Register for Nonprofit Meetup at the button below!
We’re so excited to announce details for our next Nonprofit Meetup of the year! Join us and our panelists for a nonprofit meetup on Impactful Storytelling. Stories move people—and people move missions. This session brings together a panel of experts from marketing, communications, and news media to explore how nonprofits can tell stories that truly resonate. Panelists will share insights on crafting authentic narratives, engaging diverse audiences, and using media platforms effectively to highlight impact and inspire action. Participants will leave with practical tools and creative strategies to elevate their organization’s voice and connect more deeply with their communities. Check our our panelists below!
Join us Thursday, November 6, 2025, at the Goodwill Community Training Center.
The Community Training Center is located at the Opportunity Campus at 2435 W. Congress. To enter the Community Training Center attendees should drive around to the rear parking lot and enter the door marked Community Training Center.
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM | Admission: Free or $15 Lunch Ticket
About Christiaan Mader:
Christiaan Mader is the executive director and editor-in-chief of The Current, a nonprofit news organization serving Lafayette. He co-founded the publication with colleagues Leslie Turk and Geoff Daily in 2018. A veteran journalist, he’s covered politics, government, music and food for local, statewide and national publications, including The New York Times and NPR.
About Blair Green:
Blair Green serves as the Marketing Director for Catalyst Bank. Since joining the bank in 2022, she has worked to develop innovative strategies that enhance the bank’s brand and engage the community, including leading their successful rebranding from St. Landry Homestead to Catalyst Bank in 2023.
Blair has a passion for community impact, which is evident in her current and previous marketing and event roles. Before her time with Catalyst, Blair worked with United Way of Acadiana, where she led community-focused initiatives as well as with One Acadiana, orchestrating special events and projects. Before returning to Acadiana in 2015, her previous experience in experiential marketing took her from Los Angeles to New York, with achievements including managing the H&M Times Square activation and the Ferrari Esperienza North America tour.
Blair has served as a commissioner for Lafayette’s Planning & Zoning Commission, volunteered as a board member of Healing House, a local grief support center and nonprofit, is a current board member for the St. Landry Chamber of Commerce, and is a recent appointee to Basin Arts, an arts incubator focused on supporting Louisiana artists. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Mississippi and currently resides in Lafayette with her husband, Elliot, and two children.
About Marcelle Fontenot:
Marcelle Fontenot is a native of Opelousas and earned her Mass Communications degree with Honors at Southern University. She began her journalism career here in Lafayette in 2004 and hasn’t looked back. As she approaches the 20-year mark, she co-anchors the 5:00, 6:00, and 10:00 newscasts at News15. “I was bitten by the news bug early,” she explains. “I anchored a newscast on the miniature set at the Children’s Museum in New Orleans when I was about seven years old, that’s all it took.”
In her career, Marcelle has covered some of the biggest stories of our time and has spent time with Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Marcelle has also gone “Inside Angola”–an in depth series about life inside what was once known as “America’s Bloodiest Prison.” Top 20 Under 40, Women Who Mean Business, Best Anchor and Tops of Acadiana are some of the honors Marcelle has received in her career. She has won Associated Press awards for in-depth series called “Facebook Stalking” and her community affairs reporting.
About Liz Shepherd:
Liz Shephard is the CEO of LifeCity, L3C, a for-benefit company. Liz created LifeCity to help build a more equitable and sustainable economy in New Orleans, but is now bringing these tools to communities all over the country. In May of 2017, LifeCity won the SBA’s state-wide Sustainable Business Champion Award and Liz was also recognized as one of the Top 50 Business Women of the year in 2015 in New Orleans (CityBusiness).
Trained as both a facilitator and LEED Green associate, Liz and her company help businesses maximize both social and environmental impact while growing profits. Liz holds a B.A. in Psychology and Environmental Studies from Carleton College, where she graduated with Honors and Distinction. Outside of work, Liz plays in a band, Mid City Soul, enjoys runs on the greenway, and her spiritual practice in meditation and contemplative prayer. She is passionate about sharing her experience about brain injury and advocating for those with invisible illnesses.