Past Featured Sponsors
Juleen Lapporte
Photographer and Business Owner, Studio Jule
Juleen Lapporte is a portrait photographer and owner of Studio Jule, a full-service photography studio that specializes in creating custom portraits printed on fine art mediums. Juleen is passionate about bringing portrait photography to life for her clients and loves being able to help them step into the spotlight of their own stories and transform the way they see themselves, all while making the experience fun and enjoyable.
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She says, “Personal portraits are a reflection of what you're putting out into the world and contribute to a feeling of connection and being seen. It can be a transformative process that brings us closer to ourselves; and in turn, closer to those that matter in our lives.” A good referral for Juleen would be people who long to document their lives with fine art portraiture. Juleen works with high school seniors, families, businesses, and women throughout the Bay Area.
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Juleen is an active member of Mt. Diablo Business Women (MDBW) and says of the organization, “MDBW is my favorite networking group. It's filled with awe-inspiring professional women who support each other in business and in life. I instantly felt at home during my first meeting.” In turn, Juleen encourages other women photographers to lead with service and empathy when connecting with their clients. She says, “The work we do can be very personal and empowering. Too many women photographers undervalue their work, so I promote a strong understanding of the financial aspects of running a photography business.”
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Juleen also believes in giving back to her community. When her daughters were young, she spent years volunteering for the local schools, including the education foundation and parents clubs. Now she focuses on volunteering at the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.
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In her free time, Juleen enjoys hiking throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, taking dance classes at FUNKMODE in Concord, and, when her adult daughters are in town, visiting all of their favorite spots along the coast and eating great food.
To learn more about Juleen, please visit her website, and check her out on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Anna Febiana
Independent Agent and Living Benefit Specialist, National Life Group
Anna Febiana is an independent agent and living benefit specialist with National Life Group. Anna specializes in life insurance with a focus on living benefits—insurance that you benefit from without having to pass away. She helps individuals protect their income against the financial impact of debilitating illnesses or injuries and assists in planning for a tax-free retirement. Her goal is to ensure that every client enjoys the security and confidence of being well-protected, through all of life’s circumstances. This comprehensive approach helps her clients secure their financial future and protect their loved ones. Her business is all about providing peace of mind.
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Anna values her business because it allows her to help her clients uncover and address risks they might not even know they face. Her role is to highlight these potential threats and provide solutions that safeguard her clients’ financial stability. Through her work, she has the privilege of meeting a diverse array of individuals, which has enriched her understanding of both business and life. Good referral sources for Anna would be trust attorneys, CPAs, tax preparers, realtors, and mortgage lenders.
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Anna is beginning her second year as a member of MDBW. She says that, as an entrepreneur, “Being part of MDBW has been a game-changer. Through this community, I have met so many wonderful women. I feel empowered and hopeful, being amongst them is truly refreshing. It’s a place where discussing business, personal growth, supporting each other, and sharing referrals feels natural and encouraged.” She inspires other women by sharing her stories and being her authentic self.
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Anna also serves as Board of Trustees member for the Bay East Association of REALTORS® Foundation, social media chair for the Women’s Council of Realtors Contra Costa, ambassador for the Concord Chamber of Commerce, greeter for PWRG Concord, merchandising manager for Walnut Creek Aquanuts Artistic Swimming Club, and board member for St. Perpetua School PTA.
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In her free time, Anna enjoys cooking, gardening, sewing, arts and crafts, and spoiling her children.
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To learn more about Anna, please visit her social media pages: Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Senya Borrelli
Consultant, Health is Wealth
Senya specializes in nutrigenomics for wellness. She is passionate about helping people feel better and do more through supplementation and activation by turning back the clock at a cellular level to age in reverse. Senya says she feels better in her 50s than she did in her 40s and she wants to help others to do the same.
Clients who work with Senya benefit by flipping the switch on anti-aging pathways in the areas of memory, metabolism, energy, hormonal balance, joint health, bone health, as well as skin and scalp, all by reducing oxidative stress.
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Senya finds her work rewarding because she is able to offer people solutions that they didn’t know existed, and as a result are able to transform their lives rather than suffer in silence.
A good referral for Senya is anyone who wants to be healthy, stay healthy, or get healthy.
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Senya joined MDBW in 2022 and is active in the group. She is currently on the board of directors as programs chair. She says she feels elated and empowered after leaving the group’s events. “It has given me a renewed sense of hope, that there are so many women out there uplifting each other.” She also adds that she enjoys meeting 1:1. for coffee with the women in the group. This allows her to gain a better understanding of other businesses and in some cases she has found new friends. In addition, she appreciates the referrals and customers that she has gained through MDBW.
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She is also dedicated to the “Helping One Woman” organization, which honors one woman in need each month, and changes lives one woman at a time.
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When not involved in work, Senya loves to try new things and travel. She recently started playing golf, enjoys reading, and taking walks.
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Visit Senya’s website to learn more about her. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
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Kyla Mitsunaga
Founder, WITH Warriors LLC
In 2016, Kyla was a professor in South Korea and at the same time had been building her career as a global speaker, sharing her Happiness Workshop WITH people across the globe. Then her personal life was disrupted when her mother was diagnosed with early onset dementia, and Kyla fell into a depression.
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In her healing journey she realized she’d been living her life with the limiting belief that she wasn’t enough. However, she came to realize that she is in fact enough just by being a work in progress. Since then, she’s engaged in more than 20 alternative healing modalities and now works to bring others the tools, techniques, and strategies she’s learned along her journey.
Kyla says she now presents those tools to help “bad ass women grow their businesses and have funsies in their businesses and lives again.” Women entrepreneurs come to her thinking they have to change themselves, or the way they show up, but they walk away realizing that they can be their badass selves AND make money!
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She has also presented to high-level executives worldwide including those who work at Chevron, Merck, Microsoft, and Samsung. She has delivered her workshops in 16 countries. In addition to her speaking, Kyla is also a published author of two books, WITH vs AT: Two Prepositions that Changed My Life, and On Growing: Thoughts from the Field.
Kyla became a member of Mt. Diablo Business Women in the beginning of this year and credits MDBW members, Gwen Holtan and Lily Dong with helping her to re-build her business back after having been out of the Bay Area. Other members have attended her workshops, connected her WITH their friends and networks, invited her to events, had coffee dates WITH her, and been incredible friends.
Kyla has given back to the community by donating a percentage of her revenue to Black mothers in need, donating her coaching to refugees, and offered scholarships to BIPOC women entrepreneurs.
When not working, Kyla enjoys swimming, drinking matcha lattes, and hanging out with badass women.
Learn more about Kyla on her website, her Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
Lyssa Jaye
Positively Thriving Functional Wellness for Women
Lyssa’s practice focuses on women’s health, and she works with women as a partner in their healthcare journey. She has over 17 years experience as a registered nurse, board certified family nurse practitioner, and functional nutrition and health practitioner.
Lyssa loves that women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s are in an exciting time of life where they are finally able to jettison their worries about what others think of them and are often bursting with creativity, wisdom, experience, and motivation to fulfill their dreams. Helping women overcome their unique hormonal challenges, feel at home in their body, and live the fabulous lives they are meant to live is what Lyssa loves about this work.
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Lyssa has been a member of MDBW for over a year and says the members have inspired her, referred business to her, and collaborated with her. She finds the monthly meetings give her great information that has been immediately useful. And, she has met incredible women who have become friends.
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Good referral sources for Lyssa are nutritionists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, and other health and wellness providers who recognize their clients have hormonal challenges. Other valuable referral sources are women who have friends or family members going through peri/menopause and struggling with health challenges.
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In addition to her work with women’s healthcare, Lyssa is involved in the community. She donates $5
to local food banks for each strategy session she has. She teaches sex/health education to students in 5th to 8th graders at a community school, she shares anti-burnout strategies to leaders at local health clinics, volunteers at her synagogue, and promotes anti-racist and criminal justice reform legislation with the Jewish Justice organization, Bend the Arc.
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When she’s not working, Lyssa enjoys laughing with her 14-year old daughter, walking in nature with her dog and friends, playing pickleball, reading, and learning about gut and hormone health.
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To learn more about Lyssa, visit her website, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
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JoAnn Adams
IT Maverick Solutions Representative
JoAnn Adams represents systems engineer, Erick Martinez of IT Maverick Solutions. If you are having problems with your computer, mobile phone, tablet or other devices, Erick is the expert to contact to get your issues resolved. He will come to your home (observing COVID protocols) and will provide knowledgeable support to get your devices running smoothly.
Erick can also provide training to help you feel more comfortable with your computer and other digital devices. He is multi-lingual and speaks English, Spanish, and Tagalog, and provides the following tech services:
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Help with wi-fi signal to speed up and provide a stable internet connection
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Connecting multiple devices
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Data recovery
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Data security
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Training for people with visual problems
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Video training
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Audio-visual issues
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Set up and troubleshooting for camera and security systems
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Troubleshooting to prevent future tech problems
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JoAnn enjoys representing IT Maverick Solutions because she is pleased to connect people with a resource to deal with their computer problems and other tech issues.
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As an active member of Mt. Diablo Business Women for more than 15 years, JoAnn credits the group with providing her with valuable help and information.
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When not spreading the word about IT Maverick Solutions, JoAnn enjoys reading, especially biographies and history-related non-fiction.
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For more information about Erick Martinez and services offered by IT Maverick Solutions, email JoAnn or email Erick, and be sure to mention that JoAnn referred you.
Trudy Triner
Paleoventures
Trudy Triner is a long-time member of Mt. Diablo Business Women where she has served on the Board for 8+ years, including two terms as the group’s President. Trudy was named MDBW’s Woman of the Year in 2018 for her contributions to the group, the professional world, and her community.
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After retiring from Kaiser Permanente as the Director of Leadership Development for Patient Care Services in 2014, Trudy co-founded Paleoventures Outdoor Teambuilding with her son, Jack Foley, an experienced wilderness educator. Her leadership background, combined with her son’s expertise in outdoor skills, made for a unique, multi-generational outdoor experience enjoyed by hundreds from such organizations as Kaiser Permanente, AAA, Marriott, PG&E, Facebook and CASA.
Their goal has always been to help teams become more cohesive and productive and individuals to be happier and more satisfied in their work.
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With the advent of COVID-19, when groups could no longer get together indoors or outdoors, Trudy pivoted to doing a variety of activities online with the same goal in mind; to help teams and individuals be more successful by building relationships and honing communication skills. All this, while enjoying something hard to find during a pandemic -fun!
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Trudy enjoys her works because she loves to see people learn skills that will enhance their personal and professional lives.
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In addition to her involvement in MDBW, Trudy is also active in The Rotary Club of Walnut Creek where she served as President in 2017-2018 and in her church, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church of Lafayette. She has also been an active volunteer at The Monument Crisis Center, Shelter, Inc., CASA, and Ability Now Bay Area.
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Trudy is the author of two books about bringing joy to elders, Make Mom Happy By Mail and Before They Are Gone, and will be debuting an online training, “Creating Joy For Elders and Others,” in mid-March. For more information, or to join the Beta of “Creating Joy for Elders and Others,” please email Trudy at trudy.triner@gmail.com.
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For more information about Paleoventures, please visit Paleoventures website.