Aug 12, 2016 By Anne Cloonan for The 4 min read

Editor’s note: This is part of a continuing series on the members of the Young Professionals of the Mon Valley, a committee of the Mon Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Alyssa Mendola enjoys advocating for her tax clients with the Internal Revenue Service, making sure their returns are accurate and that they understand tax law and helping them to grow their businesses.

Mendola, 31, of North Belle Vernon, an enrolled agent through the IRS, works with her father, Edward Mendola, a certified public accountant, in his North Belle Vernon office.

The young woman, who grew up in Rostraver Township, is the fourth generation member of her family to work in accounting.

In the late 1950s, her great-grandfather, Joseph Mendola, started doing taxes in an office in Charleroi. Her Uncle Joseph Mendola still works in the same Mon Valley accounting office used by her grandfather, Edward Mendola.

After graduating from Belle Vernon Area High School in 2003, she attended Waynesburg College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2007.

She went on to get a master’s degree in accounting from Chatham University in May 2013 and is currently studying for her certified public accountant license exam.

Her father, who is 58, also taught accounting at California University of Pennsylvania for 30 years.

Eventually, after her father retires, her goals are “to be able to carry on what my family started and run a successful business.”

Last July, she attended the first meeting of the Mon Valley Young Professionals association.

She was surprised to see so many local professionals her own age.

“It was exciting there were like-minded people my age that want the valley to be good again, and want to live and work here,” she said Friday.

The Mon Valley Young Professionals is a committee of the Mon Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce. Membership is open to people ages 21 to 42.

Mendola is now secretary/treasurer of the organization, and also represents the Young Professionals at the Mon Valley Chamber.

The committee’s last charity event was in March. Mendola said student artists from area schools and other local artists brought their works to Off the Wall Art in Charleroi for a fundraiser.

Half the proceeds from the sale went to the artists, and half went to the Harvest Bounty program at Charleroi Area School District, she said.

The program, done in conjunction with the Washington County Food Bank in Charleroi, sends food home in backpacks over the weekends with students who might need it.

The group had a professional development round table/panel discussion in October led by Pat O’Brien of Community Bank, Dionne Malush of Northwood Realty in Belle Vernon and Jeff Mendola of Waddell and Reed financial advisers.

Another, similar event is planned for November.

Mendola said networking is one of the great advantages of belonging to the Young Professionals.

“You can only grow your business if you have people to grow it with,” she said.

Mendola’s hobbies are cooking and reading. She prefers cooking with cast iron, rather than with nonstick pans, which have been shown to have some health detriments, she said.

She makes her mother’s pasta sauce, which includes elements of the spaghetti sauces made by Mendola’s Italian grandmother, Jean Mendola, and her Slovak grandmother, Harriet Kerfonta.

It contains whole tomatoes, carrots, onions, celery, oregano, parsley, basil, salt, pepper and “a lot of garlic,” she said.

Mendola also likes to be outside and likes watching movies of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

Her favorite movie is film noir murder mystery “I Wake Up Screaming,” with Victor Mature and Betty Grable, she said.

For more information: http://www.ypmv.org/