to call my business Creative, Inc. I figured that was a good way to say I could do whatever.”
 

And in 1989, when she and husband Mike moved to Tampa, she fell in love with the area immediately. “I’d never been here before, but when I got here, I couldn’t stop smiling for the first year I was here I just loved it so much. I’ve always called myself a one-woman chamber of commerce for Tampa Bay,” she says.
 

Before Sherry discovered the world of coaching, she had built a successful career as both a business owner and sales and marketing executive who frequently found herself serving as a mentor and trainer to other professionals, particularly women. With a Master’s degree in mental health and a penchant for listening and consulting others, the Redding, PA native turned to the coaching field three years ago as her next professional endeavor. As a certified coach with clients both in the Bay area as well as nationally, she works primarily with women entrepreneurs, focusing on such areas as starting a business, staying in business and taking the guesswork out of the process. “The best thing that I can give my clients is to help them avoid the same mistakes I made when I started my business,” she says.
 

For November skirt! Flashback, we thought we'd return to last year's tasty FOOD issue last November when we introduced you to Michele Northrup of Intensity Academy (www.intensityacademy.com). This local mom and entrepreneur built her Carrollwood business from a homegrown idea in the family kitchen into a successful nationally acclaimed source of award-winning gourmet sauces.Take a look at her original November 2008 profile and catch up with the spicy lady as she lets skirt! in on the latest exciting news for her and the fast-moving company.

~Chris

JoAnn Urofsky, general manager for WUSF radio and television of Tampa (www.wusf.edu), has witnessed an evolution in radio, particularly in the public broadcasting arena. For the Philadelphia native trying to develop a successful radio career, she was used to being on the move to further along her career. She got her start at a small West Virginia PBS market as Morning Edition host and classical and jazz music announcer. Then, she was off to Syracuse to become a program director of a public radio jazz station, but again found that to explore serious opportunities, she needed to travel once more. “I had a great five years there at Syracuse and learned a lot but the next position up was general manager, and he wasn’t leaving anytime soon,” she says with a laugh. Her next move brought her to the Sunshine State and WUSF’s radio station for the then-Ft. Myers campus of the University of South Florida.

Since she was a young girl, Wendy Leigh knew that somehow education would play an important role in her life. “I always wanted to be a teacher. Originally, I thought it would be for elementary school but I later changed my major to teach high school. I believe you’re born to teach a certain age,” says the Vice President of Education and Humanities for the Patel Conservatory at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. But a love of theater also stole her heart early on, creating some tough choices to make. “I was in theater my whole life, and when I was a senior in high school I told my dad that I was going to New York and L.A. to become an actress. Dad said ‘No, you need something to fall back on. You get your teaching degree first and then you can do whatever you want,” she says. “So I double-majored in theater and education, and being a high school drama teacher was a perfect match.”

Johanna Krynytzky never expected to be a belly dancer but then again, she never expected a lot of things that have happened over the past decade. After studying art and anthropology in Chicago, the Seattle native got an opportunity to work in program planning and education at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. She also began dancing in her spare time after becoming fascinated with Middle Eastern dance years earlier following a trip to Turkey with her grandmother. She had been mesmerized as she watched for the first time a professional belly dancer perform. “Everybody was so free, so loose and sensual. The way she commanded control of her body and the audience, I was just fascinated,” she says. After taking dance classes, she found herself performing at more and more venues around the Chicago area while she still worked at the museum, a job she enjoyed but admits now didn’t fulfill her. “I had fun working at the museum, but I wasn’t passionate about it and I was surrounded by people who were. I thought life’s too short to do something you’re not passionate about,” she says.

Beth Eppley has a knack for helping organizations grow. Since relocating to the Bay area from her native Indiana more than a decade ago, she has taken her diverse background in education and hospital foundation development and applied the principles to her current position as Director of Development for Bay Area Legal Services (bals.org.). "That seems to be my niche, starting in development roles with organizations that have never set up something like this before," says the former high school teacher. "It's all about fundraising, creating relationships, and being willing to wear different hats - PR, marketing, fundraising and educating."

Bay Area Legal Services is a non-profit organization that opened its doors in 1967 for the primary purpose of providing free legal services to low-income Tampa residents. Since that time, its extended its services to the region and broadened services offered, now working closely with individuals, families and non-profit groups to help them with their legal needs and serve as representation in consumer cases and housing disputes, family law and divorce proceedings and senior advocacy.

As a private investigator, June’s done her fair share of professional poking around. Whether being hired by companies conducting pre-employment screenings or by entrepreneurs seeking background checks of potential business partners, it’s all in a day’s work. But for June, her favorite moments come when she gets the opportunity to see family members reunited. “It makes me feel good to see a family come together when they’ve been looking for each other for years,” she says.

MICHELLE SCHUMACHER | SUCCESS STORYTELLER

When Michelle and her husband Steven got married, they knew having a child together was in their future. As stepmom to fifteen-year-old son Sam, the South Tampa marketer and writer got a taste of motherhood, but the couple were determined to expand the family. “Steve had already experienced the stories and fulfillment of parenthood which I hadn’t. We ultimately decided we wanted to adopt and wanted to stay close to home, adopting a child within our community, so that’s what we did,” she says.

Readers are always asking us ‘whatever happened to…?’ and ‘what is so-and-so doing now?’ Starting this month, we attempt to answer some of those questions by following up with some of our favorite folks featured in skirt! with a new monthly feature called Skirt! Flashback. This month, we check in with St. Pete marketer Kate Amirault, our November 2008 24-7 woman. Need a refresher? Click here to read Kate's original profile and see below to see what she’s been up to these days. She’s discovered yet another thing she’s really passionate about…enjoy!

~Chris

Paulette is my Shero because she creates a supportive, even loving, atmosphere for patients at the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood, many of whom lack health insurance. After sending a nurse to "hold my hand" during my IUD placement, she distracted my boyfriend (who’d paled two shades in the waiting room) with a guided tour.  
~Nominated by Joia Wood, Charlottesville , Va.
 
Spurred by the growing need for women’s health services, Paulette launched a $4.6 million campaign for VLPP’s new facility, opened last month at 201 N. Hamilton. “Access to affordable family planning often means, quite literally, the difference between a woman finishing college or not,” Paulette, VLPP’s President and CEO, notes.  On weekends she hits the Goochland countryside with her horse, Splash.

 

Any coach would tell you that completing a triathlon takes more than speed. But Jennifer is not just any coach. In the past 10 years, she’s competed in 11 IronMan competitions, qualifying for the IronMan World Championship three times. “I love the feel of the IronMan. It’s not so much about my time but the satisfaction of completing it,” she says.The Board-certified dietician and USAT certified Elite 3 triathlon coach – one of only 30 in the country – guides athletes of every fitness level through IronClad Coaching (ironcladcoaching.com) of St. Pete. “It’s really rewarding to see people become fitter and help someone set a new personal best,” she says. It’s the variety of the training that draws Jennifer and other triathletes to the sport, she says. “I love that today I might do a swim, tomorrow a run and the next day a long bike ride. By keeping it fun, it’s never something I do with drudgery.”

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