PRESIDENT

I am one of the 4 Founding Mothers of the Appleton Area NOW chapter. I came of age during the 60s and 70s and was aware of NOW and those “radical feminist bra-burners” during my college years at Lawrence University: Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug, Shirley Chisholm. After earning my master’s degree in Chemical Engineering, I was hired at Kimberly-Clark as an entry-level scientist and worked my way up to Senior Director in product & technology development and new consumer business, experiencing plenty of discrimination along the way. When I left K-C due to a restructuring, I became a consultant in innovation and product development and eventually took on a very part-time role as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Lawrence University. This career shift allowed me to have the flexibility to give back to the community through volunteering with a variety of nonprofit organizations including the Women’s Fund, Mid-Day Women’s Alliance (business women’s organization), and the local League of Women Voters as well as 9to5, the organization for working women, and Main Street Alliance for small business advocacy. Through these efforts, I became acutely aware that no local organization focuses on women’s rights—especially advocacy work on public policies that women need—other than NOW. The rest—for NOW—is history!

CO VP-ACTION
A passionate advocate for women's rights and human equality, I take an intersectional approach to dismantling oppression. As the original organizer of the 2017 Women's March, I demonstrated my commitment to driving impactful social change. After 20+ years as an insurance brokerage owner, I have redirected my focus to academic pursuits at UW-Oshkosh. I am pursuing a double major in Women & Gender Studies and Anthropology, with double minors in African American Studies and History, and certificates in Indigenous Studies, Social Equity & Diversity, and LGBTQ+ Studies. I am committed to pursuing a law degree upon completion to gain the skills necessary to defend democracy and fight for social equality. My family, including my five children and partner William, currently reside in Appleton, WI.

CO VP-ACTION

Rachel Levine is a community organizer putting down roots in the Fox Cities. She volunteers for both Girl Scouts and hospice while also homeschooling her teens. Homeschooling gives Rachel an excuse to geek out 24/7 and spend lots of time at libraries and on field trips. Rachel's favorite things include art museums, children's literature, and studying history. Rachel has been registering voters and making calls for candidates for almost 15 years but deepened her activism during the 1st Trump Administration. At that time, she became a leader in Indivisible in Roanoke, Virginia. While working with Indivisible Rachel focused on Immigrant Rights, organizing numerous actions in support of immigrants. After relocating to Appleton with her family, Rachel is excited to work with NOW to continue fighting for equal rights and dignity for all people.

CO VP-MEMBERSHIP

I have always felt empowered to take action to make change even as a child chasing lunch bags blowing in the wind at school so they wouldn’t end up making pollution. I worked 32 years for Kimberly-Clark in various positions of accounting, purchasing and ending with project management for the Project Management Office within IT. Upon retirement I intentionally made a pivot to focus my energy on the non-profit sector. After little more than a year of investigating the various non-profits in the Fox Valley area I settled in on organizations that support women’s empowerment & getting out the vote. I found myself working part-time for the Girls Scouts, being on a committee for the Women’s Fund luncheon, joining the League of Women Voters supporting the voter services committee and joining Mid-Day Women’s Alliance with emphasis on the Legislative committee. I was obviously interested in helping to start the Appleton Area NOW chapter as a founding mother and am currently serving with a co-VP for membership.

My husband, Gary, and I have been married 30 years. We have two sons who are both married and one granddaughter. We are lucky they are all in the Appleton area! We also have a 2-year-old golden doodle rescue, Ruby.

CO VP-MEMBERSHIP

I am passionate about fostering community engagement and expanding membership in my role with Appleton Area NOW. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point and the University of Wisconsin - Stout with degrees in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Training and Development. I hold certifications as a Project Management Professional (PMP) and in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), which reflect my commitments to effective project management and agile practices. In addition to my professional work, I am a musician and enjoy playing both flute and piccolo in the New Horizons Band Fox Valley. If I'm not at a NOW event or at band rehearsal, you can find me playing trivia, as I love challenging myself and others with interesting facts. I am also a proud member of the Clan MacEwen Society, which showcases my dedication to cultural heritage and community.

RECORDING SECRETARY

I have been a passionate advocate for women and children since my college years.  I was fortunate to cut my teeth on the civil rights and women’s movement while in school.  This dedication to change led to my career in social work where first hand I saw the impact that laws, policies and cultural mores had on the most vulnerable populations. Women and children suffered the most under oppressive prescriptions that resulted in these populations having the highest poverty rates and limited access to quality health care. My commitment to activism naturally led to positions in non-profit and governmental entities as both a direct line worker and manager and to my Master’s Degree in Social Work.  Through the years, I have worked in child welfare, sexual assault services and treatment of incarcerated persons living with mental illness.  As director of Reach Counseling I was able to institute benefits in an agency with mostly female staff that reflected my belief that women needed excellent health care policies, generous time off to allow for care of family members and the opportunity for retirement income.  The lack of these benefits continues to marginalize women, make work/life balance difficult, if not impossible, and eventually leads to poor retirement outcomes.

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

I lead our Learning and Organizational Development department at my organization, where I coach and develop people, facilitate learning, and guide continuous improvement, with a strong passion for inclusion and culture-building. As a leader in our diversity efforts, I partner with Employee Business Resource Groups to help women, veterans, people of color, and young professionals—and their allies—to lead, thrive, and be heard through clear charters and strategies. During COVID, I earned my ICF ACC credential through UW–Madison, deepening my passion for coaching people through challenging career and life transitions. A committed volunteer, I chair our United Way Committee for the Fox Valley and have instilled a strong ethic of service in my family, which naturally led me to serve in Outreach and Education for the AANOW chapter. I hold a master’s degree in Learning and Organizational Development from Lakeland University, where I now teach as an adjunct professor, and outside of work you’ll find me teaching exercise classes at any of our local YMCA facilities.

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

I am a retired mental health counselor after specializing in the area of trauma for over 30 years.  In my retirement, I have become very active in speaking for the rights of those whose voices are not heard.  I am a founding mother of Appleton Area NOW.  I have also spoken at governmental meetings on behalf of women’s rights and rights of people of color.  I have also spoken against conversion therapy and more, spoken on behalf of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) at a national League of Women Voters convention, participated in the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act at the state capitol, served on the 19th Amendment Centennial Celebration for the Fox Cities focused on highlighting those suffragists who have been neglected in history, co-chaired the Community Alliances Committee of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin (LWVWI) which among other things created guidance documents for Land Acknowledgements and for recognizing and dealing with bias within the LWV. I currently serve as vice president of the board of Long Cheng Community Center and currently sit on the Ballots without Barriers statewide committee focused on assuring voting rights for people whose first language is not English.  I am a wife, mother of two, grandmother of two and proud daughter of two sixties civil rights activists.

I have been a member of Appleton Area NOW since the Founding Mothers started it. An unrepentant instigator, I love hanging with people who get up to Good Trouble! My professional background is in theater, performance, and studio ownership. In recent years, however, I have worked for nonprofit CDFIs (Community Development Financial Institutions) whose mission is to improve economic opportunities and access to capital for women and minorities in the state of Wisconsin. I have various degrees and certifications because I identify as a lifelong learner, and I’m always interested in having conversations about new projects. If I’m not consulting with CDFIs or working on community development projects, I’m voraciously reading, hanging out with my husband and our rehomed golden doodle, or looking for music and musical theater performance opportunities. 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY

I was a teacher for 30 years, starting out as a middle school physical science teacher in Verona, WI and ending up as a math and science teacher for students in an elementary gifted education program in Appleton. After retiring in 2024 I continued pursuing my passion of hiking the Ice Age Trail (I’m working on my second completion) by adding in ways to give back through trail maintenance, presentations, and leading hikes. I also continued work with my therapy dog, Cashew the golden doodle. Then I wanted to get involved in more organizations working to make the world a better place and rebuild our democratic society. Through people I met at protests I decided to volunteer with Feeding America and join the League of Women Voters, Veterans for Peace, the Green Bay Raging Grannies, local Singing Resistance groups, Indivisible, and other groups. The Appleton Area NOW group was one of the first, and one I’ve found to be especially well organized, informative, and proactive. I not only joined but prioritized AANOW by joining the board as the Corresponding Secretary. I am excited to be working on making positive changes happen for women and others with this amazing group of people. Join us!