Jackie Baraona’s Remarks for our 10-Year Anniversary party

When Brandon first mentioned the idea of celebrating our 10th anniversary, I immediately volunteered to plan it. I officially hung up my event-planning hat about two and a half years ago when I passed the leadership baton to Brandon — but for this, I decided to dust it off one more time. It just felt right that, as the founder of the organization, I should help celebrate this milestone. I hope you’re all having a great time tonight.

For those who don’t know me, I currently serve as YPoP’s Marketing Director, but I founded the organization 10 years ago — or, as I like to say, when I was much younger.

I’m currently one of the Parma area’s biggest advocates. Some even jokingly call me the “Mayor of Parma,” but Ironically, the story of Young Professionals of Parma actually begins when I was… a Parma hater.

I like to joke that when I moved to Parma in 2014, I was dragged there kicking and screaming. I was living in Lakewood, and Parma wasn’t exactly at the top of my dream-neighborhood list.

But something happened.

As I settled in, I started falling in love with the community. The mom-and-pop businesses, the short commute downtown, the parks, the friendly neighbors — little by little, the Parma area became home. And it made me wonder why I’d ever had such a negative perception of it in the first place.

I figured I probably wasn’t the only person with that false impression, and I wanted to help change it.

At the same time, I wanted to meet other young professionals. I’d see people my age at Target or walking around town, so I knew they existed — I just didn’t know how to meet them.

Inspired by young professionals organizations like Engage Cleveland, I decided to start one here. The vision was simple: create opportunities for young professionals to build friendships, grow their professional networks, and channel their young energy into making the Parma area an even better place to live.

I’ll never forget our very first event. I was absolutely over the moon that 11 people cared enough to spend an evening networking with complete strangers.

From there, those small happy hours grew into regular events with 20, 30, sometimes 50 people. Along the way, I met an incredible group of volunteers who believed in the same vision.

One of the earliest was Kathie Taylor — then Kathie Zipp — who wrote dozens of Parma-positive blogs for our website and social media. There are honestly too many people to recognize individually tonight, because I’d probably still be giving this speech tomorrow, but every one of you who volunteered, attended an event, sponsored something, or simply cheered us on helped build what YPoP has become.

Not long after we launched, the City of Parma invited us to organize its Holiday Lights Contest, celebrating the city’s most festive homes. Later that same year, the Parma Area Chamber of Commerce invited us to pour craft beer at Rib ‘N Rock. Both of those traditions continue today. We eventually even added a Halloween decorating contest to the mix.

Over the years, Pints & Pierogies evolved through several different formats — from making fresh pierogies with Lidia Trempe at Rudy’s to competitions featuring local pierogi shops and music from the Chardon Polka Band.

We partnered with West Creek Conservancy for Pints & Pierogies at the Watershed Center and collaborated on several other events with them, including one that many people remember as their favorite YPoP event: Tacos & Tequila… which might also be one that some of the attendees don’t remember quite as well…

Eventually, we set our sights on hosting larger signature events that could make an even bigger impact.

In 2018, we formed a committee to launch the very first Pizza Bake-Off, inviting local pizza shops to compete for the title of the Parma area’s best pizza.

When the first event arrived in January 2019, we learned something important: Never underestimate how much the Parma area loves pizza.

More than 700 people packed German Central. We ran out of parking. We shut down York Road. We ran out of plates. We ran out of napkins. We probably ran out of patience.

But one thing we didn’t run out of was excitement.

We knew we had created something special, and we were determined to bring it back bigger and better. The next two Pizza Bake-Offs moved to a larger venue and became some of our most successful events.

Apparently, though, we didn’t learn our lesson about underestimating the Parma area.

In 2021, we hosted our first Trunk or Treat — and this time we underestimated how much the Parma area loves candy.

For those unfamiliar, Trunk or Treat is where people decorate their vehicles and hand out candy from their trunks. What made ours unique was that the trunks were hosted by local businesses and organizations.

The response was unbelievable.

The line stretched from Make Believe Family Fun Center — now Slick City — all the way to Giant Eagle.

That event continued to grow every year before eventually evolving, under Brandon’s leadership, into Parma Heights Frights at Greenbrier Commons. Today it attracts more than 3,000 attendees each year, and I’ll let Brandon tell you more about that incredible success.

Of course, not every event involved giant crowds.

Over the years we’ve hosted bowling nights, hikes, bingo, educational programs, book clubs, food crawls, neighborhood cleanups, history bus tours, countless networking events, and walked in the 4th of July parade year after year.

We’ve also invested directly in the community. YPoP awards annual scholarships to Parma area students, and in 2025 we partnered with Old Brook High School to launch a student business pitch competition, awarding grants to aspiring young entrepreneurs looking to start businesses right here in the Parma area.

Today, YPoP has approximately 75 paid members, but our impact reaches far beyond those numbers through thousands of event attendees, social media followers, volunteers, community partners, and supporters.

One thing I want to emphasize is that every single one of these accomplishments — from events with 30 people to events with 3,000 — was made possible by a remarkably small but incredibly dedicated group of volunteers.

Our Board of Directors has typically consisted of just four to eight people. That’s it.

Which means there’s still plenty of room for new faces.

In fact, we currently have several board positions open, including Secretary.

So if you’ve ever attended one of our events and thought, “I’d love to help make this happen,” tonight is your chance. Please come talk to Brandon or me after the program.

I’d especially love to see more people in their 20s and early 30s get involved. Many of our volunteers today are in their late 30s and early 40s, and it’s time to start passing the torch to the next generation of community leaders.

Because while tonight is about celebrating the last 10 years, what excites me even more is imagining what the next 10 years could look like.

Ten years ago, YPoP was just an idea — and 11 people willing to take a chance on it.

Today, it’s a nonprofit that has brought thousands of people together, created lasting friendships, supported local businesses, invested in students, and helped reshape the way people see our community.

That’s something every person in this room should be proud of.

Thank you for believing in this organization, for believing in Parma, and most importantly, for believing that a small group of people can make a big difference.

Here’s to the next 10 years — and to proving that the best chapters of YPoP’s story are still waiting to be written.