Mickey Starling
reporter3@greenepublishing.com
Charlotte’s Hope Ministries presents “A Women’s Journey to God’s Love and Empowerment,” a two-day conference scheduled for Friday, Jan. 30 and Saturday, Jan. 31. The event is being held at The Bridge, located at 1135 E U.S. Hwy. 90, in Madison. The Friday session begins at 6 p.m. The Saturday sessions begin at 10 a.m. and concludes at 5 p.m. Lunch will be provided.
Tammy Whitehurst, a Christian comedian, is the guest speaker, and other sessions will be lead by Zibby Valdez, Gricelle Gonzalez, Kelli de Sante, Liz King and Sue Foust.
for more information about the session leaders, see their bios below:
Donna Cahill
Wife, Mother, Minister, Author
patndonna7@gmail.com
At 41 years old, Donna surrendered her life to Christ, and twenty-five years later, she still sees her life in terms of before Him and with Him. Over the years, she has served women in both large and small settings—first as a women’s pastor in a large church, and for the past nineteen years, as the leader of a small group of women who meet every other Saturday. Heart to Heart has been a place where Christ-centered community has been lived out in simple, faithful ways.
Donna has participated in and helped lead several mission trips to the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, Zambia, Kenya, Brazil and Peru. Since 2019, she has also helped administratively at a boys’ home and school in Chewel, Kenya—Journey of Hope (JOHOHO). Watching boys come off the streets and village children receive a Christ-centered education has been both a privilege and a deep joy.
Out of her own journey with forgiveness, Donna founded 70×7 Ministries, a conference focused on receiving and extending forgiveness—toward God, oneself and others. She has been invited to speak at women’s conferences, churches, marriage gatherings and small groups wherever God has opened the door to share about Him.
After 35 years of marriage, and recently widowed, she is stepping into a new season, with the expectation that Jesus will continue to lead and use her however He chooses. She is a mother of two, a grandmother of seven and has worked as a nurse for 43 years—something she affectionately calls her “tent-making.
Kelli de Santè
Entrepreneur, Artist, Author, Speaker
CEO, BODY BIOTICS INTL
Madison, Florida
kelli@bodybiotics.com
Kelli is currently the CEO of an international nutrition company, BODY BIOTICS INTL. She is a mother, author, artist and inspirational speaker who truly believes in the miracles of a Spirit-filled life. From tolling in the tobacco fields of South Carolina as a young girl, to door-to-door selling, to training and motivating thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs and from salesperson to CEO of BODY BIOTICS INTL, Kelli contributes each successful turning point to embracing the guiding, quiet whispers of the Holy Spirit.
In her stories and speaking, Kelli shares her thoughts about how the Holy Spirit, in all His miracles, can change our lives in a single moment and provide us with love, joy, peace and infinite abundance. All we need to do is invite the Holy Spirit as our life partner and open up to His divine presence. Kelli believes that the Holy Spirit is not someone we need to earn but a divine gift we simply need to accept with faith. There is nothing we can do to be good enough to receive Him, we simply must invite Him in, believe and accept.
The Holy Spirit is God’s amazing gift to us. When Christ was taken from this world, He promised we would never be alone. Everyone comes into this world deserving this gift. It is our birthright, just because you are YOU! The more each of us acknowledges and accepts the Holy Spirit into our daily lives, the greater the impact that Spirit will have on our personal lives and on the world at large.
Gricelle Gonzales
Wife, Mother, Photographer, Author
Gricelle.gonzalez7@yahoo.com
At the age of 13, my family, meaning mom, brother, grandmother and I, moved from New York City (NYC) to the island of Puerto Rico. My stepfather stayed behind to work, earning money to build our new home. Because my stepfather started attending a church in NYC, Mom decided to congregate in a local church in our small town. Looking back in time, I noticed Jesus had been reaching out to me. You see, I was born in a Christian home, so I had heard, read and even called out to Jesus a few times.
The moment mom responded to the altar call, she dragged me with her. From personal experience, I knew God could hear me, but this moment between Him and I wasn’t the typical “forgive my sins, I accept you” moment. It went more like this: “I am here because of her, not because of You”, I literally pointed with my eyes at my mom, so God could know who I was talking about. Did that go as I expected? Nope!
God, did not accept that prayer as an act of a back-off declaration. It just opened a door for a personal encounter. I became more receptive to the messages presented by the preacher. I started getting answers to my never answered questions. Questions like: Why do people cry in church? Where is God? Why doesn’t He stop bad people? What are the benefits of having God on your side when bad things are still gonna happen? Truthfully, answers didn’t come only from the preacher but from reading the Bible. This New Yorker started to realize the answers were always accessible. All I had to do was open my grandfather's old Bible. Yes, I treasured it because it had his handwriting, it had his underlining of verses, no highlights, because that didn’t exist back then, but it did have a lot of markings.
My life went from the episode, “I don’t Want Anything to Do with You,” to the season finale, titled, “You Are the Answer to All of My Questions and Needs”. This teenager started to develop a relationship with God. I remember clearly; we had the old Bible Story Collection. They were blue and there were like 12 books. I read them and then researched the stories in the Bible. By the age of 14, I was baptized in the Spirit and in water. I was a new creation. My life had a new meaning. The most amazing thing is that this happened during the revival of the 70’s. My first ministry was at 15, as a Sunday School Teacher in a home group. By the end of the 80’s, I was married, with 3 children. Presently, I have been married for 41 years, with 6 wonderful grandkids and have served God for over 47 years. Who Am I? I was a soul that once was lost and now is found.
Zibby Valdez
Wife, Mother, Nurse, Author, Minister
lined83@gmail.com
Zibby grew up in the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, where the sun is hot, the food is perfect, and the coquí frogs sing louder than people at a Pentecostal service. She’s the youngest and only daughter and the proud baby sister of two older brothers—and yes, she is the only girl, the favorite child, and obviously the most amazing one (lol).
Growing up, she lived on creativity. she danced, sang, drew, wrote and devoured books like snacks. She loved their island culture—the music, the traditions, the way people come together and the beaches that called her name like Moana’s ocean – that she answered every time.
She lived on the island until 17. After leaving the island and moving to Florida, gears shifted, literally, when she fell in love with cars and street racing. But, that dream changed quickly when she became a mother.
In small-town Florida, she became a hairdresser, while her husband cut fades. But, even while holding a blow dryer in one hand, she still felt the tug toward nursing and graduated as a nurse in 2023.
Today, she serves as a wound-care nurse at Madison County Memorial Hospital, and absolutely loves helping people heal—physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Partnered with her husband, they serve as Youth Pastors at Madison Church of God, and they adore the teens. They are committed to leading with courage, spiritual purpose, integrity and excellence in everything they do—so their lives reflect Christ, not just on Sunday, but every single day.
She is a mother of three teens: Ezrieal, Esther, and Lenin, who keep their lives interesting, loud and full of blessings.
She still loves adventures, surprises, reading, dancing, cooking, baking, thrifting, finding vintage treasures, drinking coffee like it’s a love language and enjoying my new obsession: chocolate (don’t ask… it’s a whole story).
She tries to live this motto: “Go and love the unlovable.”
Elizabeth King
Heiress, Highly favored, mother, author
Founder of Charlotte’s Hope Ministries
Liz@Char-hope.org
As a teenager, Elizabeth loved reading and writing. In high school, she would spend hours on the weekends writing short stories and poems. Her first published work was a poem she wrote as a freshman that her English teacher submitted on her behalf.
Elizabeth started self-publishing in 2014. Her novels were intended to reach women that have been through something tough and thought they were alone in the journey of life.
Then, in 2021, Elizabeth struggled with finding curriculum for her youngest son she was homeschooling, so she dipped her toe into homeschool curriculum. In doing this, she also started publishing other author’s work and started a publishing business.
After ten years of ignoring her heart to start a women’s ministry, she finally believed in herself and God’s guidance and started Charlotte’s Hope Ministries. She doubted herself at first, then found the faith she needed to push through and put the devil in his place, behind her. Once she did, doors flew open, ladies sought after her to join the cause and her family has backed her.
Sue Foust
Overcomer, Blessed, Grateful
Contributing Author and Team Member
melindafoust1@gmail.com
I am a wayward child, saved by grace. Someone who felt lost and forgotten.
someone who wasn't pretty enough, skinny enough, smart enough and I believed I was unworthy. I lived with thoughts of suicide. Then I met a man named Jesus. He showed me I was so much more than I believed I was. The closer I draw to him and his Word, the more I discover that I am loved, that I am
enough, and I have found a purpose for my life.
God saved me when I felt unsavable. So, in return, I am reaching for those who
feel lost, unloved and live with thoughts of suicide, to help them to know that suicide is not the answer and to introduce them to the man I met named Jesus, who saved my life and gave me meaning and purpose.
I am on a journey to walk closer to God each day, to spread the good news. I plan to take as many as will go with me on this journey to discovering a better way and a better day. We are worth saving.
