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Valley Stream Herald 11-24-2022

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Dining Gi f t and

guide

Ideas to INSPIRE

Vol. 33 No. 48 E

VALLEY STREAM

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HERALD Holiday Magic

MARKENS JEWELERS

Celebrating Red Ribbon Week

Dining and Gift Guide

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Inside NoVEMBER 24 - 30, 2022

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1194077

HOLIDAY MAGIC

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GREEN ACRES MALL

Late educator is honored at cancer walk By ANA BoRRUto aborruto@liherald.com

Courtesy Office of Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages

AttENDEES WERE All smiles, with their custom breast cancer awareness-themed cupcakes.

An important figure in the Elmont and Valley Stream community, a champion of breast cancer awareness, was commemorated for her public health efforts and service in a walk-andrun event last month in Valley Stream. The inaugural Dr. Elsy Mecklembourg-Guibert Memorial Breast Cancer Walk took place on Oct. 29 at Valley Stream State Park, in honor of the longtime public servant, community advocate and Elmont resident, who was also Nassau County’s first

Haitian-American elected official, a member of the Elmont Board of Education. Mecklembourg-Guibert died at age 68 on Oct. 3, of CreutzfeldtJakob disease, a rare degenerative disorder that kills one of every million people, and for which there is no treatment or cure. One of her most notable acts of service was her dedication to helping the less fortunate gain access to proper health care. Through her nonprofit, EMG Health Communications, Mecklembourg-Guibert hosted several annual events, including one Continued on page 4

Nicole Eliopoulos is V.S. Business Person of the Year By JUAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com

Nicole Eliopoulos is not one to enjoy the spotlight, but her years of dedicated community service and business leadership have shined a bright light on her, earning the public praise of her local business colleagues as she was recognized as this year’s Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Business Person of the Year. In her early 20s, Eliopoulos quit working at a high-end invitation store in Manhattan whose clients included Michael Douglas and Rupert Murdoch, in hopes of starting afresh with more fulfilling work.

“Sales didn’t make sense to me because we were selling a piece of paper for $2,500,” she did. “I needed a break from that industry, because I didn’t believe in it, and thought it wasn’t worthwhile for me.” Little did Eliopoulos know, she would find her calling in the insurance industry, working for State Farm. Pulled into the business by a family friend, she began working for a State Farm Agent in 2000. “I worked for three agents and ran an office as manager for many years,” said Eliopoulos. She found herself owning her own State Farm agency 16 years later.

The company offered her a way to serve others in the not-soglamorous but surprisingly intimate business of insurance, particularly life insurance. “What I found State Farm to be was about helping people,” Eliopoulos said. “You kind of become almost like a counselor to some families because they come, they sit down, they talk to you about everything, and you help guide them for the coverage that they need to protect their families. I’m not a salesperson. I want to get to know people, know their families, and know how I can help them.” That people-first attitude explains everything she does at

the agency, from the hiring of her staff to the way she conducts sit-downs with her clients. “That ‘good neighbor’ motto of State Farm and taking care of people and protecting their assets is what insurance is about,” she said. “I’ve learned from so many types of claims where people benefited from me being there to take care of them

and their families when a loss happens.” Now a seasoned insurance agent, Eliopoulos is also a bona fide “mompreneur,” overseeing a 14-person staff team while also balancing the vital, sometimes elusive responsibilities of motherhood, with four children. “It’s a tough balance. Most Continued on page 2


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Valley Stream Herald 11-24-2022 by Richner Communications, Inc - Issuu