Life in the Spotlight

When Sara Skowronski first began working at Bronze Sol Tanning Salons, she was a recent high school graduate looking to gain work experience and earn money to support her college education. However, what started simply as a job quickly grew to be much more …

For Savannah Sonaty, teaching was never a part of some lifelong plan. It grew naturally from her role as a mom. When her three children were young, she spent her days at home with them. Once they started school, she began volunteering in their classrooms …

Stephanie Tarpo is Cooks Corners Elementary School’s resource teacher for students in kindergarten through third grade, and she looks forward to every day on the job. Her favorite part of her role has to do with how she’s constantly being enabled to …

Amal Farrough’s parents traveled greatly while they were in grad school and for their jobs, revealing to their daughter the many wonders of the world. As a result, she was instilled with a deep reverence and personal love for the natural world, something …

A resident of Hammond, Grandmaster Dexter Grove founded Rising Star Martial Arts in Midlothian, Illinois. He grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, which is where he also discovered his love for the sport. He started martial arts in 1973. At the time, it was very …

For Adi Pataky, faith has always meant more than Sunday morning worship. It is a calling to live out her beliefs through service, community, and connection. That calling recently took her beyond her home church of Calvary Church and to Costa Rica on her first …

Naun Lucoer Cerrato is a writer based out of Michiana who uses his words with the strength of a superhero. He composes books about his admiration for America and what it’s like to live in the country. The content he addresses and tackles strengthens his …

Tammie Cain is the owner of Tammie’s Dog Services and Training, a training, daycare, boarding and grooming facility proudly serving the Portage community. It was the adoption of a pit bull mix about a decade ago that sparked Mrs. Cain her …

Born in Chicago, Steve Poulos, the City of Valparaiso’s executive director of city services – public works and utilities, is the son of hardworking Greek immigrants. His family immigrated from Greece in the late 1960s, settling in Valparaiso in …

On September 15, Ellen Sistovaris opened a new Pilates studio, Leni’s, in Crown Point. From the outside looking in, Leni’s looks like any regular studio. It has large rooms, 10 reformer machines, along with plenty of natural light and top-of-the-line …