Ambassador of the Year Award 2014 Danielle Nelson

Ambassador of the Year

“Nominees in this category will be an Osceola Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassador who exemplifies the values of the Chamber – volunteerism, and promotes chamber functions such as member support, Ribbon Cuttings and Business After Hours.”

Danielle Nelson, Central Insurance

Centuria’s Loss; Our Gain

We would like to congratulate Danielle Nelson on receiving our new award this year, Ambassador of the Year.  Danielle is President of the newly formed Ambassador group within the chamber and she was instrumental in getting the group organized and functioning in its first year.  She brings considerable experience to this group as a member of the Falls Chamber and her work there as an Ambassador.  Additionally, she serves on the Board of Directors for the St. Croix Valley Employer’s Association and on their Membership Committee.

Some of Danielle’s Ambassador highlights have been the forming of the group, fun at Wheels & Wings, and sharing in the Ribbon Cuttings of new businesses.  She is honored to be the first president of the group.  She feels it is a great addition to Osceola and has enjoyed working with this great group of people.

Danielle is currently an Employee Benefits Specialist at Central Insurance.  She holds the designation of CBC (Chartered Benefits Consultant), and is a certified PHR (Professional in Human Resources) from the Society of Human Resource Management. With an extensive background in the field of human resources and sales, she enjoys working together with the team of professional insurance agents in the St Croix Valley area. Her office is in the Central Bank facility in Osceola.  She would like to thank Central Insurance for allowing her the time in her work day to work on her chamber activities.

Danielle feels blessed to have lived and worked in this beautiful area for most of her life. She was born and raised in Centuria.  Small town life and business was part of her upbringing as her parents, Sedric and LaVonne Solland founded Indianhead Glass in their home, then moving the business to main street St. Croix Falls.

She married her life-long friend, Craig Nelson in 1988.  They moved to Osceola in 1995 after “falling in love with the schools.”  Meredith is a senior at Osceola high school and is an avid golfer.  Emilie is a senior at UM-Duluth, majoring in Communication and minoring in Deaf Studies. Stephanie is a graduate of UMD and recently married Brandon Whittaker.

Danielle loves people and loves Osceola.  It is a good fit for her.  She truly appreciates all that our friendly communities have to offer in terms of outdoor recreation, natural beauty, top-notch schools, and business opportunities.  Some of her personal hobbies are decorating cakes, gardening and travel.

Looking ahead, the biggest challenge Danielle sees in the insurance business is health care reform.  She herself has personal interest in health and wellness.  She has helped found InnVigor8 (a healthy living activity) and serves on the committee Healthy Polk County with additional work on the Obesity Prevention Sub-Committee.  She enjoys attending the Osceola Wellness Fair and Garden Show held at the high school each April and feels it is a great addition to our community life.

Some goals for the Osceola Ambassadors for 2015:  more recognition of our businesses; membership growth; engaging people and recognizing quality customer service.

Take a little time to read Danielle’s name tag.  It sums her up very well.  It reads:

My name is Danielle Nelson.  I’m a Relationship Building.  My Strengths are:  positivity, maximizer, belief, empathy and input.

The Osceola Area Chamber congratulates Danielle Nelson on being the Ambassador of the Year!  Many thanks for your hard work for our chamber and community