Ladies Night At Cooper’s Hawk

The Astyra Ladies
The women of Astyra love to wine and dine, especially together! 
 
We all met at Cooper’s Hawk last week for an evening to unwind with the same people we work alongside daily. The night began with indulging in a wine tasting before being sat down by the waitress for a savory meal.
 
“This just reiterated that Astyra is like a family and I love that,” Ashley, our newest Astyra lady, said.
 
This was Shaila’s first ladies night also and she said getting to know who she works with outside of the office is a nice feeling.
 
Although we aren’t quite sure when this tradition started, we plan to continue having ladies nights!

August 2018 Is The Month Of Giving!

Carmen posing with eggs
Vivia, Melissa, Carmen, Tianna, Ken and Taylor
Jody, Melissa, Tianna, Brenna and Carmen
Carmen at the YMCA Bright Beginnings Program
Cutting bagels, organizing donations and greeting everybody with a smile was the job of six Astyra employees on an early Tuesday morning.
 
At Shepherd’s Way Relief CenterAstyra helped prepare and serve breakfast to 133 people in need.  Sigmund Collins founded the center in 2012 to provide relief from the afflictions of poverty in the Richmond area.
 
That morning, the kitchen manager Richard Lepper, showed up at 6:30 to make seven pounds of grits and about 25 dozen eggs. At 8:30 a.m., Astyra volunteers arrived not knowing what to expect but excited to work and help out in the community.
 
On one side of the kitchen, Carmen handed out hard-boiled eggs while Tianna passed out a variety of bagels. Our CEO, Ken, got an intense arm workout from scooping the crowd’s favorite: cheesy grits drenched in butter.
 
Just past the serving table, Melissa sweetened everybody’s day by giving them sugar packets for their coffee. Vivia helped flavor the bagels by providing jelly, cream cheese and butter. Lastly, Taylor was in charge of ensuring everybody had the utensils they needed to enjoy their hot meal.
 
Astyra also had an office drive the month before that led to three large bags of clothes, jewelry, shoes and a box full of canned foods and toiletries being donated to Shepherd’s Way Relief Center.
 
Later in the month, six Astyra employees participated in another staff volunteering day at Bon Secours’ Evelyn D. Reinhart Guest House.
 
The Reinhart House is a place for patients’ families to stay as opposed to driving far distances to and from the hospital. As a way to support the families, the lodge allows volunteers to come and cook a meal for the residents.
 
Astyra has been a long-time volunteer for the Reinhart House, which made it easy to prepare for the day. The Astyra volunteers made vegetable breakfast casserole muffins, home fries, bacon and biscuits.
 
Melissa multi-tasked between supervising and frying the home fries. Carmen and Jody focused on cutting the onions and tomatoes while Tianna whisked the eggs. Brenna was on bacon duty ensuring they were just the right amount of crispy. Our CEO, Ken, baked the biscuits to a golden brown.
 
The breakfast turned out to be a hit!
 

“The breakfast flew out of here – loved by everyone,” said Elisabeth Rigsby, house assistant.

Carmen was a superstar this month!

In addition to attending our volunteering days, she also volunteered with the YMCA’s Bright Beginnings program to take a child back-to-school shopping just like Victor did earlier this month!

“As a 1st time participant in the YMCA Bright Beginnings program, being able to help kids feel good about themselves in school and beyond was rewarding. It reminded me of how incredibly blessed I am, and that encourages me to want to give back even more,” Carmen said.

She plans on helping out with this program again next summer!

Out & About In Atlanta, Detroit and Las Vegas!

Lee at the Emergency Response Panel
Brenna Biggs at the NMSDC Conference
Ken at the Money20/20 Conference

Astyra was selected by Dominion Energy to attend the Energizing Powerful Connections; 14th Annual Utility Industry Supplier Diversity Event in Atlanta. Director of Fulfillment, Lee Rattigan and Account Manager, Brenna Caton participated in Case Study Panels and Power Pitches related to the Utility/Energy industry.

Lee was invited to participate in a panel revolving around Emergency Response.
 
Lee and Brenna also attended the NMSDC Conference in Detroit, MI where they had the opportunity to network with companies as a diverse supplier.
 
In October, Ken Ampy attended the Money20/20 conference in Las Vegas. Money20/20 is the world’s largest conference for ideas, connections and deals in Payments and Financial Services. FinTech is the fast emerging industry around new technologies and innovations that aims to compete with traditional methods in the delivery of financial services.
 
Ken attended the conference on behalf of the Virginia Credit Union where he serves as a board member.

Wedding Bells For Brenna

Brenna and Hunter
Congratulations to our Account Manager, Brenna Biggs (formerly Caton) on her recent marriage to Hunter Biggs!
 
Hunter and Brenna met in 2011 at VCU, they began dating at the end of their college careers, and got engaged in June of 2016.
 
Surrounded by their friends and family, Brenna and Hunter were married in a beautiful afternoon ceremony on September 23rd, 2017 at the Springfield Distillery.

A Day At The Ballpark!

Brenna
Account Manager, Brenna Caton won the competition to select our new office pet fish. The prize was to throw the first pitch at one of the Flying Squirrel games! Astyra made an afternoon of it, and enjoyed a day game on July 26.
 
Do you think Brenna has discovered a new talent?

Right On Cue Tournament 2017

Astyra's teams

Astyra formed 3 teams to participate in the annual “Right on Cue” tournament, hosted by ChamberRVA in March.

Astyra was the proud sponsor of the trophy.

Pictured above, Sam Young stands with the winners of the pool tournament, ChamberRVA's CEO, Kim Scheeler and the current Chair Ned Masse.

Women Who Mean Business 2016

Melissa, Brittany, Carmen and Brenna at the event
Women from large and small organizations had the opportunity to network for a day, at the 6th Annual Women Who Mean Business Summit, hosted by the Metropolitan Business League on September 30, 2016. 
 
It was an inspiring and interesting day for the Astyra ladies!
Brittany Brown said: “This year’s summit was another successful MBL event! It is always good to see women coming together, whether it is to network or celebrate each other’s accomplishments. This event allows us to do both, and I love that!”
Click here to learn more about the MBL.