Latest news with #LissaLevy
CBS News
13-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Chicago area marshmallow maker exchanges kitchen space for opportunities for people with disabilities
This is a story about marshmallows, but a fluff piece it is not. It is the story about a simple idea cooked up in a Chicago area kitchen, which became a recipe not only for business success, but for inclusion for people with disabilities. Lissa Levy of Skokie is a food stylist, presenting food for video, photography, and marketing. She was also recently elected as a Skokie village trustee. And some years back, Levy started up a side hustle in the form of Elle's Marshmallows — which makes gourmet artisan marshmallows inspired by a variety of culinary traditions. The array of tantalizing flavors include honey rosemary, Irish cream, coconut, spiked hazelnut, and Hawaiian coffee — among many others. Her spiked infusions steadily grew until business reached a boiling point. "I had a whole section of my basement that was all dedicated to marshmallow equipment storage," said Levy. "So every time I cooked, I'd be running equipment up and down the stairs." Meanwhile, a local organization had some needs of its own. The Skokie nonprofit Shore Community Services is committed to inclusive living for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities — and serves 20 communities, including Skokie, Evanston, Morton Grove, and Chicago's North Side. Shore sometimes has a tough time finding employment for its clients. "It's gotten easier in that I think more people are aware of people with disabilities," said Shore vocational services chief Anni Braverman. "Sometimes it's harder, because more and more jobs want people to be able to do everything." Someone at Shore whipped up a solution about six months ago — the organization would offer a food entrepreneur free use of its kitchen. In exchange, the small business owner would hire Shore clients. Levy was that entrepreneur, and Elle's Marshmallows was that small business. Janie Walcoff, a Shore client, gets $15 an hour to package up Elle's Marshmallows. When asked what her favorite part about the job was, Walcoff said, "Money." Walcoff's beauty work is seen by more customers than ever before. "This is actually my first year selling at Skokie Farmers' Market," Levy said. Levy said expanding had been difficult, if not impossible, for Elle's Marshmallows — because food safety rules limited what she could make and sell from her home. The much bigger space at Shore where Levy and Walcoff now work together is a commercial-grade kitchen. That designation matters. "It allows me to sell to other businesses," Levy said. "It allows me to sell across state lines." Sales have easily quadrupled, Levy said. "I really couldn't have asked for a better situation," she said. Neither could Walcoff. She says the difference between her last job bagging groceries and her current one with Elle's Marshmallows is night and day. They both get a lot out of the moments they share together, in what amounts to a sweet win-win scenario. "It's just joyful!" Levy said. Shore is looking for more small business owners to trade jobs for kitchen space. The nonprofit is also busy renovating a job training center in Morton Grove that helps people with disabilities prepare for employment.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Skokie's ‘Meetup on Main' events return for 2025 to build community
Meetup on Main, a grassroots-led market in Skokie with the feel of a block party, is back for its third season. The collective, organized by Meetup on Main's founder and Village Trustee Lissa Levy, has more collaborations with the village and local groups than it has ever had before, according to Levy. The first of this season's Meetup on Main events, located near the intersection of Main Street and Keystone Avenue, was held on June 2, and it will run every Monday in June from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., rain or shine, according to Levy. One of the new additions to Meetup on Main is the Village of Skokie's Makers' Mart. Located inside The Storefront, a village-owned property at 4051 Main Street, vendors have space to sell an assortment of handmade goods and artwork including jewelry, pottery, ceramics, sweet treats, tote bags, illustrations, photography and fine art. Makers' Mart is scheduled to be onsite for Meetup on Main on June 16 and June 30 from 5 to 8 p.m. As Meetup on Main has continued to grow, highlighting neighbors' desire to establish an economic and social hub on Skokie's Main Street corridor, Levy said she is doing more to delegate the responsibilities of running the summer market by assigning someone else to be an onsite manager this season. This season also has more food trucks, she said, including newcomers La Humita On Wheels, Bumbu Roux and Cousins Maine Lobster and returning vendors Soul Good Coffee and Kona Ice. Meetup on Main's success has partly been credited to the village's interest in revitalizing Main Street. Just across the street from Meetup on Main will be the site of Soul Good Coffee and Zelda's Catering, two Skokie staples. At last year's Meet up on Main, village officials shared a comprehensive 20+ year vision of development that neighbors said they would like to see on the corridor, largely creating more social spaces, businesses and homes. At its height, Meetup on Main has had up to 325 attendees on a single day, Levy said, and its popularity has encouraged her to do similar projects outside of Main Street in other parts of Skokie. 'The project of Meet up on Main was really about creating this proof of concept that if you put anything on Main Street, people would come out, and they did, and it's been really much more successful than I anticipated at the beginning,' Levy said. 'And so in my mind, that was kind of the the project,' Levy said of the village's and neighbors' invested time and efforts to re-develop Main Street. 'It's really great to have places and spaces where we can create community, but if development happens on Main Street, it will happen organically over time — and so maybe we don't need to be there so much anymore, and then it frees up resources and ideas for other places in Skokie that do need activation.'
Chicago Tribune
09-06-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Skokie's ‘Meetup on Main' events return for 2025 to build community
Meetup on Main, a grassroots-led market in Skokie with the feel of a block party, is back for its third season. The collective, organized by Meetup on Main's founder and Village Trustee Lissa Levy, has more collaborations with the village and local groups than it has ever had before, according to Levy. The first of this season's Meetup on Main events, located near the intersection of Main Street and Keystone Avenue, was held on June 2, and it will run every Monday in June from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., rain or shine, according to Levy. One of the new additions to Meetup on Main is the Village of Skokie's Makers' Mart. Located inside The Storefront, a village-owned property at 4051 Main Street, vendors have space to sell an assortment of handmade goods and artwork including jewelry, pottery, ceramics, sweet treats, tote bags, illustrations, photography and fine art. Makers' Mart is scheduled to be onsite for Meetup on Main on June 16 and June 30 from 5 to 8 p.m. As Meetup on Main has continued to grow, highlighting neighbors' desire to establish an economic and social hub on Skokie's Main Street corridor, Levy said she is doing more to delegate the responsibilities of running the summer market by assigning someone else to be an onsite manager this season. This season also has more food trucks, she said, including newcomers La Humita On Wheels, Bumbu Roux and Cousins Maine Lobster and returning vendors Soul Good Coffee and Kona Ice. Meetup on Main's success has partly been credited to the village's interest in revitalizing Main Street. Just across the street from Meetup on Main will be the site of Soul Good Coffee and Zelda's Catering, two Skokie staples. At last year's Meet up on Main, village officials shared a comprehensive 20+ year vision of development that neighbors said they would like to see on the corridor, largely creating more social spaces, businesses and homes. At its height, Meetup on Main has had up to 325 attendees on a single day, Levy said, and its popularity has encouraged her to do similar projects outside of Main Street in other parts of Skokie. 'The project of Meet up on Main was really about creating this proof of concept that if you put anything on Main Street, people would come out, and they did, and it's been really much more successful than I anticipated at the beginning,' Levy said. 'And so in my mind, that was kind of the the project,' Levy said of the village's and neighbors' invested time and efforts to re-develop Main Street. 'It's really great to have places and spaces where we can create community, but if development happens on Main Street, it will happen organically over time — and so maybe we don't need to be there so much anymore, and then it frees up resources and ideas for other places in Skokie that do need activation.'
