Allie Stark
Allie Stark was raised in a small Nebraska town called Hebron. There were no stoplights, no reason to lock the doors, and the town’s biggest claim to fame is the world’s largest porch swing; a fact of which Stark says she is, “oddly proud.”
Her upbringing was one reason she was drawn to Gilbert and she’ll always be a small-town girl at heart. She is passionate about connecting in meaningful ways, and dislikes how people have disappeared behind computer screens. Ironically, that was the driving force in joining leadership of the Gilbert Girlfriends Facebook group. The purpose is to bring women together face-to-face. In three years, the endeavor now includes groups in 18 states and Canada. Stark recently developed the app “Moxie. Inspire. Empower. Grow.,” on Mighty Networks to bring women together globally to support each other in business and beyond. She also has new show “Inspired Moxie” on iSheTV.
Jordan Breske
Jordan Breske was born in Illinois, has lived in Arizona for 25 years and has called Gilbert home since 2015. She enjoys Gilbert life with her husband and their blue nose pit bull named Stretch.
Breske graduated from ASU with a degree in early childhood education and currently teaches Pre-K. She recently started a fun Instagram page called @gilbert_guide where she shares information and photos of local restaurants, businesses and events. She is passionate about supporting small businesses and wants to share her love of all things local with her community. One of her favorite things about living in Gilbert is all the incredible people. She also loves spending Saturday mornings browsing all of the amazing vendors at the Gilbert Farmers Market. In her spare time, she enjoys watching true crime documentaries and traveling, and one of her favorite places to visit is Sedona.
Denise Lopez
Denise Lopez is honored to be president and CEO of HD SOUTH, home of the Gilbert Historical Museum, a private nonprofit at the southern end of the Heritage District in Downtown Gilbert. In addition to her career, she has four fantastic daughters ranging in age from 13 to 30.
She has lived in Gilbert with her husband and their children since 2010, and cannot imagine a better place to live, work and play. Lopez spends free time searching for “treasures” at antique and thrift stores. She loves to recycle, repurpose, and give discarded objects new life. She is passionate about supporting local businesses and making a difference in her community. Her fur baby family includes two dogs, two cats, a rabbit and a guinea pig that are all rescues. She enjoys historical fiction, developing new recipes in the kitchen, entertaining and scrapbooking. She also loves road tripping throughout the Southwest.
Christi Larson
Christi Larson is a third generation Arizona native who loves living in the East Valley where treks to the Superstition Mountains and Canyon Lake are just a short drive. She enjoys camping, hiking, fishing, boating and any activity where she can soak in the beautiful Arizona scenery. She also loves spending time with her 7- year-old son and family.
Larson received her doctor of pharmacy degree at Midwestern University. With 20-years’ experience in the pharmacy field, she’s been a director, author, speaker, consultant, and currently works as a clinical pharmacist. She was inspired to pursue a career in medicine by her grandparents who lived with her while growing up. Participating in their care as they grew older gave Larson insights into the needs of aging adults and motivated her to want to learn more. Her health and medicine coaching practice and book, “Empowered Medicine” were born out of her experiences.
Donna Sparaco Meador
Donna Sparaco Meador was raised in Nutley, NJ, a small town outside The Big Apple. She was a Girl Scout and tomboy who loved sports and camping. No one was more surprised than she to discover she loved the city. She moved to Brooklyn so she could jump a subway to get to work on Madison Avenue.
She found herself alone in her 40s, took to the dating scene, and met husband Pietro Sparaco, an off-the-boat Italian. The dating experience as an adult left an impression that led her to write, “DATING: It’s Not Personal.” Pietro passed away in 2016, and her passion became her mission when her message of self-care took the media by storm in her podcast “Daily Dose A Donna.” She and new husband Jeff Meador spread their message of hope on “The Meador Affect,” an uplifting, inspiring and fun variety show coming to SimulTV this summer.
Kelly Geisler
Arizona native Kelly Geisler grew up in the East Valley and happily calls Gilbert home. Her parents became foster parents and over the course of 25 years, parented 125 foster children. The experience provided a unique upbringing and instilled in Geisler great empathy for children who needed so much. Geisler became a foster parent for special needs children in 1994, caring for medically fragile children who, in return, taught her unconditional love. She and husband Erik Geisler recently adopted one of their special needs foster children in December 2020. In addition to spending time with family, she loves to hike, travel and meet new people.
She started sewing business, Create Your Own Joy Studio, which provided the opportunity to teach hundreds of kids to sew. She and her friend, Carrie Owens launched nonprofit Cultivate Goodness, focusing on needs in our community and invites others to get involved in service projects.
Carrie Owens
Carrie Owens is a fourth generation Arizona native, hailing from a ranching and farming family that includes Valley founders, The Hayden Family. She has been married to the love of her life, fellow native Tim Owens, for 35 years. They have three children, four grandchildren and another grandchild debuting soon. She cherishes that all of their family lives in the East Valley, and marvels at the growth of the Valley during her lifetime.
Owens enjoys vacationing with family, playing games and getting out to the lake or to go camping in the pines. She met Kelly Geisler when they were training buddies, and the two became fast friends. After having many in-depth conversations, the duo discovered they shared a passion for wanting to help the community, and together co-founded nonprofit Cultivate Goodness to elevate and serve the community. Owens is excited to see what the future holds for the organization.
Mindy Jones Nevarez
Mindy Jones is an Arizona native and the proud owner of the Amy Jones Group, a residential real estate team specializing in the Southeast Valley out of their Keller Williams Integrity First office in Gilbert. A born leader, Mindy has a long history of community involvement and engagement centered around empowering individuals to be the best versions of themselves including her unofficial start as a playground mediator in second grade where she held trainings, created puffy paint uniforms, and advertised her “team’s” services as helping those who needed a hand with disagreements at recess.
Mindy is a strong communicator with a positive attitude on life who believes that where there is a will, there truly is a way even if you have to crawl through the thorny bushes, stand up to the wild animals, and use your wit and grit to find your way back to the sunny path. With a background in non profit management and operations in both the private and public sectors, Mindy has held several leadership positions including her current role on the agent leadership council at Keller Williams Integrity First, as a committee member of the Women Empowered Committee of the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, and as the leader of a power-house team of women serving more than 160 families as they buy, sell, and invested in $61M in real estate in 2020 alone.
Alice Woodard
Alice Woodard is originally from McHenry, Illinois. She moved to Gilbert, Arizona in 1999. Alice is married to Chris Woodard and they have five children: Alexis who is married to Arturo who live in Chandler, AZ, Zachary who is married to Julie; Julie & Zachary live in Irvine, CA with my Granddaughter Felicity, Jordyn who is married to Kelan. they live in Queen Creek, AZ, Christopher who lives in Queen Creek, AZ and Emily who lives at home and attends Gilbert High School. It is an understatement to say Alice's family means a lot to her. She always wants to spend as much time as she can with them. She loves animals and currently have four dogs, two cats, two ferrets and a turtle. A mini zoo. Alice also loves to do creative crafty things and enjoys growing plants and spending time in the pool. She thinks that the town of Gilbert is amazing and her business, Printwerx is located here. Lately, her passion is her locally created product line Gilbert Made by Printwerx. This is where her daughter Alexis and Alice design and print town and state inspired small goods.
Jenn Sloat
After 15 years in the marketing industry, Jennifer made the switch to real estate to apply her project management expertise to the business her husband, Mark Sloat, had built. Jennifer's background is based in project management and process improvement, allowing her to approach real estate from a different perspective and enhance the client experience at Sloat Group at Realty ONE Group. Jennifer is passionate about helping people during this large life transition and keeping things clear, transparent and simple. Collectively, Sloat Group at Realty ONE group works hard to advocate, support and educate their clients from writing their first offer to closing day.
Outside of real estate, Jennifer and her husband, Mark, have 2 daughters: Charleigh, 5 and Sawyer, 1. Jennifer loves being active with the kids whether it's chasing bubbles in the backyard, swimming or going on adventure hikes when camping up North.
Chelsea McCombs
Chelsea is originally from Enid, Oklahoma, and moved to Gilbert in 2015 to further pursue her career in the medical field. After graduation for Heritage College as a Certified X-ray Technician and Medical Assistant, she entered the Chiropractic field where she could continue to learn more about radiology, patient care, and also now marketing for LifeQuest Physical Medicine and Rehab.
In her spare time, Chelsea enjoys taking her dogs out hiking on some of Arizona's great trails, spending time with her wife and 2 kids, and also doing home renovation projects. When asked what she loves most about the East Valley, she said "There is always something to do and I love the culture that Gilbert has to offer!"
