2025 Remarkable Women Winner: Rachel Leslie
FARMERSBURG, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — A local leader who teaches, supports, and helps new leaders succeed is the 2025 Remarkable Woman of the year for the Wabash Valley.
Every year, WTWO holds a Remarkable Women contest. Viewers are asked to nominate a remarkable woman they know. After receiving dozens of nominations, a panel of judges chose Rachel Leslie as the 2025 winner.
2025 Remarkable Women nominee: Erica Arnold
Leslie is the founder of RJL Solutions. The company started with an office in Terre Haute and has grown to include offices in Indianapolis and Evansville.
'When she started putting all of these great young leaders around her, and they got excited, it just ballooned to what it is today,' said Rick Burger with Duke Energy.
2025 Remarkable Women nominee: Lauren Alexander
Among the things Leslie's company does is help local governments and organizations make connections with state and federal lawmakers. It allows a community's wants and needs be known, and in return, those needs can hopefully be met.
'It's really nice to have a partner in everything we're working on, and that's what Rachael provides,' said President and CEO of the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce Kristin Craig.
2025 Remarkable Women nominee: Kim Cooper
Besides helping communities and organizations achieve their goals, Leslie also helps her friends make their dreams come true.
Susan Turner is the Director of the Terre Haute Children's Museum. Nearly a decade ago, she received the news that it would be very difficult for her and her husband to ever have a baby.
'I went to Rachel and I told her what the doctors had said and I said, I don't know how we're ever going to afford to adopt a baby because it's really expensive and she said, don't worry about the money, we'll figure it out,' explained Susan Turner.
2025 Remarkable Women nominee: Meredith Osburn
Turner says Leslie held a fundraiser at her house. The $3,000 raised was seed money Turner and her husband needed to adopt Max. He became their son at four days old and that was more than 7 years ago.
It was for all of these things and many others that Rachel Leslie was nominated as a Remarkable Woman.
'It's not something that you don't think is going to happen during your lifetime,' added Rachel Leslie.
As the winner of WTWO's Remarkable Women contest, $1,000 will be donated to the charity of Leslie's choice. She will also be flown to Los Angeles, to be part of the National Remarkable Women's contest sponsored by Nexstar Broadcasting. The winner of the national contest gets $25,000 donated to a charity of her choice.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce to hold 112th Annual Meeting
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — The Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce will hold its 112th Annual Meeting on Thursday, August 21, at the Terre Haute Convention Center from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The chamber of commerce said the event will bring together West Central Indiana businesses and community members to celebrate the past year's accomplishments and achievements. They said the annual meeting will also be a platform to highlight progress, unveil future initiatives and continue momentum across the business community. Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce honors businesses and individuals 'This year's theme, 'A Collective Vision Forward,' emphasizes the shared commitmentof the Chamber and its members to build a stronger, more vibrant regional economythrough collaboration and innovation,' said the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce. The chamber will also announce its annual awards, which include the Building Business Award, the Leading Tomorrow Award and the Building Community Award. They will also recognize the 12 Under 40 nominees. If you want to nominate someone, you can do so by going to these links: Building Business Award, Building Community Award and the Leading Tomorrow Award. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Ohio Blvd Project discussion continues
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)— Dozens of residents attended the Terre Haute City Council Thursday night, as they discussed the proposed Ohio Boulevard Project. Brickyard Estates and Paddock at the Park is a proposed $70 million project. It will include single family homes and multi family units located between Ohio Boulevard and Edgewood Grove. The homes are slated to be part of 93 home subdivision of 1600 square feet and with a price between $350,000 to $400,000. There will also be 11, three story apartment complexes. Many residents voiced they agree with the housing side of the project, but not the apartment side. 'This proposal, the money it will need to be paid back over a 20 year span. And knowing that 20 years from now, think about what those apartments potentially could look like and how they may downgrade and be a detraction from the jewel of Ohio Boulevard and Deming Park,' Resident Heidi Isaia said. The proposal was tabled until June 12th. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Young 4-H kids learn about different career paths
CLAY COUNTY, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — The annual Mini 4-H Day Camp took place Thursday at the Clay County Fairgrounds. Kids ages kindergarten through 2nd grade got a taste of what being a 4-H member is like by learning about civic engagement, life skills, and of course, livestock. The camp looks to give kids a jumpstart before they reach the 3rd grade and begin participating in 4-H themselves. Also at the camp today was Duke Energy. Duke gave a presentation that showed kids the equipment they use and how to be safe when working, which 4-H Youth Development Coordinator Natalie Korniak said is a major emphasis on the day. 'One of the things we focus on in 4-H is career readiness, so being ready for different life adventures', Korniak said. 'Part of that is learning about the different trades or different career paths they might have and teaching them from this age all the way through senior year of high school. Hopefully they get lots of different experiences that they will be able to see if they might like to do that someday.' BASF donated vests for all of the kids participating in the camp today and they were taught how to be visually safe when doing a job. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
