Cheeese! Tolono photographer keeping family history alive in the heart of downtown



TOLONO, Ill. (WCIA) — Every parent’s dream is to capture the picture-perfect “Kodak moments.” In Our Town Tolono, one hometown girl is just the person for the job.

Madeline Mancuso picked up a camera while studying journalism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and has never turned back.

“I love storytelling,” the business owner said. “I love being trusted with the stories people have to tell.”

Those stories include life’s big moments like weddings, graduations and baby announcements.

“The most important parts of people’s lives they’re inviting me to be a part of,” Mancuso said. “That’s really special in a lot of ways.”

She is capturing it all in the place she has always called home.

“I’m such a sentimental person when it comes to Tolono,” she said.

Her family roots run deep. Her great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather were both entrepreneurs on Main Street downtown. Now, she is continuing that legacy of small business owners. Her second cousin owned a Curves exercise studio where “Madeline Wilson Photography” stands today.

When it came time to buy her own studio space and raise a family, she said Tolono was an easy pick.

Mancuso picked up a camera for the first time as a U of I student through the College of Media and then bought her Main Street studio in 2020.

“My whole family has given so much time and effort into making this space special and it means a lot to all of us,” she said.

They completely transformed the space. Her family did all of the contracting work she explained.

“It makes me so emotional every time I walk through the front door,” the photographer said.

Now, she can do more than she ever has before while bringing her 1-year-old son, Joey, along every step of the way.

“Having this really emotional, gratifying job that…it just fills my cup to the brim,” Mancuso said.

If you want to connect with her, you can find “Madeline Wilson Photography” on Instagram, Facebook, and her website.





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