DREAM WEAVER

In the sweeping tapestry that is the life of Norma Finkel, it is easy to see where one thread begins and another weaves into the next—each chance encounter forever entwined. Reflecting on the twists of fate that led her to the North Shore from her native Texas, she instinctively begins in March, to be exact. She was a 20-year-old art student at University of Texas in El Paso and a friend introduced her to an up-and-coming interior designer named Les Finkel. “It was just like you see in the movies … I was in a white haze,” muses Norma, explaining that two months after a date to see a flamenco dancer, they were engaged. After graduation, she taught art and he worked in design before the couple was drawn to the Quad Cities. Les built his business there and Norma took her art skills first to the Quad City Times newspaper as an editorial artist and then to an advertising agency as Art Director. And then (because this is how things happen in the life of Norma Finkel) she attended a cocktail party, where met the president of a chain of jewelry stores. “He said ‘I hate my jewelry ads. Let’s have a pow wow’.” So, they did and it was a smash success and before long, Norma started up her own graphic design agency while Les also started his own interior design business. By 2016, Norma was working with Les full time and the couple had so much business on the North Shore, they decided to move to Fort Sheridan. It was there that she had another fateful encounter with an “ex-movie star”—none other than long-time Lake Bluff Women’s Club (LBWC) member Sally Mills Steine Shineflug, who asked her to attend a LBWC luncheon. “I was so impressed with the club women and how much they had helped the community,” says Norma, explaining how she was quickly appointed to run the publicity committee, offering her services pro bono. “They said, “would you do this for us?’ I said, “First of all, I’m going to design a logo; which needs to be used exclusively’.” She knew the club needed to establish a presence in the community so after the logo came color brochures, branded tote bags, and other marketing items to carry those visuals forward. “The club has existed for over 119 years and is still strong and vital to the community,” adds Norma, who moved to Lake Forest in 2019. “As a result, membership has nearly doubled and yearly fundraising events have increased funds to support community endeavors.” LBWC also now has a working relationship with Lake Forest’s Citadel Theatre. Over the next few months, this now in-demand dynamo (she’s since been recruited to help Lake Forest Woman’s Club with photography and edit a monthly newsletter) and members of LBWC will be working on a fall fundraising luncheon slated for October 10 at the White Deer Run Golf Club in Vernon Hills. As the tapestry continues, Norma say she instinctively becomes part of everyone she meets. “I enjoy working with each and every account,” she adds, “The people with whom I have associated with and the artwork I create are inextricably woven into my life’s fabric.”

For more information about the Lake Bluff Women’s Club fall fundraising benefit luncheon, visit the group’s Facebook page or call (847) 404-0874.