Laura Fortner-Monegan

The mindsets I prioritize in the workplace and the life I lead:

• Being a team player

• Having a growth mindset

• Supporting a mission

My life has led me to supporting others and the missions that center around them. An important mission my husband and I have been part of for the past year is our local children’s services. We are licensed foster parents and have provided respite care for foster kids and their foster parents as well as being foster parents to a sibling set of four kids for the past 13 months. This has been an area of tremendous growth for me as well as deepening my partnership with my husband – the ultimate team sport- foster parenting!

I have been an animal welfare advocate for over 10 years and have volunteered at animal shelters everywhere we’ve lived. To date we have fostered over 50 animals.

My passion also lies with the environment and I have been part of a native plant non-profit group for the past two years and we have taken steps to conserve the land that we live on. We have ten former farmland acres just south of Cleveland that we have partnered with USDA’s NRCS division to turn back into native habitat for this region. I’m also learning to be a dedicated gardener not only with native plants but also food that we can put on our table.

I live on this land with my husband Jack, our newborn daughter Wren, four foster kids ages 8-13, our senior dog Edgar and three cats, Trail Mix, Dandelion and TJ.