Published July 2001

Barb Lamoureux
In her own words, Barb Lamoureux operates “at a million miles an hour,” and she always has.

Before entering the real estate industry almost 13 years ago, the Everett native worked as a color analyst, teaching people how to match their personality with colors and zipping across the United States to perform seminars on customer service. When she got out of color analysis and signed on with Windermere, she redirected that energy.

“I’ve been busy ever since I started,” said Lamoureux, who sells more than 100 homes a year, hitting a personal record last year with 117 sales.

Almost 95 percent of that business is referral-based, said Lamoureux, whose mantra is the old adage “people like to do business with people they know.”

To make herself known, she does a “huge amount of marketing,” part of which includes a quarterly newsletter she opens with a column about her life and her north Everett community.

“I use it as a vehicle, not so much to sell my product as to keep everybody aware of who I am and that I’m paying attention to what’s going on in our neighborhood,” said Lamoureux, who announced in her spring newsletter that her sons had joined her in the real estate business.

Aaron, 28, will be selling houses, while Christian, 26, will be the office support staff and “technology expert,” said Lamoureux, who, with her sons’ help, would like to sell 140 homes this year.

And she’d also like to continue her involvement, through the Windermere Foundation, with Housing Hope, a local agency that provides shelter and a hand up for homeless families in the community.

The Windermere Foundation’s mission, helping “homeless families with children, is something that I can get a hold of because it’s part of what I do,” Lamoureux said. “If I can sell people houses, I need to also help provide houses for people who will never be able to afford one.”

To contact Lamoureux, call 425-356-7975, send e-mail to barblam@windermere.com or visit her Web site, www.lamoureuxhomes.com.

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Anita Black
Anita Black is a firm believer in the saying “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

It’s what she told herself when she went after — and landed — a contract to create a 12-by-14-foot stained-glass piece for the new Hawthorn Inn & Suites. And it’s what she told herself when she opened The Glass Cottage last August.

“To have your own business, you have to be willing to take a risk,” said Black, whose Smokey Point shop offers classes, supplies, and custom stained-glass work and repairs.

Before starting The Glass Cottage, Black, who has a graphics background, worked for almost three years at Covenant Art Glass in Everett, where she improved her skills and learned more about the stained-glass industry. But the past year has been a learning experience in itself.

“The hours can get long sometimes, but I feel that if it is something you love to do, ... it makes it OK, because you’re doing it for yourself,” said Black, who also has learned she likes teaching, something she hadn’t done before.

“That’s probably the most satisfaction I get, watching people have that feeling, ‘I accomplished something like this, and I didn’t think I could do it,’ “ Black said.

Her six-week course on stained glass has students signing up again and again to learn new techniques for different projects.

Recently, the shop purchased a sandblaster and other equipment for creating text on glass for plaques and gift items. She plans to team up with an expert on glass fusing, with classes tentatively set for the fall.

It has been a hectic year, Black concedes, but the support she has received from her husband, Tom, who “takes care of the accounting,” and her two children, who “think it’s great that Mom owns her own business,” has been a blessing.

And being a “pretty ambitious person” helps, too.

“When it’s your life’s dream to own your own business and be your own boss, you’re going to do whatever it takes,” she said.

For more information on The Glass Cottage, located at 17306 Smokey Point Drive, Suite 3, call 360-657-4527 or visit the shop’s Web site, www.glasscottage.com.

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Jean Hales
In 1997, Jean Hales began an “internal exploration” to define her life’s passions and put them to use.

At the time, she had a “great job” as Vice President of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce, “and yet there was something still left to be done in my life,” said Hales, who ended up hiring a business coach to determine the next step to take in her professional life.

“Finally, we started unlocking where the passion was,” Hales said. “And it turns out that for my entire life, I always sought out forms of art, more in the craft area. That was my therapy; that was what I did for leisure.”

Along with art, Hales’ work with the chamber, the day-to-day interaction with businesses, whet her appetite to have a business of her own, and in November, her two passions came together with the Lynnwood opening of Artisans Well, a fine-craft gallery and gift shop featuring Puget Sound artisans.

“I feel very strongly that I’ve identified a niche,” Hales said, “that there’s a need on two sides: a need to market for the artisans, and on the other side, there’s a need to present the items for public that’s more accessible.”

To make Artisans Well more accessible, Hales has been working to move her brick-and-mortar store to a “virtual location” on the Internet.

“Open 24/7, the fine-crafts gallery will be even more convenient for busy people,” she said, adding that she plans to have her business fully operational on the Web by September.

She credits her chamber years with giving her the tools to start her own business: mentorship from members of the community; hearing the successes, failures and challenges of small-business owners; and taking to heart the idea of partnering.

Now that she’s on the other side, she remains active with both the Everett chamber — she’s on the Board of Directors there — and the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce.

The past few months have been a whirlwind of activity, but Hales said she is enjoying being a business owner, especially when that business deals with opening the world of art to others.

For more information, call 425-774-WELL (9355); send e-mail to jean@artisanswell.com; or visit the store’s Web site, www.artisanswell.com.

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Lanie McMullin
As director of the Everett Film Office, Lanie McMullin’s the one on call when visiting film companies want a tour of the city, film crews need help on location shooting or news media want interviews about television and movie activity in town — such as when “The Fugitive” television series was being filmed over the past several months and a Seattle movie company was shooting in the Monte Cristo Hotel.

With the present lull in movie work in the city, and her attendance at the Film Expo in Los Angeles past, McMullin has been able to return to her other full-time work as Executive Director of Everett’s Performing Arts Center.

But, then, there’s also her growing role as a leader in economic development for the city, such as working with the Snohomish County Economic Development Council to represent Everett at the Biotech Expo in San Diego and helping the city pursue development of a downtown sports arena.

“It’s good to understand our recruitment of films in context,” she said. “It’s just one part of the city’s economic development effort, trying to recruit businesses that are clean, quiet, good to our environment and have the greatest economic impact and the least drain on services. The film industry is all of those things.”

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Laura Brent
After 21 years in land-use planning — 11 of those as Vice President and partner at Everett-based Shockey Brent Inc. — Laura Brent still finds the field an exciting one.

“We never have a project that doesn’t have something different about it or something unusual, something where you have to come up with a creative solution,” the Mukilteo resident said. “And we never have a project that goes easy — it just doesn’t happen in today’s environment.”

It’s an environment that includes ever-evolving regulations, including the Growth Management Act and other environmental laws.

“A lot of my clients are public agencies, so I do a lot of schools,” said Brent, who holds a bachelor’s degree in urban planning from the University of Washington. The Growth Management Act, has “been particularly difficult for school districts in terms of finding sites that they can build on, or if you’re a district that is more rural in nature, being able to build where your service area is.”

But working with schools, helping them through the planning and permit process, is a “passion,” she said, because “I believe in what they’re trying to do in terms of their facilities.”

Along with a career that keeps her on her toes, Brent’s other “passions” include her family and her community.

She twice has been on the Board of Directors for the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce and currently is Vice President of the Providence Hospice and Home Care board. She also wants to establish a local chapter of the Million Mom March, an organization working for the “adoption of sensible gun laws,” according to the group’s Web site.

Brent tried to set up such a chapter last year, but not enough people showed up at meetings.

“I hope to take that effort back up, because I ... feel real strong about that,” she said.

For more information on Shockey Brent, call 425-258-9308 or send e-mail to shockeybrent@shockeybrent.com.

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Kay Scheller
“There’s nothing slow about my life,” longtime Mukilteo resident and business woman Kay Scheller said.

As the owner of The Hogland House Bed & Breakfast, Scheller is in charge of reservations for overnight stays as well as wedding parties; she takes care of the bookkeeping; and she always prepares a “full breakfast” for her guests.

And it has been that way since Scheller opened the B&B back in 1993, after inheriting the house following her mother’s death in 1987.

“I just think it’s a shame to have anything of this stature and not share it with people,” Scheller said about the 4,700-square-foot house that was built in 1906 and placed on the Mukilteo Register of Historic Places in 1992.

The house, once used as the setting for an episode of "The Fugitive" television series, sits atop 5 acres overlooking Puget Sound.

Also on the property is a newly renovated cabin — “popular as a honeymoon cottage,” she said.

About six years ago, Scheller put up a Web site for the B&B, and she estimates that as much as three-fourths of her business comes from the Internet, noting guests coming from as far away as Austria, China and Japan.

But running a B&B is only part of Scheller’s business holdings. She also owns more than 20 rental properties in Snohomish County, including homes in south Everett and Lake Stevens, as well as apartments in Arlington.

It’s a market she entered about 20 years ago after attending some seminars on the subject.

“It just seemed like real estate really would keep you going and make you successful,” Scheller said.

But over the years, it’s the interaction with people that has come to mean a lot to Scheller, be it the guests who come to stay at the B&B, the “terrific tenants” or the “good repair people that you can count on.”

For more information on The Hogland House, call 888-681-5101 or visit the B&B’s Web site, www.hoglandhouse.com.

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Sandy Nichols
It’s an “interesting” time to be in the travel industry, said Sandy Nichols, owner of First Travel and Cruise (formerly Doug Fox Travel) in downtown Everett.

Nowadays, you can book airline tickets, make hotel reservations and even rent cars online.

“But people still want personal service when they’re planning a trip,” said Nichols who, with former partner Judy Baker, opened the travel agency on Colby Avenue 18 years ago.

And that’s what Nichols and her staff of 10 provide.

The agents, who specialize in vacation travel, take trips throughout the year, inspecting hotels and cruise ships around the globe, looking for the best deals and crossing off resorts that don’t pass muster. And thanks to the Internet, Nichols has been able to focus more of her energy on creating vacation packages.

“Three years ago, my business was 50 percent airline (tickets) and 50 percent tours, cruises and travel, and I’m now 20 percent airline tickets” and 80 percent tours, cruises and travel, said Nichols, who received travel-industry training from the Doug Fox Institute. “So there has been no loss in revenue; it’s just been a different percentage. It’s been very interesting.”

Recently, Nichols started specializing in trips for sports groups, setting up packages that include travel, hotel and recreational accommodations. It has proven to be a success, helping the agency to achieve 10 percent revenue growth over the past few years.

Next up, Nichols plans to develop more adventure-destination packages “for people who are really active.” She also plans on continuing her involvement with the Arts Council of Snohomish County, the YMCA, youth soccer and the Port Gardner Rotary.

And sometime in between she’ll make sure to take a vacation.

For more information on First Travel and Cruise, call 425-339-1533, send e-mail to info@firsttravelandcruise.com or visit the agency’s Web site, www.firsttravelandcruise.com.

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Carol Wilber-Edwards
When Carol Wilber-Edwards was a young girl, she learned about the “business side” of business — costs, revenues, profit margins and the like — from her father, Malcolm “Mac” Wooldridge, who started an RV park in the San Francisco area.

“He’d take me to the bank with him. He’d take me ... to meet with suppliers. ... I just always thought it was so interesting to see that side of business,” said Wilber-Edwards, who took those childhood memories, invested in some education and started a career.

Now, with 25 years of experience in the banking industry, Wilber-Edwards, a Vice President of Business Banking at KeyBank, gets a thrill watching companies flourish thanks to sound financial planning and assistance, be it in loans, cash management or investments.

“Every day I want to meet a new business and help a new business in the county,” said Wilber-Edwards, who joined KeyBank’s Everett Business Banking Center in December after years of working in the bank’s Seattle office. “Every day I make a call to a business that I don’t know and try and get an appointment to get out and see them ... and see if there’s a way that we can help them to grow their business and become more successful. And that’s the fun part.”

The Lake Stevens resident said she sees a lot of opportunity in Snohomish County, one of the reasons she lobbied KeyBank to install a business banker in the area.

“There are so many businesses here in this county, and there are so many new ones coming in all the time that need and want to grow. ... It’s exciting,” she said.

To reach Wilber-Edwards, call 425-258-1990.

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Shirley Philabaum
When Starbucks came out with Frappuccino, Shirley Philabaum and her husband, Dan, went into action — and into the kitchen.

That was early 1997, and the Philabaums, then owners of the Espresso Depot in Snohomish, wanted to create a blended-ice drink for their own shop “that was healthy and ... that would bring out the full body of a fresh shot of espresso,” Shirley Philabaum said.

Four months of experimenting led to Yoguccino, a nonfat mixture featuring live yogurt culture, which gives it “a very neutral base,” allowing the flavor of espresso, flavored syrups and fresh fruit to come through in a rich, creamy blended-ice drink, Philabaum said.

And since Yoguccino’s creation, Philabaum, formerly a banker who specialized in new-business development, has sold the coffee shop to focus her energies exclusively on marketing the product and growing the business with her husband.

So far, the results have been gratifying.

Yoguccino now is distributed locally to coffee retailers, sold nationally to specialty-food distributors and can be found in Nordstrom espresso bars in Washington, Oregon and some stores in California, Philabaum said, adding that the mix is now made offsite “in a manufacturing facility in the Northwest.”

“The growth trend for blended-ice drinks is extremely strong,” Philabaum said. “As the consumer gets more and more educated, their preference would be to customize their drinks.”

And she thanks Starbucks, in part, for her growing business.

“Starbucks can afford to go into regions, ... educate the consumer, and then the specialty, independent coffee shops can arrive behind that,” Philabaum said. “And that is our market: an upscale, specialty coffeehouse.”

For more information on Yoguccino, call 360-568-0188, send e-mail to yog@gte.net or visit the company’s Web site, www.yoguccino.com.

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Dottie Piasecki
Ask Dottie Piasecki what she does as Executive Director of the Providence General Foundation, and you’ll get a few moments of silent contemplation before you get an answer.

That’s because as head of the fund-raising entity for Providence Everett Medical Center, Piasecki juggles many jobs, from fund development, strategic planning and administration to working closely with the boards of the foundation and the hospital as well as the people in the community.

Then there are her other responsibilities, which include being “visionary” where the foundation’s future is concerned.

But when she signed on more than eight years ago, she saw the position as an inviting challenge.

“I know the community well and felt I could be of help in this position and move the organization forward,” the Everett native said.

And she has.

With her staff of four and the help of “wonderful volunteers,” Piasecki has executed successful fund development programs and special events such as the Festival of Trees and the Epicurean Affair. A new event, the Women’s Wellness Luncheon, is scheduled for this fall.

For the past year, the foundation has taken on one of the largest projects in the hospital’s recent history: funding for the Women’s and Children’s Pavilion, which is scheduled to open in February.

“We have a goal of $7.6 million,” said Piasecki, adding that nearly $3 million has been raised already, with support coming from members of the foundation and medical-center boards as well as some lead gifts from trusts and other foundations.

“The difference between medical excellence and mediocrity is philanthropy,” Piasecki said.

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Kay Hannah
As Vice President of Human Resources and Facilities at SonoSite Inc., Kay Hannah finds her job to be “rewarding.”

“The word seems trite, to me, to say it,” Hannah said, “but when you’ve realized you’ve played a part in creating a device that a doctor uses to save a life or drastically improve a person’s life ... I just find it rewarding.”

And though Hannah doesn’t develop the Bothell-based company’s hand-held ultrasound devices, she is in charge of recruiting quality people to get the job done and keeping them with a competitive benefits package, not to mention training programs.

And even with a slowing economy, that can be a challenge.

“In the Puget Sound area, we’ve had such low unemployment and a high demand for high-tech workers; there’s a lot of pent-up demand,” said Hannah, who is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources.

Being the “people and places person” for a company with more than 200 employees worldwide wasn’t always what Hannah wanted to do.

When she attended school at the University of Nebraska, it was to get a degree in education. But then she started her family and in 1989 moved to the Pacific Northwest, “the hotbed of high tech,” where she became enamored of the working atmosphere at start-ups, where employees were encouraged to “take things on as needed.”

Hannah did, taking on human resources tasks and finding her niche in the process: first at telecommunications companies and then at InControl Inc., a Redmond-based company that developed implantable atrial defibrillators.

It was at InControl that Hannah discovered the rewards of working in biotech, the rewards she continues to receive at SonoSite, where testimonials come in from people who have been helped by the company’s products.

“My contribution here contributes to the quality of life for people,” she said.

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Terry Preshaw
Everett immigration attorney Terry Preshaw helps Canadian businesses set up enterprises in the United States, including guiding them through American statutes governing Canadian employees.

She loves not only her work but also using the new technologies she has blended into her business: computers, the Internet and a Sony DCR-PC110 digital camcorder.

She uses the digital camera to document her clients’ business activities, part of the information required by government agencies, and also to update her Web site, www.ilw.com/preshawzisman.

Preshaw has passed bar exams in Colorado, Washington and British Columbia. She works in Everett but commutes to Vancouver, British Columbia, frequently.

The Internet provides her with the latest information on immigration laws by tapping into the Web site of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

“I have two typical types of clients,” Preshaw said. “Businesses that want to expand into the U.S. and professionals who want to accept a job offer in the U.S. and need guidance. I believe Snohomish County will become increasingly attractive to these types of companies as they become more familiar with the reality of commuting.”

Many Canadian business and professional people already have homes and families in Canada and travel back and forth, she said.

“I’ve been working with Deborah Knudson and the Snohomish County Economic Development Council to raise the profile of Snohomish County, and Everett in particular, so we’ve been getting more inquiries about setting up a Canadian business in Snohomish County than a year ago,” Preshaw said.

To contact Preshaw, call 425-259-1807.

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