Women of Monmouth County

Kathleen Nolan, CRPC®

Family Focus Financial Group

Kathleen Nolan, CRPC®, is the president and founder of Family Focus Financial Group, which she started in 2007 with her son, Sean. Over the past 40 years, Kathy has dedicated herself to helping others write the next chapter of their lives by guiding individuals and families toward a financial plan that matches their personal and family values. By creating retirement strategies that are straightforward, tailored to clients’ individual needs and designed to help provide them with lifetime income in retirement, Kathy and her team help retirees and preretirees achieve the independent retirements they deserve. Kathy recognizes that in today’s investment world, a team approach is the best way to help you protect and manage your life savings. She has the ultimate respect for the years of hard work it takes to acquire one’s wealth. Kathy is a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor® and maintains her insurance practice and Investment Adviser Representative with AE Wealth Management. She has been published and quoted in Kiplinger, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. In addition, Kathy has always been especially passionate about empowering other women to become engaged in their financial lives. For more information, or to set up a time to speak with Kathy directly, please contact 732-364-5462 or visit www.fffgonline.com.

Dr. Mukti Rana

Tallwoods Care Center

Dr. Mukti Rana is a pediatrician specializing in the treatment and care of patient’s ages newborn to 21. She offers comprehensive school, daycare, & sports physicals as well as management & treatment of acute and chronic medical conditions. She is board-certified with the American Board of Pediatrics as well as Subboard of Pediatric Infectious Disease.

Since completing her postdoctoral training in 1997, Dr. Rana has been a fixture in the Pediatric community, she is married to Dr. Satyendra Singh, a board-certified internist who has been practicing for 25 years in Lakewood, NJ & has two beautiful children. Currently working in Jackson at Hackensack Meridian Medical Group-Pediatric Dr. Rana is affiliated with Jersey Shore Medical University Medica Center in Neptune, NJ. Dr. Rana is fluent in English, Hindi, & Gurjarati, please call (732) 363-1424 if you would like to make an appointment for your child or children.

Photo by Tracy Harman Photography

Laurie Zaleski

Funny Farm

Shannon Brown

CASA of Ocean County

A truly remarkable, accomplished, self-determined, and inspirational woman living in Southern New Jersey is Laurie Zaleski.

Not only does she have an endless positive energy, when you think about all she has accomplished, and how many animals she’s saved, you can’t help but wonder how does she do it all?

Rising out of the ashes of a crumbled family because of an abusive father, with nothing to her name, and losing her mother at such a young age due to cancer, Laurie built one of the largest animal rescues in the Northeast. Tell her she can’t do something and she will prove you wrong every time. She has dedicated her life to helping those who can’t help themselves. She finds homes for those who desperately need them. She feeds animals and provides plenty of love to those who once never knew love. Not only does she have over 600 rescue animals and a team of volunteers, Laurie created Art-Z Graphics, a successful graphic design, photography and multimedia company that contracts with the Federal Government. Laurie proves to women everywhere that the only real limits are those you place on yourself.

Shannon Brown is a realtor at Clayton & Clayton Relators in Bay Head and is happily married to her high school sweetheart, Scott Brown. They have two sons, ages six and two, which is a large part of the reason that Shannon was drawn to CASA. Shannon expressed feeling helpless knowing there were children out there that needed the stability and love that her children were able to receive.

Shannon said, “The children CASA advocate for have been through so much in their lives and had a level of inconsistency that no child should. It is truly fulfilling when the child realizes they can trust their CASA after seeing them consistently showing up with a smile. I look at it as a privilege to be able to be a part of their lives as well as a huge responsibility to report my findings to the court.” Last year, Shannon had the opportunity to see her CASA child be adopted by a loving family and has already begun advocating for another family. Shannon works tirelessly advocating for her CASA children and is a great role model for other CASA volunteers as well as women in general.