PRESIDENT’S LETTER: ELYSE THIBODEAUX A Texas-transplant from Illinois, Elyse Thibodeaux’s life hasn’t ended up where or how most people would have assumed she would be at this point in her life. The 56-year-old mother and grandmother left a 10-year run as the business manager of a weekly newspaper seven years ago to take a less than traditional road to success and she has been kicking butt ever since. It was a big step considering most of her life had been spent behind a desk and using a telephone making sure people received their invoices and billing statements. Now, if she wanted, the fifth-degree black belt martial arts instructor could probably get a gig as a collection officer but she is happy teaching children and adults at her Tiger Rock Martial Arts Academy in Bridge City. It’s a community that was nearly destroyed in 2008 by Hurricane Ike and Thibodeaux has spent years volunteering and helping the community - all while running a business some may have doubted would be so successful. She joined the Bridge City Chamber of Commerce in 2010 and took over as president in January 2017 after serving the two previous years as president-elect of the Chamber of Commerce Board and Ambassador Chair. In reaching the pinnacle, Thibodeaux worked her way up from member to secretary of the Ambassadors to Vice President and at each step she kept her focus on helping her community. Asked why she devotes so much time to the community, Thibodeaux said her goals have always paralleled those of the Bridge City Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber helps, not only, her business but all businesses in Bridge City. And keeping those businesses viable is good for everyone. “If I can help make all the Chamber member businesses successful then the community will grow and become greater because of it,” she said. Looking back, Thibodeaux is a 1979 graduate of New Trier West High School in Northfield, IL and from there she went on to earn a two-year degree from Oakton Community College in Des Plaines. She and her husband, Gary, have been married for 26 years and have raised three sons and, so far, has three grandchildren. Her business career in Southeast Texas began at Time Warner Cable Advertising Sales, where she handled traffic and billing for that department. But after 10 years, she decided to join The Examiner Newspaper as it’s business manager and a decade later she risked everything to open her Tiger Rock Martial Arts Academy. The latter seems to be a passion she will never give up. All three of her grandsons, her youngest son and her husband are now involved in martial arts and Thibodeaux has become a force in her field. The franchise she opened in 2010 came after four years of serving as a martial arts instructor in Beaumont. Since that time, she continued her education, not only, in martial arts but also through numerous business summits and seminars. It’s her way of bettering herself so she can bring that knowledge back to Bridge City and help develop new ideas to better her community.
DIRECTOR’S BIO: B.J. HANNEMAN Born in Lubbock, Texas, Barbara Jane “B.J.” Hanneman grew up on a cotton farm in nearby McAdoo. She graduated Valedictorian from McAdoo High School in 1985 and, attended Texas Tech University, majoring in Business Marketing. Mrs. Hanneman worked for AT&T for 14 years starting out as a Customer Service Representative, then working her way up to Outside Sales. Executive, and ending her career there as a CAD Technical Specialist in Design Engineering in Abilene, Texas. She met and married Little Cypress native Michael Hanneman Jr. in Abilene in 2005. Together, they have three children: Dr. Kyle Mullins (33), a band director in Denton, TX; Jacquelin Payne (20), a sophomore at Texas Tech University, and Cassia Hanneman (10), a fourth grader at Mauriceville Elementary. After moving to Bridge City in 2008, B.J. and her family soon moved to Little Cypress after being displaced by Hurricane Ike. Hanneman has worked at the Bridge City Chamber for 3 years as Director and Museum Curator, and is the Chamber’s sole employee. B.J. said, “it brings me immense joy to work on the many wonderful events the Chamber sponsors such as the Christmas Light Parade, Taste of the Bayou Annual Banquet, Golf Tournament, Celebrity Roast, and the Mystery Dinner. I’m very proud to work alongside such an outstanding group of people that make up the Chamber’s Board of Directors and Ambassadors.” B.J. is a member of Orange First Church of the Nazarene where she currently enjoys serving in the children’s department and oversees updating of the church’s website. She has also been a board member of the non-profit organization InVision Children and Youth Ministries since it’s creation in 2009. In her spare time, B.J. enjoys spending time with her family, crafting with her daughter Cassia, and especially crochet.
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