Past Featured Sponsors
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
To learn more about Lyssa, visit her website, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
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
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.
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.
When not spreading the word about IT Maverick Solutions, JoAnn enjoys reading, especially biographies and history-related non-fiction.
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.
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.
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!
Trudy enjoys her works because she loves to see people learn skills that will enhance their personal and professional lives.
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.
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.
For more information about Paleoventures, please visit Paleoventures website.
Miriam Schaffer
Colleges For You
Miriam Schaffer is a college admissions coach helping high school and community college students on their path to college. Her work with students includes overall guidance to help them choose the best classes and extracurricular activities to meet their college goals. She also helps them choose colleges to apply to and provides assistance with completing and submitting applications. In addition, Miriam works with students on brainstorming topics for their college essays and University of California (UC) personal insight questions. She reviews and edits essays to get them ready for submittal. Students Miriam has worked with have been accepted to all the University of California and Cal State campuses as well as many public and private colleges and universities nationwide. Miriam enjoys helping students make the transition to college and helping them to find the college that is the best fit for them.
Good referrals for Miriam are high school students, community college students, and their parents. High school students who are targeting Ivy League or other top-tier schools should start preparing for college in their freshman or sophomore year of high school so that they can position themselves to stand out from the competition. Other good referrals are SAT or ACT tutors or other professionals who work with students and their families.
Miriam has been a member of MDBW for about 10 years and has made many friends and good connections in the group. She has served on the MDBW board for several years, first as publicity chair and currently as marketing co-chair with Lisa Andrews.
When not working with students and their parents, Miriam enjoys traveling, theater, the outdoors, and spending time with her husband and family.
Learn more about Miriam on her website and LinkedIn.