Mary Kay keeps looking for humor!  She continues to find it while conducting workshops that link laughter and learning.  She espouses the positive energy of humor or "humergy" to promote a healthy lifestyle and enhance communication skills.  In addition to humor and stress management, Mary Kay has conducted sessions on brain research, leadership, ADHD, group facilitation, parenting and mentoring.

As an educator who has taught kindergarten through college level classes, Mary Kay enjoys students of all ages.  She has a B.S. in Education, an M.S. in Adult Education and certification in Education Administration.  Her position at KIDS, a regional office of education in northern Illinois, gave her the opportunity to work directly with over 200 schools with the responsibility for providing staff development designed to meet state certification standards for administrators in her region.  She served on the Illinois NCLB implementation team and conducted "train the trainer" sessions for the State Board of Education on school improvement and mentoring.

For over 20 years she has been providing keynote presentations and breakout workshop sessions for numerous agencies and districts nationwide.  She has facilitated leadership academies on humor and stress management through the Illinois State Board of Ed. and with the National Staff Development Council.  She has been an instructor at Northern Illinois University, Rock Valley College and Kishwaukee College. She was recently honored to give the commencement keynote address at National Louis University.

Mary Kay is the co-chair of the 2010 Biology of Hope Conference for AATH (Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor) and serves on the Board of Directors.  She is a member of the Rockford Early Learning Council and developed a promotional program for the Rockford Early Learning Project grant. Mary Kay is a member Rockford Network of Professional Women and the Rockford Seedlings Garden Club. She also serves on the advisory committee for the Rockford Northeast Branch of the YMCA where she was named 2009 volunteer of the year. 

Mary Kay is passionate about sharing her enthusiasm for positive emotionality and mind/body balance. She advocates the use of humor to increase energy and add zip to life.  Gardening, step aerobics and biking add variety to her life.   She is consistently sustained and encouraged by her husband, children, their spouses and ten grandchildren.