about us

JoAnne spent 27 years of her professional life in the insurance business before becoming an entrepreneur.  JoAnne returned to her hometown of New Orleans in 2007 after being gone for 31 years. She discovered that living in New Orleans meant becoming an animal lover as New Orleans is a huge dog city. Rescue organizations are very active but are always struggling for funds.  So in 2018, she founded the NOLA Dogs Race to the Rescue 5K and in 2019 founded NOLA Girl Charitable Giving a 501 (c)(3) 

non-profit to raise money to improve the lives of animals, women and children. JoAnne owns Alice and Amelia, a gift boutique on Magazine Street. When not working, JoAnne enjoys traveling with her husband Dan, facetiming with her grandchildren and taking way too many pictures of Daisy, her four legged fur baby.

Maribel Castro has over 25 years experience in education, libraries, and information technology. Her career started as a reading and English as a second language teacher. She has a deep passion for stories, storytelling, and literature. After five years in the classroom working with inner city Hispanic students in Houston, Texas, she went back to school and earned her masters degree in library and information science. Mrs. Castro went on to have an accomplished career serving school and academic libraries across Texas. She served as the first, and only, Hispanic elected president to the largest state library association in the country, the Texas Library Association. She has also held board positions for the American Association of School Librarians and the American Library Association. Currently, she serves as the Director of Technology at the 

Louise S. McGehee School in New Orleans, LA.

Mrs. Castro loves living in New Orleans with her husband of 23 years, Joel Castro, who is also an accomplished educator. They have three dogs, two high-strung dachshunds, Che Guevara and Diego Rivera, and a clownish basset hound, Alma Rosa. She enjoys giving her time and energy to causes that are dear to her heart, animals, literacy, and women’s issues.

Cynthia has over 30 years experience in executive management. Her consulting clients have included venture capital backed start-ups as well as Fortune 500 companies. 

She holds a BBA in Economics and an MBA with concentrations in Strategic Planning and Finance from the University of Texas at Austin. Cynthia has taught Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Business Communications at the University of Texas at Austin and St. Edward’s University.  She currently is an Adjunct Professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, teaching in the MBA program.

Cynthia has served on the Board of Directors for Austin Habitat for Humanity and on the Board of Advisors for the University of Texas Quality Management Consortium. In 2018, she founded and incorporated NOLA Grannies as a 501(c)(3) non-profit and organized the 2019 We The People NOLA event.   Cynthia is a grandmother and mom to Missy, her pup.

Jody has served as the Executive Director for Girls on the Run New Orleans since 2013, where she has truly been a catalyst for change and drives the organization’s tremendous growth and positive impact in the New Orleans Community. Jody has been invested in the greater New Orleans area since 2000, deeply investing in transforming the Jewish community through roles at The New Orleans Jewish Community Center, New Orleans Hillel, Birthright Israel Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans. Jody currently serves on the board of the Greater New Orleans Jewish Federation, National Council of Jewish Women and serves on the Anti Defamation League (ADL) education committee. Jody is actively involved in the first cohort of the Women's Leadership Academy at Loyola University, designed to enable women in the region to achieve their greatest professional potential through leadership training, personal development, and one-on-one mentorships. Most recently, Jody is honored to be chosen as a 2019 Young Leadership Council (YLC) Role Model. Jody is married with two sons and enjoys volunteering and coaching Heart & Sole at their school, Bricolage Academy.  When Jody is not busy volunteering or crafting or spending time with friends and loved ones, she enjoys cheering her boys on at Carrollton soccer and baseball games.

Bio coming soon.