The following is this week’s I AM, YOU ARE, WE ARE Honoree by Ashton Greer and Nicole Van Hyfte
Shannon Schroeder laments that people always remark about how she is always onto the next thing. She says it is not because she cannot stay on track; it is because her life purpose is to set out to make an impact through encouraging people. She enthusiastically says “Yes!” to opportunities that give her a space to provide encouragement. She has done many things through many roles, but the end goal for her is always encouraging others. Shannon says, “You can just call me a professional encourager!”
Shannon has been telling stories of encouragement to the Danville community for decades, and she is not about to stop. Shannon says, “Storytelling can help change people’s identities. Your trauma is not your truth. Stories empower people to live purposefully and meaningfully, and when people start doing this, you change a community.” Through her time in Danville, she has told these stories of encouragement through many different avenues including theatre, personal interactions, and writing.
In fact, Shannon has a company called Say So Communications, LLC. Through this company, she contracts with Best Version Media to create two magazines that circulate in the Danville and surrounding areas: Central Illiana Living and Danville Area Living. She is proud that these magazines are uplifting and provide only positive news to thousands every month. In addition, she is working on a project called the “Say So Project” which creates a platform for people to share breakthrough and empowerment stories. She says, “Sometimes we’re just one story away from a life being changed.”
Shannon and her husband, Bryan, have four children between the two of them and two dogs. She was born and raised here and was a third generation Danville High School graduate. After high school she went to the U of I and then to law school at Drake Law. Following that, she practiced law at the District Attorney’s office in Milwaukee, working primarily with domestic violence victims. In 1993, she moved home to care for her sick father. He passed away the day she moved home. At that point, Shannon realized, “I’m here. I have no money. I have nothing. I am between jobs. I can be a failure, or I can be an entrepreneur.” That is when she founded her first leadership company, Arête, providing soft skills and leadership training including a course called Project Danville where she provided free mindset classes. Even back in 1993, she was set out to make an impact through encouragement.
Shannon has been in a variety of professional roles during her time in Danville, but she also demonstrates a spirit of generosity through her volunteerism. She is currently the Vice President of the D118 School Board and has been on the Board for 6 years. She is the current president of Arts in the Park, an involved member at The Rock Church, a past Danville Light Opera board member and director, and she volunteers with many of the local theatre companies. When sharing about her time directing teen musicals she reflected, “I loved working with young kids so much because it was an opportunity to make their first theatre experience positive.” She has quite the stage presence and won a Katy award in 2022 for Best Supporting Actress. In her youth, she was the Georgetown Fair Queen in 1987, going on to compete as state and claiming First Runner Up.
As for why she chooses Danville as her hometown, Shannon says, “I love the people here. As a group, we have never failed to come together when it counts. We can accomplish the impossible here. We do it repeatedly. As a community, we do so much. We need to see ourselves through the eyes of who we actually are.”
If you have someone you would like to share,
visit https://forms.gle/deCPiQ1cxn1pDLhZ9
or contact Ashton Greer, City of Danville agreer@cityofdanville.org or
Nicole Van Hyfte, Vermilion Advantage nvanhyfte@vermilionadvantage.com.
