Main Street Moms on the Move ~ October 2016

By Rachel Hoeing

If you have never read one of our Main Street Moms on the Move features before, you are in for a treat! Today you will meet Vinita, Angel, and Jen. Each of these mothers are making huge strides in our community by helping other women find their best selves. I am so proud to share a little bit about each of these women with you today.

To read previous Moms on the Move blogs, click here. To nominate a mom on the move in our Triad community, email Rachel@triadmomsonmain.com.

 

Vinita Singh

• After graduating with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and an Associate of Science degree, Vinita began working with autistic, exceptional, and special ed children and teaching as a Lead Teacher/Assistant Site director. She started writing in her spare time and is now a creative nonfiction short story writer, who also writes children’s stories and poetry. She also started writing her first novel called The Mistress of the House, which is about her interest in dancing. Vinita has taught dance workshops and considers choreographing and dancing a gift.

She has lived in small towns, big cities, and also spent two years in India as a student learning to read and write Hindi and Sanskrit, and also learning Classical North Indian Dancing. She is adaptable to adjust anywhere.

Due to all of these experiences in her life, she is able to help others learn things about astrology and India. She also helps people dance and get a good workout but also learn to dance with a passion. She is looking to start a new group where women can learn to dance as exercise with real Indian music. If this is something you are interested in learning more about, feel free to email her at vinitasingh03@yahoo.com.

Currently Vinita spends time with her children and enjoys seeing them participate in ballet, Tae Kwon Do, swimming and piano. In her spare time she writes and dances or does hip hop or Zumba at the gym. Currently she is taking Kathak dancing, a North Indian style of dancing, which is dance by storytelling.

She is hard working, persistent, and creative. Give her a word and she can make a poem or a story out of it in seconds. Check out her blog at wwwvinita.blogspot.com.

 

Angel Fant

Angel is a local visual artist and community leader. She serves in high risk communities through the arts. She is an AFAS artist and UNCSA ArtistCorps AmeriCorps member/visual arts instructor. Within the last year she has averaged serving over one hundred children monthly.

Angel strives to transform community issues through visual arts. It is not surprising that her children have a heart for community and arts. In November 2015 over dinner, the Fant Family founded No Punching Bag. NPB is an art based line that promotes domestic violence awareness and prevention through the arts. The NPB apparel line lead by designer Danielle Fant along with Tenijah Fant, lead NPB model and artist. Zion Fant manages inventory, paints, and creates jewelry. Angel Fant focuses on venues, murals, and conversations pieces.

No Punching Bag collaborates with other local artists and plans to enhance that partnership. Angel creates art engagements to spread a message of peace, respect, and love. Also, No Punching Bag offers 24 to 72 hour survival bags for victims who have decided to leave their abusers. Bags/kits are available for purchase to bystanders and or citizens that wish be resourceful concerning domestic violence prevention. To learn more about No Punching Bag go to www.nopunchingbag.com.

 

Jennifer Ertl

Jennifer is a woman on mission as a Founding Member and top leader of a new company called Beautycounter. She is helping lead the way in the movement to get safer products into the marketplace.

With her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis in 2012, Jennifer sought to understand the potential environmental links to cancer and other illnesses. She learned that many common household products, including beauty products, contain hormone altering chemicals that could contribute to serious health problems.

A chance meeting with Beautycounter’s Founder and CEO, Gregg Renfrew, in 2013 ignited Jennifer’s passion for sharing the story of safer products. Jennifer teamed up with Gregg to help launch Beautycounter in the southeast. Fast forward three years, and Jennifer, along with her team of 8,000 passionate consultants have helped get more than 2 million safer, high-performing Beautycounter products into the marketplace.

The US bans only 11 ingredients from all personal care products, compared to the EU’s ban of 1,400 ingredients. The US has not passed a major federal law regulating the cosmetics industry since 1938. For this reason, over the past year, Jennifer and other Beautycounter consultants have met with approximately 100 local and federal legislators on the topic of cosmetics reform. Just last week Beautycounter was part of the first Senate committee hearings in decades on the subject.

Success for Jennifer means building a business with significant social impact, arming consumers with information, creating safer high-performing products, and advocating for legislation that moves the industry forward. Fortunately this success comes with financial rewards–generous enough for Jennifer to leave her former profession as an attorney. Like most Beautycounter consultants, Jennifer works her Beautycounter business part time, from home, around her family’s busy schedule, including her husband’s own entrepreneurial venture as owner and founder of Bouncy Bands and the demands and delights of raising their two young sons.