Katie Bailey has always taken an interest in international affairs – in studies and travel. As a teaching assistant in graduate school at Indiana University Bloomington, the professor she worked for offered to take the students in his class on a spring break trip. His challenge: find a country that’s close but different enough we […]

Lilly PRIDE began in 1994 with humble origins. This United Way ELEVATE finalist for Employee Resource Group of the Year started with Eli Lilly and Company employees organizing after-hours meet ups for gay and lesbian employees through a blind carbon copy email. From these informal roots to its eventual formation as Lilly PRIDE, its purpose […]

For nine years, Jessica Evans worked as a Kindergarten and First Grade teacher at Pike Township. Some of her students came from hard backgrounds, which pushed her to create a classroom to be a safe haven. This United Way ELEVATE finalist for Nonprofit Professional of the Year is not the kind to see an issue […]

When members of the Executive team of BOLDforce walked into the United Way offices for their interview it was clear we were looking at a team of individuals who shared a great deal of respect and camaraderie between one another. We also liked their matching BOLDforce t-shirts.The BOLD in BOLDforce stands for Black Organization for […]

After attending Ball State and earning an Urban Planning degree, Laura Granieri didn’t want to go home. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, she found breaking into the scene there just wasn’t as easy or accessible as what she had experienced in Central Indiana. Through her undergrad work she got hands-on with meaningful projects like Reimagining Mass […]

ELEVATE is less than a month away (with less than 50 tickets left!) and we are getting pumped! In the last couple of weeks, we’ve been diving into our Havana Nights theme. Our host committee got to sample our signature Mojito cocktail, we’ve had Cuban music playlists streaming, and there just may have been a […]

Let us introduce … Devon Ginn, ELEVATE’s emcee! Where to begin with this Indianapolis native? Devon is a proud Broad Ripple High School alumnus (’09). He is classically trained in Shakespearian theatre, a published poet and experienced director and curator for the arts, culture and entertainment.  Currently the Visual Art & Entertainment curator at Madame […]

Becca Ford is a chemical engineer by trade, but not just any chemical engineer. During her tenure at Eli Lilly and Company, Ford has scaled the technical ranks to become one of the few female and/or under 40 project managers responsible for the design and construction of drug manufacturing plants. While she may be a […]

At the heart of everything Lauren Petersen does: people, places and impact. You can trace it back to her urban planning and development degree from Ball State and her love of travel – she has visited 26 countries and lived abroad in Poland on a Fulbright scholarship. And it continues on through her community service […]

Ronni Kloth might have ended up anywhere. With a Harvard degree and a liberal arts mindset about the world as an interconnected place, she moved cross country to Silicon Valley. As an inaugural participant of Intuit’s leadership development program, her job changed every six months. While she learned invaluable lessons about management and innovation, she […]