Joanie Sulivan was born and raised in Griffith, Ind., where she had a love for science, math, and running. Now, many know her as the Business Manager at the YMCA of Portage, but that wasn’t always the direction Sulivan saw herself going. When...
About 24 years ago, Pastor Michael Bean and his wife Paula made a life-changing decision to move to Portage, Indiana, where he would become the Lead Pastor of Crossroads Family Church. Born and raised in Southern Missouri, Bean felt the...
Sandy Oliver is a Portage Economic Development Corporation (Portage EDC) board member, and a physician recruiter for Porter Health Care System, because she feels driven to make a difference. “I like to do things that have an impact,"...
Before Zach Hughes could even drive a car, he started Young Cuts, a successful lawn care service based in Portage. He dreamed up the idea of his landscape company in 2012 when he was just 11 years old, fueled by visions of buying a fishing boat with...
Growing up, Debbie Wright’s father noticed that his family never traveled. He decided that when he had a family, he would take them everywhere. So, at a very young age, Wright began to explore the world. “You can only learn so much from...
Amy Armstrong has a huge heart for serving the Portage community. She loves spending time with people and organizing events in Portage. Armstrong works as an administrative assistant at the Portage Chamber of Commerce and also works for Portage Parks...
For Portage High School social studies teacher and track and cross-country coach Abagail Trzeciak, a clear vision has led to a life that has fallen nicely into place. “I could never see myself doing anything different,” Trzeciak said, noting that...
Katie Brehmer, who juggles working with being a wife and a mother to four boys, is a superhero mom. Brehmer and her husband Tim have four sons: 10-year-old Robert, 7-year-old Camden, 4-year-old Rudy and 1-year-old Brio. She loves talking about her...
Erin Vanni was a little girl with her nose in a book, her thoughts in the clouds, and a pen in her hand. She dreamed of becoming a writer and she would become that and so much more. After cancer took her mother’s life and her father committed...
Growing up in Hebron, Jessie Howe loved playing out fiction and fantasy in the country surrounding her rural home. Today, she has turned that into her day job as the Scenic Charge Artist for the Theatre at the Center, building and painting the worlds...