LAKESIDE WOMEN was founded by Kari Higgins and Susan Mawhood to provide an opportunity for expert speakers to present practical advice on a range of topics of interest to women in the Ajijic area.

KARI HIGGINS                          ORGANISER

Kari and her husband, originally from England, (via Belgium and Canada), have lived in Ajijic for just over 4 years.  Her background is in IT and she worked as a consultant in Canada for many years.  She has been active with Niños Incapacitados since 2004, helping them with their databases and documentation, as well as their fundraising and membership drives.  She enjoys organizing events, being involved in the community and meeting the interesting people of Lakeside.  She has over 25 years of volunteer experience and feels that the Lakeside Women website and the fairs that we organize will be useful to many local women.  And by informing them, you inform the men too!

SUSAN MAWHOOD                  ORGANISER

Susan and her husband Mike Murgatroyd are originally from England.  They emigrated to Canada in 1966 and lived in Toronto until moving to Ajijic three years ago. She was a television director and script writer and travelled extensively making documentaries for the CBC, NFB, Discovery and National Geographic.  She enjoys being involved in the organization of the Lakeside Women's series of information Fairs.  One big advantage is that there is no problem finding excellent speakers on virtually any subject because of the enormous variety of careers and backgrounds of the people who live here.

TEAM MEMBERS

Aurora Michel is our resident MC:  her unique knowledge of the people and community make the event run smoothly.  Jane Hainsworth brings her business experience in public relations, coordinating all our press releases and publicity.  Phyl Gaskell and Lynn Prichard organize the ticket sales and table layouts, and Eileen Rose overviews the accounts of the event.  Kenée Campo is our webmaster and designer and Margaret Quinn is our researcher and put together much of the documentation for the Safety, Financial and Legal Fair.

JANE HAINSWORTH               PUBLIC RELATIONS

Lakeside is a world away from downtown Montreal and Toronto, where Jane worked in employee communications and public relations. But communications are essential in both worlds and she is glad to put her experience to good use here for several local organizations.

PHYL GASKELL                        ADMINISTRATION

Phyl and her husband, Dan, found Ajijic five years ago through other friends who already lived here. A two month house-sit convinced them that the people and the climate were a perfect combination for retirement. Leaving the rain in Vancouver BC was easy. Phyl was a customer service and project manager with BC Rail for 20 years before taking the earliest possible retirement to pursue other interests such as house renovation, genealogy, and Scottish Country dancing. Happily, she has been able to continue them here amongst the myriad of other activities available with such an interesting population. Her current greatest ambition is to learn to play Scrabble in Spanish.

EILEEN ROSE                            FINANCIAL OVERVIEW

Eileen Rose moved to Ajijic 5 years ago from Seattle, and as her FM-1 form states "Me gusta mucho el clima de este lugar".  She was once president of a small software company which made ProKey, (those of you who started using PC's in the early 1980's may remember this early macro processor).  She now spends her time travelling, gardening, reading, with an occasional turn on the LLT stage and a brief career as a director (summer program).  Eileen has served as treasurer for LLT, Ajijic Limpio, and her condo association.

KENÉE CAMPO             WEBMASTER   

Kenee and husband Mike first put down roots in Ajijic in 1990, moving here on a permanent  basis in 2001. She was associated with several California publishing houses before initiating the regional newspaper Health and Consciousness.  Kenee was responsible for the college text Holistic Healing, founded local service companies in inhalation therapy and medical billing.  A UCLA graduate, she is actively involved in publishing, photography, graphics and information technology, taking advanced courses to keep up with today’s rapidly changing technology.  Her avocations include travel, gardening, and volunteering website outreach for Lakeside charity organizations.

MARGARET QUINN                RESEARCH FOR WEBSITE FORMS & DOCUMENTATION

Margaret and her husband Brian were raised in the New York City area, met in college, and spent 35 years in Lenox, The Berkshires, Massachusetts.  Before marriage, Margaret was an anti-poverty volunteer teacher in New Mexico--a life-changing experience.  Teaching English followed in the New York and Boston area.  While raising her daughter Shannon, Margaret become a busy community volunteer, especially for 10 years as a board member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts, with the job of seeing to the needs of the annual 150 music fellows from around the world. Along the way, Margaret obtained a Visual Arts degree and became a District Supervisor for a large regional school district.  Upon arriving in Ajijic 7 years ago, Margaret became a board member of Niños Incapacitados, the Garden Guild, Ninos de Chapala, and a member of several organizations.  She strongly believes that supporting the health and education of Mexican children will make a difference.

AURORA MICHEL        M.C.

Aurora Michel studied in Guadalajara, went to High School in California and the Catholic University of Angers, France.  She is married to Victor Martìnez,   She has worked for Lloyd, now Actinver-Lloyd, since November 1989.  The United Nations Environmental Program sponsored a book on Lake Chapala that she helped to write and she attended conferences on lake issues in Japan, South Africa and Canada.  Positions held in the community include President of the Citizens Council Board of the Municipality and President of the Conalep School Board.  She has been the M.C. of the Chili Cookoff seven times, plus M.C. of many award ceremonies and company events.

VOLUNTEERS

It would be impossible to hold the Lakeside Women's Fairs without the assistance of the many volunteers who give their help prior to and on the day of the event.

DISPLAY TABLES

Businesses that are relevant to the theme of the Fair are invited to book a table to display their products or services during the Fair.  In lieu of payment, they are asked to donate an item to the silent auction.

SILENT AUCTION

The silent auction is responsible for a significant part of the amount raised at the Women's Fairs for donation to local charities.   Increasingly, items are made specifically for the auction by supporters who very generously give their time, their creativity and their money for materials to help worthwhile causes in our community.  Our thanks to all businesses and individuals who so kindly donated items.