The BIG (Believe in Girls) Brunch and Playhouse Project
Wednesday, September 14
10am-12pm | Chenal Country Club,
Little Rock
Wear your Girl Scout green and join Girl Scouts – Diamonds and Jenny and Dave Marrs and show your support for all girls as we offer a dose of these creative and mission-driven entrepreneurs with our signature BIG (Believe in Girls) Brunch.
Jenny and Dave Marrs are a husband-wife duo who turn fixer-uppers into fabulous homes. They focus on restoring historic homes in Bentonville and surrounding areas. Some of these projects are featured on their show, “Fixer to Fabulous” on HGTV. Together they run Marrs Developing, a company that specializes in the renovation and restoration of historic homes. Girl Scout alum Jenny is the creative backbone of their renovations. Dave is an expert craftsman, builder, general contractor, and all-around handyman.
Inspired by our special guests, a fun activity is being added to the event – the Playhouse Project. Five local designers will put their own special touches on a small playhouse. The houses will be displayed in a public place in the days leading up to the event, allowing the public to view and pre-bid.
Table sponsorships and other sponsorship opportunities are available now. Individual tickets are $100 each and will be available for purchase here (or by phone) beginning August 1. For more information about the event and sponsorships, please email us.
You don’t have to be at The BIG (Believe in Girls) Brunch to bid and
to help benefit Girl Scouts – Diamonds!
The BIG Brunch
online auction opened September 9 and will close at 11:30am during The
BIG Brunch, Wednesday, September 14.
Check out the auction for our 5 special playhouses as well as all kinds of fun items by scanning the QR code or clicking the link below.
The BIG Brunch
Auction
Thank you for your support of Girl Scouts and
for believing in girls.
Each year, we partner with Girl Scout alums and women who believe in girls to help us facilitate an interesting and interactive conversation with our feature guests. This year's moderators are leaders in design, architecture and engineering fields who will help us get to know a bit more about Jenny and Dave Marrs and Girl Scouts.
Nicci Tiner, PE, PTOE
Vice President, Transportation
Planning and Traffic Team Leader, Garver
Nicci Tiner is proof that having confidence in yourself will take
you a long way. A civil engineer, Nicci began her career in 1988 with
a focus on structural design, mainly on bridges.
From Girl Scout cookie sales, she learned that if you don’t ask, then the answer is always no, and having the courage and confidence to ask is how she got to where she is now. In the 1990s when she realized she no longer enjoyed structural design, she asked the leadership at Garver if she could develop traffic engineering services for the company. Since then, she has grown a team of over 20 engineers.
Her professional career has been defined by many “firsts”. In 1998, as women still faced low representation in the field, she became the first female partner and owner at Garver. In 2009 she became the first professional traffic operations engineer in Arkansas, and earlier this year became the first female president of the Arkansas Academy of Civil Engineers.
Believing in girls certainly resonates with Nicci, whose “don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it’ advice is rooted in her own experience. “When I began my career in civil engineering in the late 1980s there weren’t many women, but both my mom and my dad believed in me, so I just assumed I could be a good civil engineer.”
Karen Van Horn
Architectural Design Consultant
Like many Girl Scout alums, Karen Van Horn fondly remembers selling
Girl Scout Cookies and has a soft spot in her heart when she sees any
Girl Scout selling them. She also loved earning badges (her favorite
was the ice-skating badge). “Girl Scouts taught me how to work
together as a group. It also taught me life-long organizational skills
and how to set goals and achieve them.”
Karen’s two daughters were also Girl Scouts. “As a mother, I enjoyed
watching my daughters flourish in Girl Scouts, accomplishing goals and
earning their own badges, and I saw these skills translate as they
grew into adults and earned college diplomas.”
After graduating with a degree in architecture, Karen spent her career in architecture, engineering, and construction. She also has a master’s degree in business administration and has worked in facilities management at three universities including the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where she was instrumental in establishing the University of Arkansas Campus Historic District. Karen currently consults on architectural design and has been the co-owner of Van Horn Enterprises, LLC, for the past 20 years.
Karen served on the boards of Girl Scout councils in Nebraska and
Arkansas, furthering the Girl Scout mission. Many years ago, she heard
someone comment “believing in someone can transform their life” and
has always remembered it. “I think adults have the ability, through
encouragement and support to make a difference in a young girl’s life
by showing our belief and investing in them.”
Jill White
Owner, Jill White Designs
Believing in girls is not a stretch for Jill White. “I am a mom of
a 10-year-old girl, and I want more than anything to teach her and
inspire her to be anything her tiny little heart can dream
of."
Jill appreciates the Girl Scout focus on courage and confidence and
on allowing girls to be their authentic selves. ”There’s a quote I
keep in my office that says, ‘wanting to be someone else is a waste of
the person you are,’ and to be able to figure out that at a young age
is invaluable.”
Though she wasn’t a Girl Scout, like Girl Scouts today, Jill had
the opportunity at a young age to gain the kind of life skills that
played a role in her future. Growing up, Jill had family in the
construction business, and she worked at her grandfather’s hardware
store/lumber company. She mixed paint, made keys, helped with the
books, and answered phones.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Jill ended up studying interior design,
earning her degree from the U of A, and after several stints with
architectural firms beginning in 2009, she started her own design
business in 2014. Jill has worked as an interior designer specializing
in residential and commercial design on projects of all sizes,
creating eclectic, modern spaces. Jill is known for her love of bold
patterns, abstract art, high-contrast styles, and forward-thinking
designs.
