SPECIAL FEATURES

Meet two of Central New York’s power influencers, creators of The Castle 603 and The Ingram Castle Foundation, The Ingrams. Let’s see what they had to say about their non-profit, transforming a Syracuse landmark, and more!

Could you share a bit about your backgrounds and what inspired you to venture into the project of transforming The Castle.

The Castle project is very personal for us. Chino was born two doors down from the church and played in its parking lot as a young child. I have been in Syracuse since college graduation and have made Syracuse my home. Both Chino and I feel a strong sense of belonging to the Southside and are passionate about improving the community by reviving this abandoned landmark that played such an important role in the history of the Southside.Continue reading

PHOTOS BY MICHELE ASHLEE

Your book that has been recently released on amazon and audible about your daughter Emilee describes her as “ A beautiful, young woman — a talented athlete and musician, raised in a loving home, surrounded by friends — undermined by a ruthless inner voice that claimed her body and her spirit.

Emilee: The Story of a Girl and Her Family Hijacked by Anorexia reveals the cracks in our health care system, the institutions we are taught to trust, as well as our own prejudices and misinformation about eating disorders, mental illness, and addiction.Continue reading

Hey Rochester Women! My name is Heather Zajkowski. I am a 33 year old mom (aka momcologist) of two amazing little girls and I would like to share a chapter of my life story with you.

A few months shy of a year ago was when we heard the worst news of our life. News that no parents ever thinks they will hear.
“Addison has Cancer.”

Even while living our worst nightmare amid the prime of a Global Pandemic we have so much to reflect upon and be grateful for. The “worst year ever” has brought some pretty amazing silver linings our way. Lets hit the rewind button and start from the beginning.Continue reading

PHOTOS BY: BOB SHULTZ AND SANDY ARENA

Hailing from Rochester, NY, Annaliese Arena is a 16-year-old pageant queen, avid volunteer, and fashion model. At the age of 8, she began competing in National American Miss (NAM) and found her love for the world of pageantry. Pageantry is what encouraged her to get involved in her community service and love of helping others.

Annaliese’s first platform, at the age of 10 was named, “Happily Ever after: Because every child deserves one”. Through this platform she raised 1000 dollars with a charity basketball game, a PJ party fundraiser, a T-shirt drive with her dance school, and organized a “Whipping” childhood cancer event. Her current platform is Scars to Hearts which is all about taking life’s hardest moments and turning them into something beautiful to spread love to the rest of the world. She was inspired to do this after fighting her battle with mental health struggles and it is her way off turning her “scars” into “hearts”.Continue reading

If you are an animal lover, bring over the box of tissues before reading this special feature with Jeremy Wolf, and “Justice For Vanessa”, his beautiful pitty rescue dog. If we all come together as a community, maybe we can help make a difference and save this beauty from the injustice she is being served.

Here is Rochester Woman Online’s question and answer with Jeremy as he tells us a little bit about the heartbreaking months he has fought to help bring Vanessa back home where she belongs.Continue reading

BY TITIANA BOGAR

October 2nd, 2020 at 8pm was the worst night of my life. I received the call that is every mother’s worst nightmare… my 18-year-old son who had just graduated from Northeast College Prep, also know as Douglass High School, had been murdered.

Friday morning at 2am I woke up having an anxiety attack knowing something was wrong and I could not pinpoint what exactly it was that was weighing on me. I went to the doctors and they wrote me a prescription to help with my anxiety, chest pains and tears. Continue reading

Manuel AKA “Manny” Ortiz

Born in Brooklyn New York, raised in Pennsylvania and then relocated to Rochester New York at a young age, Manuel Ortiz younger years as a youth consisted of learning to play two instruments. He learned how to play the drums and also the trumpet. He performed for church ceremonies and joined in many parades. He was always full of great spirit.Continue reading

“No one is coming to save us. We are the change we need to see. Let today be the day that we transform our communities. This is our uprising. We are the people.” – Dr. Shanelle R. Benson Reid

Today, I carry with me the, anger, fear, frustration and pain of those who came before me and those who will come after. I spent several days pondering this topic because of the racism and systematic oppression faced daily; a great deal of time toiling over these ideas and knew it would be impossible to not share.Continue reading

From mom and pop shops to convenience stores, gas stations to grocery stores, CBD products are showing up everywhere. If you take a moment out of your daily commute to look around, odds are that you are passing by street banners, signs and billboards announcing the availability of CBD at this or that location. Which, on the surface, is very exciting and bodes well for the industry, but it begs the question: Why should I go there to buy my CBD?Continue reading