Star Rooney- Founder & President

Star Rooney- Founder & President

Star Rooney founded Token of Love Foundation in 2011 as a ministry to help hurting women. Her level of empathy for these precious women and children comes from a very real place of pain in her past. Star was young working mother living in New Orleans when she met a man who would soon become her trafficker. She knew in her heart that this was not a life she wanted to raise her children in but felt trapped with nowhere to go. She was fortunate enough to escape the lifestyle when she met and then married her "knight in shining armor". Star and her husband Roland now live in Covington and are raising their 6 children. Star now run a successful real estate brokerage in the heart of downtown Covington. Once becoming a Christian, Star vowed to give back to women in her community by creating a Foundation that provided spiritual rehabilitation and opportunity to women from similar backgrounds.

Melissa Cavalier- Texas Regional Director

Melissa Cavalier- Texas Regional Director

Melissa Cavalier currently serves as the Foundation's Texas Regional Director and Event's chair. Melissa came to the foundation in 2017 and served the TOLF Education & Workforce Development Director for 2 years prior to taking on the role of Executive Director. In 2020 Token of Love had the opportunity to expand into the state of Texas. Melissa's role is to oversee and plan events for the Foundation as well as oversee operations and fundraising for the state of Texas. Melissa, a lifelong resident of Louisiana, is now living in Dallas with her husband and their 3 children. Melissa came to TOLF with several years’ experience with both business and workforce development. Her passion is using her professional abilities and expertise to help and develop others. In her years of advocacy and women's rights activism, it became apparent to Melissa that the biggest need of abused and at risk women, was education and opportunity. It was then she realized that education breeds opportunity and lack of education breeds vulnerability. It was out of this that the vision for the Queen Esther Scholarship fund was birthed. She has made it her mission to partner with local schools and businesses to ensure that at risk women in the community have access to programs and services that will aid in their professional development and break the cycles of poverty and abuse.

Cheryl McKinley-Hooks- New Life Program Director

Cheryl McKinley-Hooks- New Life Program Director

Cheryl McKinley-Hooks is a graduate of the University of Phoenix with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology. She is a strong Christian woman who uses her gifts and professional accreditation to oversee the counseling and New Life Program at the Ester-Elizabeth House. This is where women’s lives are truly transformed. Cheryl likes to think that her role is simply the beginning of a lifelong transformation in their walk with God and feels truly blessed to be a part of the ministry. Upon beginning the New Life Program, Cheryl gathers and explores the previous lives of each woman through personal information and tailor makes a plan of action for each women. All counseling sessions are based on their personal needs and are strictly confidential. In a counseling secession, there is laughter, crying, and role-playing. Cheryl’s engaging conversations are to assist in the women in peeling back the of layers of what brought them woman to the Easter-Elizabeth House. Cheryl prides herself on her ability to listen and help them to develop the proper coping tools so that they begin incorporating into their lives to make them healthy, happy, and whole again.

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