NHBW, Inc. © All rights reserved

Members Info

STRENGTHENING THE SISTERHOOD

To request Branding, Templates, or Planning documents, please complete the form below.

You Are Invited…
Talk with us. Tell us what you need to facilitate media, marketing, and planning management for your Chapter, and we will endeavor to deliver it to you in a timely manner.

LAURA SMITH-WYNN is the Northwest Indiana Chapter President and the National Marketing Communications Chair.  

“I love Hook-Up. It is the one ‘place’ where I am surrounded by mini-me’s, or should I say women like me, heaven-bent on making a positive impact in the lives of others. This is the type of association where you draw the energy you need to accomplish whatever goals and dreams you have set for yourself. All women should want some Hook-Up vibrations in their lives.”

In addition to Laura’s passion for NHBW, she is also passionate about forwarding the mission of the Indiana Parenting Institute, Inc. (IPI), a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation she formed in March 2007 to advance and safeguard the wellbeing of children by providing parents and people raising children with essential parenting skills, information, and resources intended to teach them how to raise healthy well-socialized children free of neglect and abuse.

Laura has been a champion of NHBW since 2005 when she was just a member-at-large. “It all began in the latter half of 2004. I was a new resident in Northwest Indiana. I knew no one in the area and I was looking for an organization to get involved with. It just so happened that one evening on the way home from working in Chicago, I glimpsed this woman getting off the train at the Gary Metro station carrying a book bag with the National Hook-Up of Black Women name imprinted on it. I literally chased her down the stairs to ask her where she got the bag. That woman, by the way, was Emma Washington, who was the president of the Chicago Chapter of NHBW.

And thus was born my desire to start an NHBW chapter in Northwest Indiana. Well, it took until the end of 2006 to bring together the 10 women needed to form the Northwest Indiana Chapter. Yes, it was my good fortune to meet Janice Ford of Gary who listened to my plight and took it upon herself to be my personal PR person, introducing me to her friends and associates. She made me feel far more important than I really was. I am grateful. In a town where you know no one, Janice remains a godsend. She and Kathy Battiste of Munster, and my daughter, Jená Wynn-Bellezza were the first recruits. They remain faithful to the work of NHBW.

We are still a fledging chapter. However, we are poised for successful outcomes. We have, as directed by our Regional Vice Chair, Robyn Dubreus, ascertained the needs of our community and have developed programs designed to inspire, educate, celebrate, and advocate for the needs of women and families here.