Alvernia’s Four Under Forty Award was developed in 2019 by the Alvernia Young Alumni Committee to recognize the achievements of young alumni. The alumni chosen for this award exhibit high levels of success in their career, a commitment to community service, dedication to the advancement and growth of Alvernia and demonstrate Alvernia’s core values in their personal, spiritual and professional life. The following Alvernia alumni received the award in 2022. All biographical information current at the time of the award.
Degree:
- B.A. in Marketing ‘12
Bio:
Jiolka Peralta migrated to the United States at the age of 11 with her parents and siblings from the Dominican Republic. With a love of learning and being driven to be her best self, Jiolka graduated from Alvernia in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing. Focused on starting a career after graduation, Jiolka was employed by Iron Mountain. Beginning in an entry-level position she quickly was promoted within her first six months to the Client Resolution department where she learned inventory, billing, reporting, managing client issues, mergers, consolidations, and more. Within a year, Jiolka was promoted to Team Lead where she worked alongside her supervisors to handle escalated customer issues, provide training on new systems, improve processes, and evaluated reps for quality control purposes.
With her thirst for knowledge and success in working with and for team members and clients, Jiolka quickly rose to the position of Customer Success Manager in the Sales Team. In this position, she worked directly with enterprise clients in the Legal Vertical to manage their most sensitive projects. After nearly eight years of service with Iron Mountain, Jiolka started the journey of becoming an entrepreneur with the goal of one day opening a curly hair salon. Inspired by her daughter, she wanted all women to feel comfortable with the hair they were born with, embrace it, and feel confident. With naturally curly hair, Jiolka wanted to learn how to best care for her own hair and to help others do the same in a healthy community. With no salons in Reading, Jiolka knew a Curly Hair Salon would succeed based on blog, social media, and personal conversations with women struggling just like she had.
In September 2018, Jiolka enrolled at Empire Beauty School to gain the technical knowledge of hair care. In 2020, she passed her Pennsylvania State Board Exam and became a licensed stylist. With the pandemic in full force, a salon opening was placed on hold, but the business planning continued. Jiolka enrolled in the Kutztown University Small Business Development Center class for entrepreneurs and created her business plan to open a business on Penn Avenue, West Reading. In June 2021, the Texture Curl Bar was born and became the first curly hair salon in Berks County.
Today the salon has nine employees and is focused on providing the best services, great products, and education to their clients. Texture Curl Bar was created for the curly girl that makes her own rules, loves her curls, and loves versatility and flexibility. Because being natural does not have to be complicated. In addition to running a business, Jiolka is actively involved in the community and Alvernia. At Alvernia, she serves on the Alumni Council, Young Alumni Committee, and Women’s Council.
Joseph A. Bonanno
Degree:
- B.A. in Communications ‘09
Bio:
Joe started his career in the energy industry in 2011 and is currently working for NRG Energy, one of the nation’s largest energy companies. As a Business Development Manager, Joe manages and provides commodity solutions for Fortune 500 corporations, hospitals, consortiums, and industrial companies across the northeast. In 2018, he won the prestigious President’s Club Award as one of the top sales executives in the company.
Joe is an advocate for Alvernia University and attributes his success in business to his experiences and education at the University. He is currently a business mentor for Alvernia’s O’Pake Institute for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship as a resource for business and marketing students. In the community, Joe is actively involved with the Reading Hospital Foundation and the Mobile Mammogram Coach. This mobile truck provides state-of-the-art breast cancer screening and early detection for patients throughout Berks County. He is also a member of the Greater Reading Young Professional Network.
Kayla Kressler
Degrees:
- B.A. in Addiction Studies ‘10
- M.A. in Clinical Counseling ‘17
Bio:
Kayla Oliver-Kressler, fondly known as “Birdie”, is the first in her family to attend a four-year academic institution, and graduate with a bachelor’s and master’s degree. At age 29, Kayla became a prevention program director and quickly transitioned within the year to hold the position of Chief Operating Officer of Pennsylvania’s leading child abuse prevention program and mandated reporter training in Harrisburg, PA. Currently, she is the Director of Psychosocial Services within the oncology and infusion clinic of Jefferson Healthcare Medical Center in Port Townsend, Washington- a critical access hospital.
Kayla was highly instrumental in the 2018 passing of two PA House Bills, a vital movement that helped to establish primary caregiver rights and emergency kinship benefits for grandparents who are called to care for their grandchildren due to crisis-related situations and family adversity. In tandem with this work, she designed, authored and published a seven-week preventionbased parenting education curriculum for anyone in a caregiver role, living life in recovery from substance use disorder. This program was funded by the Pennsylvania Office of Childhood Development and Early Learning during the height of the opioid use disorder crisis and was piloted in over 50 Pennsylvania family centers in addition to counseling centers in Northern Oregon, Kentucky, Delaware, and Brazil. Kayla is recognized as one of the youngest clinicians Nationwide, to receive training and certification as an Evidence-Based Violence Prevention Trainer and Educator under the Office of Violence Prevention at the American Psychological Association in Washington, DC.
Kayla has demonstrated Alvernia’s core values through her passion for helping others and serving the community. She was elected to the LGBTQ Center of Harrisburg’s Governing Board, has volunteered at various community events for the homeless in Berks, Lebanon, and Lancaster Counties, and has lead clinical activism and advocacy panels for the PA Town Hall Initiative of Northeast, Southeast, and Central Pennsylvania sectors.
Rev. John A. Hutta
Degree:
- B.A. in Theology and Philosophy ‘11
Bio:
Ordained on June 2, 2018, Father Hutta was solely in charge throughout the COVID pandemic and offered spiritual care to the sick, including all the COVID-19 patients at Reading Hospital. Father Hutta valiantly and selflessly gave of himself to the sickest patients in the community by offering faith and final rites. Additionally, he led an initiative to ensure the greatest level of safety for staff and students during the pandemic at Sacred Heart School in West Reading for grades K–8.
Father Hutta was instrumental in establishing an IT platform for Sacred Heart, Holy Rosary, and St. Benedict’s parishes to help each manage and track the religious education program for students in eight grade levels. This program also provided an opportunity to assist public school students to complete their religious education programs to receive their sacraments. During his tenure at Sacred Heart, Father Hutta also taught biology, science, and theology.
Father Hutta has served as the Parochial Vicar of St. Paul and St. Joseph, Reading; Chaplain, Penn State Health – St. Joseph Medical Center and Tower Health; and as an Ethicist for the Diocese of Allentown. Father Hutta not only serves his church and faith but also gives his own personal time and resources to support the homeless and individuals in need in the inner-city communities of Reading and Philadelphia. He supports and serves the impoverished in Vietnam through personal mission trips as a diplomat. In addition, Father Hutta provides counseling services to anyone seeking guidance and assistance with mental health concerns.
He is committed to the service of others in his priestly vocation and is available to anyone at any time day or night giving unselfishly of himself. Father Hutta feeds the hungry; gives shelter to the homeless, visits the sick, buries the dead, and clothes the naked. He spends time with those grief-stricken, students in need of encouragement, and all those he encounters through his message of love.
