Meet a TwinBridger: Dawn Vavala

By Rich Landers

Dawn Vavala likes to laugh.

You can see in it some of the photos scattered throughout this website and you can definitely see it in the photos on this page that I took the other day. I asked her to be serious for some shots and she tried. But those didn’t come out well. If I showed her my photo library, I think she’d tell me to delete them.

But her sunny disposition never kept Dawn from success in the business world and it certainly hasn’t kept her from achievement and satisfaction in the world of Twin Bridges Rotary Club. Dawn is a Charter Member of Twin Bridges, having been there at the beginning in 2002. And she has twice been President of the Club, most recently for the 2024-2025 Rotary year which ended in June.

“There were four things that attracted me to Rotary and Twin Bridges,” Dawn said. “And they have continued to guide me through the years.”

Those four concepts:

Service Above Self. Dawn loves Twin Bridges service projects, the ones where members give their own time and effort in addition to money. These include the Bed Build (building beds for area kids who don’t have one), Chamber Angels (Christmas gifts for area children in need), monthly visits to Home of the Good Shepherd (talking and mingling with residents of a local assisted living center), Ronald McDonald House (cooking dinner for parents of children staying at Albany Medical Center.)

Lasting Friendships. “Several people in Twin Bridges are my best friends including some who are no longer with the Club.” In recent years, Dawn has taken an extensive trip to Florida and always meets up and stays with Rotary friends.

Leadership Development. “To be the chair of an event, to go out and sell an event or a project were great experiences for me especially when I was younger. And the formal Rotary leadership training was really great.”

Networking. “People don’t join the Club to drum up business but sometimes it comes naturally. We all know people like to do business with people they know.”

Dawn grew up in Schenectady, went to Catholic school, Mont Pleasant High School and Siena College. A year out of college and she started her own business—Tuxego of Clifton Park, a business she owned for 25 years prior to starting the business she now owns and operates—Nite Owl Marketing (https://www.niteowlmarketing.com/). Nite Owl offers customized clothing and promotional products for schools, athletic teams and all sorts of organizations.

Asked to sum up her feelings about Rotary and Twin Bridges, Dawn says, “It’s a give-back mentality, and I love that.”