Loretta Kryshak: A Journey of Impact and Inspiration
Loretta Kryshak serves as the Executive Director of Rebel Reform, the social outreach arm of Rebel Converting, a Milwaukee-based manufacturer of hospital-grade disinfectant wipes. For over a decade, Loretta has spearheaded initiatives to support nonprofits and address pressing community needs in southeastern Wisconsin. Rebel Reform’s mission is to strengthen and sustain vulnerable populations through strategic partnerships and impactful charitable endeavors.
Key achievements include:
Leading Rebel Reform: Transforming Communities in Southeastern Wisconsin
Loretta Kryshak serves as the Executive Director of Rebel Reform, the social outreach arm of Rebel Converting, a Milwaukee-based manufacturer of hospital-grade disinfectant wipes. For over a decade, Loretta has spearheaded initiatives to support nonprofits and address pressing community needs in southeastern Wisconsin. Rebel Reform’s mission is to strengthen and sustain vulnerable populations through strategic partnerships and impactful charitable endeavors.
Key achievements include:
#MaskUpMKE and #MaskUpRacine: Co-founded by Loretta, these campaigns distributed over 4 million face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, collaborating with organizations like the Medical College of Wisconsin, United Way, and Milwaukee Public Transit. The initiatives promoted mask-wearing to curb the virus’s spread, earning the Kryshak family the Gwen T. Jackson Community Service Award from United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County. In 2021, Loretta Kryshak honored a Kenosha teenager, Srisupraja Kandrakota, for crafting 10,000 masks, showcasing her commitment to inspiring youth leadership.
Support for Homelessness and Food Insecurity: Loretta led efforts to distribute 1,300 backpacks to homeless individuals and families and partnered with Just One More Ministry to raise over $50,000 to feed malnourished children in Milwaukee. Rebel Reform also renovated a 24,000-square-foot warehouse for the ministry, enhancing their capacity to serve the community.
Community Empowerment: From providing 4,000 bicycles to underserved children through the 16th Street Community Center to supporting Shop With A Cop programs, Loretta’s work focuses on direct, tangible impact.
Rebel Reform continues to seek collaborative opportunities with nonprofits, ensuring resources like goods, services, and capital are allocated effectively to maximize community benefit.
Capturing the World Through Photography
An avid photographer, Loretta Kryshak’s black-and-white photography has garnered international recognition. Her work, often inspired by her global travels, captures the beauty in everyday moments and tells compelling stories. In 2021, her photograph “Untitled,” depicting empty theater seats during the pandemic, received an honorable mention at the Monochrome Awards, highlighting the cultural impact of COVID-19.
Loretta’s philosophy—“I see photos everywhere I go”—drives her to find inspiration in both the striking and the mundane. Her portfolio, showcased on platforms like LensCulture, reflects her travels across all seven continents, from Southeast Asia to Africa. She aims to encourage viewers to look beyond the obvious and find inspiration in their surroundings.
Philanthropy Rooted in Family and Community
Loretta’s philanthropic spirit is a family affair. Alongside her husband, Mike, and their children, Thaddeus and Violet, she infuses Rebel Converting with a commitment to civic responsibility. The family’s efforts during the COVID-19 crisis, including pivoting production to create mask kits from melt-blown polypropylene, demonstrate their innovative approach to community support. Their work with #MaskUpMKE not only provided essential resources but also sparked a citywide movement for public health.
Beyond Rebel Reform, Loretta is a member of the Junior Women’s Club of Mequon, dedicated to community service. Her travels and homeschooling experiences with her children in countries like China, Thailand, and New Zealand have shaped her global perspective on giving back.
A Multifaceted Leader with a Strong Foundation
Loretta’s diverse expertise underpins her success. She holds two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Finance and Management Information Systems, where she made the Dean’s Honor List. She also earned an Associate’s Degree in Graphic Design from Milwaukee Area Technical College and certifications as a Certified Network Administrator (CNA) and Certified Network Engineer (CNE). Her corporate background as a consultant, project manager, and systems analyst equips her to manage complex initiatives at Rebel Reform with precision and creativity.
Looking Ahead: A Commitment to Impact
As Loretta continues to lead Rebel Reform, her focus remains on addressing evolving community needs, from public health to social justice. Her photography will continue to document the human experience, while her travels inspire new ways to connect and uplift. Whether through donating masks, renovating community spaces, or capturing poignant moments, Loretta Kryshak’s work embodies a relentless drive to make a difference.
To learn more about Loretta’s initiatives, visit Rebel Reform or explore her photography on LensCulture. Follow her journey on Twitter and Facebook.
Last updated: May 17, 2025
Creating Beauty, Spiritual Traveler, A Humanitarian Rebel
Loretta Kryshak is passionate about being creative. Creativity led the charge first in her career and then in her heart. The talented idealist rose through the ranks of the corporate world, wearing many hats. Her years spent as a project manager, systems analyst, and consultant-led her to immense success in business long before starting a company with her husband Mike Kryshak. Loretta's eye for art, combined with her computer savvy and mathematical mind, gave her the perfect combination of tools in the world of graphic design, finance, and management information services.
But to honestly know Loretta as a person is to understand her other passions: photography, travel, and humanitarianism and how the three have become intertwined within her soul. They have driven Loretta to immerse herself in volunteerism within the local communities of southeastern Wisconsin, the art scene and media sharing platforms, and acquire more stamps in her passport to share her creative genius around the world.
The Impassioned Photographer
Photos serve a multitude of purposes in the world today. They educate us; they inspire us; they evoke emotion in us. They are used to memorialize special events, sell products, and bring out the history of humankind. Ask any photographer, professional, or hobbyist why they take photos, and you are bound to hear a variety of answers, but they all come back to one thing: Passion. Loretta Kryshak is no different. The passion she feels for photography is comparable to an intense, magnetic attraction.
Loretta's drive to capture the world from her perspective, combined with the desire to share her vision with everyone, is resulting in breathtaking photographs. Her natural talent to tell a story through a picture furthers her passion for the art. Through her travels, Loretta realized that photos are the one language that is spoken universally. She understands that images may only capture a brief moment in time, yet they remain timeless.
Loretta believes that the world needs artists to showcase the beauty of the world, whether it be in the eyes of the impoverished or the skillfulness of meticulous architecture. Her photographs highlight things we don't always recognize in our everyday lives - something we often overlook. They show the raw honesty in her subjects and make people want to see more.
Photography motivates Loretta, and she finds it a helpful tool in her activism. Her photos allow her to turn her drive and desire to make the world a better place into something tangible. She doesn't know of another way to physically show a feeling. Loretta creates an image that becomes personal to the viewer, triggering an emotional reaction. These reactions are what Loretta believes results in social change. She believes that by seeing things from a different perspective, behaviors change, and an understanding is created, resulting in a call to action.
Loretta strongly feels that photography unites people, bringing together different cultures while illustrating their diversity. She loves learning the stories behind a snapshot as much as she loves telling the stories behind her prints. Photography gives Loretta an outlet to engage with the world every day; even if she doesn't talk to another soul, she can convey the things she feels everyone needs to see. The integrity behind Loretta's photos speaks an unparalleled truth.
Loretta maintains that images of loved ones help keep their memory alive and links generation to generation. Every day, seemingly mundane photographs of our ancestors allow us to reflect on who we are, where we came from, and exactly how we got here. Her natural talent for holding a moment in time ensures that every photograph Loretta captures will be her legacy to the entire world.
The World Traveler
There's a quote by David Mitchell that perfectly describes Loretta Kyshak. "Travel far enough; you meet yourself." Loretta's love of travel embodies this perfectly. Never wanting to feel trapped in the rut of daily life, Loretta craved the experiences traveling the world brings. From her exotic trips to Kenya and Tanzania to her stateside visits to New York and Alaska, Loretta fulling immerses herself in the local culture. She looks at every excursion as a chance to challenge herself to grow mentally, spiritually, and physically. Not only does travel present an opportunity for her to learn new skills, but it has also taught her to see the world from a new perspective.
Living with an open mind allows Loretta to view the world from someone else's point of view, a trait that has helped her creatively in business, philanthropy, and her hobbies. She finds that discovering new places leads to fresh ideas in all aspects of her life. The biggest take away from her travels, for Loretta personally, is an appreciation for her own life. She feels that travel allows her to separate from her routine and reflect on her journey. This fresh perspective keeps Loretta focused on the gratitude she has for her family, career, and community.
In addition to learning about herself, Loretta's travels have strengthened existing connections and helped her build new relationships. She values family trips for the essential bonds that intensify when you're sharing a unique experience in a new place. She credits these vacations with easing the ordinary demands of her sometimes hectic lifestyle and helping her find much-needed quality time with her friends and family. Loretta has an equal affinity for couples trips and credits these adventures with deepening her relationship with her husband, Mike.
While many of Loretta's travels begin as leisure activities, she often finds that they spark the humanitarian in her. Loretta develops a personal attachment to the areas she explores. She finds the adventures of travel exhilarating and feels a thrill the second she sets foot in a new country or meets an inspiring local. Loretta loves the fact that she can carry the memory of each trip with her every day and that, hopefully, she left a little part of herself wherever she journeys.
The Neighborhood Humanitarian
"Giving back really helps me appreciate what I have and how I can help the community. It's amazing what I've learned about myself by supporting charities and nonprofits, just making a difference in our community and making it a better place" -Loretta Kryshak
Like many community leaders, Loretta began her journey into humanitarianism by volunteering for local charities. Through her experiences, she discovered a connection to the people she helped. This connection ignited a passion within her to find some way to impact her neighborhood every day positively. And, she has done just that. Through her philanthropy, Loretta has touched the lives of countless residents of southeastern Wisconsin, helping both herself and the community grow.
Mask Up MKE
Long before Loretta and her husband started their business, Rebel Converting, they had the hearts of givers and a passion for giving back to the communities they love. Over the course of ten short years, they have created a team of employees dedicated to volunteering and community involvement by merely leading by example. Loretta's passion and desire to do more exploded when the pandemic began. She saw an immediate correlation between her company and the needs of the community.
Rebel Converting converts expansive rolls of non-woven fabrics into smaller rolls that fit into sanitary wipe canisters. Loretta's and her husband Mike Kryshak's savvy business sense, combined with their passion and creativity, led to Mask Up MKE's inception. Through this platform, Loretta and her husband have donated more than 3.5 million face masks to businesses and residents of southeastern Wisconsin since April of 2020. Loretta continues to be an advocate of social distancing, wearing a facemask, and ultimately saving lives.
Just One More Ministry
Based in Glendale, Wisconsin, Just One More Ministry began in 2008 as an informal food repackaging program to help feed hungry families throughout Milwaukee. By 2013, Just One More Ministry was incorporated as a 501(c)3. The program rescues and repackages prepared food and fresh bakery and produce from suppliers all over the city and distributes it to dozens of inner-city food pantries, churches, and hunger-related organizations. This cooperatives circle serves low-income families, women, children, veterans, the elderly, and the city's homeless population.
In 2019, Loretta donated 750 stocked backpacks to Just One More Ministry. She purchased and packed them with nutritional snacks, wool hats and winter necessities, and toiletries that many community members would not otherwise have access to. Because Loretta believes strongly in the power of positivity and encouragement, she included a personal note of encouragement in each backpack.
Loretta's relationship with Just One More Ministry expanded during the onset of the Coronavirus Pandemic in early 2020. Along with many other local businesses, they assisted Mike and Loretta Kryshak and their company, Rebel Converting, by assembling and distributing over ONE MILLION face masks in the Greater Milwaukee area. Through a matching grant challenge created by Loretta's team, she presented Just One More Ministry with a check for $30,000, allowing them to further their mission.
Junior Women's Club of Mequon
As a successful, educated entrepreneur in Ozaukee County, Loretta supports The Junior Woman's Club of Mequon-Thiensville. The local 501(c)3 is dedicated to the support of community involvement and support. The group, led by women, provides social, philanthropic, and leadership opportunities to nonprofits within the community by providing funds to large and small organizations that profoundly impact the community.
Mr. Bob's Under the Bridge
Mr. Bob's Under the Bridge began in 2007 with six backpacks to distribute to people in need in the city. By 2012, the organization became a registered 501(c)3. With compassionate community members like Loretta Kryshak, Mr. Bob's Under the Bridge launched its mobile shower trailer.
Seeing a need to help Milwaukee's homeless population further and believing in Mr. Bob's mission, Loretta partnered with several other local business owners and philanthropists to sponsor Mr. Bob's Under the Bridge mobile shower trailer. This unit consists of four shower stalls and provides a safe and relaxing place for displaced community members to shower or bathe.
Black Lives Matter
Loretta's strong belief in creating a thriving community led her to support other social justice movements like Black Lives Matter. Her passion for equal rights and social opportunities led her to stand with the cause during the peaceful protests in the summer of 2020, where she was quoted as saying, "We are not anti-police. We're against police brutality. Please stand and show your support. We are all human."
Bicycle Collective
South Shore Bike Day in Milwaukee is an event that is near and dear to Loretta's heart. One of her favorite events, the initiative promotes positive economic growth, social development, healthy living, and environmental conscientiousness. Loretta beams when discussing the thousands of bicycles Rebel Reform has collected, stored, and distributed over the years. In addition to the bicycles, Loretta and her team provided each child with a helmet and lock for every bike.
Other Charitable Efforts
Loretta is committed to helping local fire departments, women's shelters, and wrestling teams. She contributes to the YMCA and has donated to MS support groups. She is an annual supporter of Shop with a Cop, an Ozaukee event that brings together law enforcement officers and children experiencing personal or financial hardships. The duo shop together, purchasing gifts for the children's loved ones.
What's Next for Loretta?
Loretta plans to continue her humanitarian work, both through her charitable organization, Rebel Reform, and by assisting other charitable organizations in the community. She hopes to add other worthy charities to causes she contributes to. She would love to pursue her love of worldly travel and expand her photography portfolio. To follow Loretta's efforts, you can visit her website www.lorettakryshak.com.
About Rebel Reform
Rebel Reform is the Social Outreach Arm of Rebel Converting and a proud member of the Greater Milwaukee area community. Their mission is to work with several nonprofits and support various social causes where their support offers the most significant impact.