SHARON VAZQUEZ

Host, co-founder

Biography

I was raised by a single father and am married to my one and only love of my life and high school sweetheart.  Believe it or not, He was 14 and I was 13 when we started dating. (the summer before freshman year of high school) We started going steady during “The Prince” movie of all places, laugh out loud 😊 God has brought us though quite a journey of faith.  I came to know Jesus at the age of 19.  That is where my faith journey began.  The Lord has blessed us with an amazing marriage of seeing God’s faithfulness as well as God at work in us and through us. He gifted Vince and I with 4 incredible children and 2 amazingly beautiful granddaughters.  We currently reside in Illinois and serve in full-time ministry.  My loves in life are of course, Vince, “anything Vince”, spending time with the family, cooking, walking, football, coffee and “tea” with honey and being out in the woods.  I believe my calling is to encourage others that the Bible (The Word of God) is all sufficient and that with God, and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we have all that we need in this life.

My life verse is 1 Corinthians 10:13:

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

Why this verse? 

Well, from the onset of my marriage I began to have anxiety attacks and this was the verse that literally changed me.  It made me realize that I do not have to be perfect.  To think I could ever be perfect is pride and that there is only one perfect and that is the LORD God.   Also, I am not alone.  Anxiety is common for all of us to battle.   It helped me to take my focus off myself, focus on truth and learn to focus on God and others.

DR. KELLY VAZQUEZ

Host, co-founder

Assistant Professor of Engineering, Department of Physics & Engineering

Education

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, CU-Anschutz Medical Campus

• PhD Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• MS Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• BS Physics, North Central College, 2016

Biography

Trained as a physicist, Dr. Vazquez completed her PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she established a true love for interdisciplinary research. Following her PhD, she conducted her postdoctoral work at the renowned Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes on the University of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Campus in islet cell biology.  During her career, she has been awarded grants from the NIH and the Children's Diabetes Foundation, and has conducted research at both Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. 

As a passionate scientist and engineer, she is dedicated to find innovative treatments to help fight autoimmune diseases such as diabetes.  Overall, it is her greatest aspiration to see more first generation, minority, and women scientists, such as herself, pursue a career in STEM. Therefore, her enthusiasm for teaching and mentorship, coupled with her passion for science, has motivated her to pursue a career as a professor.