Chocolate Carnivale Recap

As you may have noticed, our board at the YWCA hosted our annual Chocolate Carnivale event last Friday. This year's festivities were focused on honoring three amazing young women (ages 35 and under) who have made significant impacts on the SLC community. We had tons of nominations--there are a lot of incredible young women around here!--and were thrilled to honor these three:


Denise Castaneda
A University of Utah student known for her steadfast commitment
to social change and justice, Denise is seen as a role model by
young people, especially young Latina and Chicana students. Her
work is often focused on organizing and fighting for immigrant
rights, never giving up despite the daunting challenges. Denise
has held numerous volunteer positions at the U of U, specializing
in outreach to young ethnic and minority students; co-authored a
publication on immigration given to all Utah legislators; was
awarded multiple scholarships and awards; and was featured in
Salt Lake Magazine as one of five "Wonder Women."

Missy Bird Larsen
Missy is the executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action
Council and has quickly risen through political ranks to become a
respected advocate for Planned Parenthood as well as Equality
Utah. She has a strong working relationship with local government
officials from both political parties and has been instrumental in
developing statewide training curriculums designed to engage the
community in grassroots political activism. Missy has researched,
drafted and successfully advocated for three pieces of legislation
that have been entered into law; published a children's book for
families of all backgrounds; co-authored a report on the state of
child care in Utah; and was honored with awards for her dedication
to social work and volunteerism.

Heidi Prokop
Heidi is a vice president and public relations manager for Zions
Bank and the mother of a nine-month-old boy. She has advanced
financial literacy in Utah and Idaho schools by encouraging
employees to teach money management skills to students; helped
mobilize employees to teach thousands of children about saving
money and avoiding debt; and promoted financial education to
women through the Smart Women, Smart Money conference.
Additionally, Heidi organized a drive for women's professional
clothing to benefit the Junior League's Women Helping Women
Closet; volunteered with the Girl Scouts of America's after-school
program to teach young Title 1 elementary school students about
financial issues; and has written two full-length documentary
scripts broadcast on KUED-Utah's PBS affiliate, receiving a Utah
Broadcasters Association award for "Best Documentary."


The night went off without a hitch, thanks to the hundreds of volunteer hours donated by our board, the YWCA staff, our friends, family members and lots of others.

The purpose of this event is to raise awareness among women in our demographic (ages 18-35) and encourage them to get involved with the Y's many many many generous and important programs.

We had a red carpet, silent auction, fantastic entertainment and loads of delicious chocolate donated by fabulous SLC bakeries and restaurants. We were also hoping to sign up new members, who, by contributing just $35 each year are able to help support the Y's programs including the domestic violence shelter, teen mom home, education programs and community outreach. Members are also able to join in on great networking events, attend educational seminars and attend fun and fabulous luncheons.

If you're interested, you can sign up here.

Thank you so much to my wonderful friends who came out to support the YWCA, it was a great night and I'm so glad so many of you stopped by. You'll be receiving your pictures soon.

Some shots of the evening (don't laugh that I'm in a lot of the red carpet photos, I was placed there against my will):

Chocolate Carnivale

Reason #1,678 why I've been neglecting my blog lately:

My fellow YWCA board members and I have been busy little bees preparing for the annual "Chocolate Carnivale: A Celebration of Successful Young Women" event. It's being held this Friday and will feature (FREE!) chocolate items from SLC's finest restaurant and bakeries, (FREE!) live entertainment and a (FREE!) good time to be had by all.

We'll also have a silent auction for fabulous items, a cash bar for delicious drinks and a red carpet. Come on, Utahns, when was the last time you were able to set foot on the red carpet and smile big for the paparazzi?

We'll be honoring three SLC women who have excelled personally, professionally and philanthropically and are under age 35.

Join us at 7 p.m. at the YWCA at 322 East 300 South. All proceeds from the evening will go to support the Y's many programs, including the domestic violence shelter, teen mom home and violence & racism prevention programs.

Mark Your Calendar: Financial Planning Girl's Night

Hopefully everyone had a very merry Christmas. I'll be posting a holiday recap in the next few days, but until then, I wanted to remind you to pencil in the YWCA successitea for Jan. 8.

Its focus is on financial planning. Plus there are FREE COOKIES and TEA. Plus a bunch of girls having a good time. And learning to be financially responsible. I'm not sure what is better than that. Did I mention there are FREE COOKIES?

Hope to see you there. These successiteas really are fun, if you haven't been before I encourage you to give this one a shot. They only last about an hour and all of the info is always so helpful. FREE COOKIES.


"Financial Planning: How to Plan and Manage Your Finances"
Speaker: Sue Wamsley with New York Life

DATE: Tuesday, Jan. 8

TIME: 7 p.m.

PLACE: The Tao, 900 East 2030 South

RSVP: To me, or to Heidi at hgroebs@ywca.com

Overheard: Comparing Schedules

Young Woman 1: "I know, we've been really busy, too. Actually, my husband only saw me when I was standing up one time last week."

Young Woman 2: "Spoken like a true newlywed."

Walk On

My friend Amanda just kindly pointed out that I am slacking on the blogging lately. During the day I find that I have numerous ideas for hilarious, thought-provoking and groundbreaking posts but when I actually have a few minutes to post something, my memory escapes me. I'm sure I'm actually very, very clever but just have a hard time showing it.

So, in the meantime, I will take this blogging space to tell you that if you have no plans this Saturday morning you should head over to the central terrace at Sugarhouse Park for the YWCA's Stop Abuse and Violence Safe Walk, which kicks off the YWCA's annual Week Without Violence. Get there for food and festivities around 9 a.m., the walk starts at 10 and more fun will follow that. I'll be there with my fellow members of the YWCA Young Women's Leadership Board, probably having many, many, many cups of coffee since we have to be there around 7:30 a.m. to set up on a SATURDAY MORNING (All of you with kids who are making fun of me for mentioning this? I can hear your eyes rolling.).
If, like me, you're sick of stories like this, this or this, [Editor's note: The sad fact is I did not have to search for any of these stories, I just had to go to the homepage of any news outlet and had way too many horrible, horrible stories from which to choose] stop by and grab some free breakfast (did I mention it's free?), win some prizes, learn a thing or two about getting involved from local charities/clubs/organizations and take a walk around the park. Bring your friends, better half, kids, even the dog--why not? This is a fun and easy way to show your support for some of the families who suffer from violence's far-reaching effects every day, and prove that you're no pushover when it comes to making your community a better place.