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Shooting Stars
Eight businessmen and -women making their mark on the Connecticut economy
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Business New Haven
4/3/2000
By: Linda G. Mele
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There are 120,000 small businesses in Connecticut, and female-owned small-business startups for the first time now outnumber their male-owned counterparts.
And by no means are they all dot.coms or biotechs. The Nutmeg State's resurgent economy has created new opportunities for enterprising men and women with a dream - and the brains and gumption to make that dream real.
Business New Haven spoke with dozens of business leaders and entrepreneurs throughout the south-central region in search of new names and faces making an impact on the business playing field of the new century. What follows are brief profiles of some of the names mentioned most frequently.
They come from diverse fields of endeavor, but all share a common principle of success: Dare to dream, and follow your dream.
And, as Zane's Cycles founder Christopher Zane puts it, the most successful entrepreneurs do “whatever it take” to make their ideas work in the real worlds.
Here are their stories.
Name: Lloyd Parchment
Title: President
Company: Jamaican Gourmet Coffee Co., 585 Washington Ave., North
Haven
No. employees: 12
Web site: www.jamaicancoffeeco.com
Age: 49
Education: Attended University of New Haven for two years
Best movie seen this year: Waking Ned Divine - “It was a true story and it was funny.”
Outside interests: Fitness, running, antiques
Lloyd Parchment founded the Jamaican Gourmet Coffee Co. in 1981 after growing up on a family-owned plantation. “I brought my love and knowledge of the business to the U.S. and started my own company,” he explains.
His star rises as his business grows, at a rate of about 20 percent annually on the retail side. The number of wholesale customers has likewise doubled from 300 to 600 since Parchment moved the business to North Haven six years ago, he says.
As well, “We're just about to sign an agreement with a large chain store,” Parchment says.
The entrepreneur attributes his success to “hard work, honesty and offering a quality product.” He urges would-be entrepreneurs to “be a hands-on person.
“You should listen to your employees and their suggestions, too,” Parchment says, “and set your own priorities and follow them.”
Asked if he would choose the same career path if he had to do it all over again, Parchment answers with an emphatic “Yes!”
Name: Alice Chaves Ferreira
Title: Public affairs officer
Business: PHS Health Plans, 1 Far Mill Crossing, Shelton
No. employees: 1,800
Web site: www.phshealthplans.com
Age: 30
Education: Sacred Heart University, B.S., 1991; public relations certification, New York University, 1997
Best movie seen this year: American Beauty - “It made you think about what you want to accomplish in life. Life is too short not to enjoy.”
Outside interests: Opera, reading, making the perfect flan, developing a family Web site
“I chose PR as a career because some of the traits needed for success - consensus-building, public speaking and strategic thinking - were things I enjoy,” says PHS' Alice Chaves Ferreira. “I really believe you need to be passionate about what you do in order to be successful.”
Now a subsidiary of the California-based Foundation Health Systems, PHS, Ferreira says, generates about $2 billion in annual revenues.
A good PR person is one who knows “what keeps the CEO up at night,” she says.
“It should be the top priority,” she says, “along with being good at 'situational awareness' - accessing the environment and people in a situation and helping them communicating effectively.'
Ferreira arrived at PHS six years ago as “sort of a PR coordinator,” and her star has risen steadily since Day One.
Ferreira's advice to others seeking career success is to “think strategically - look at the big picture.
“We channel our resources and energy into the most critical issues facing the company,” Ferreira says, “rather than those that don't meet the company's goals and objectives.”
Ferreira says she would choose the same career path if she had it to do all over again. “As the chief spokesperson for a corporation, you are the company whether you're at a business breakfast, grocery store checkout line or at the doctor's office,” Ferreira says.
Name: Kimberly Ann Kasparian
Title: Principal
Company: Imagine...Solutions for Success, Bridgeport
No. employees: 1
Web site: None
Age: 32
Education: Attended Sacred Heart University
Best movie seen this year: None
Outside interests: Performs with dance ensemble, travel
Kimberly Ann Kasparian, who describes herself as an entrepreneurial corporate business coach and marketing/sales trainer, attributes her success to her belief system, her imagination and a positive attitude.
“I've been told by experts that the business I've generated in only six months normally takes three to five years to develop,” she says.
“I'm walking into major corporations and they're listening to me. They think my approach is fresh and different.”
Kasparian's advice to those who are thinking about starting their own business is simple: Believe in yourself and your dream.
“Be open to the possibilities and follow your heart,” Kasparian says. “Get to know who you are and refuse to settle for less than what you believe to be true.”
Kasparian estimates her business, which she founded last July following a layoff, will gross $150,000 this year.
“My friends encouraged me to live my dream,” Kasparian says, “and a friend challenged me to make my desire to help others into a real business.
“I chose this because of my desire to empower individuals through inspiration, motivation and education to help them define their own meaning of success,” she adds.
“My job is to provide them with the tools to achieve their success,” she
adds.
“Today I'm doing what I do best - empowering others to do their best,” says Kasparian. “And I'd do it again.”
Name: Pat McCarthy
Title: Principal
Company: The Original Basket Case, 167 Cherry Street, Milford
No. employees: 1 (“Plus the invaluable help and support of priceless friends who believe in me”)
Web site: www.originalbasketcase.com
Age: 43
Education: Courses at the University of New Haven and
Mattatuck Community College
Best movie seen this year: “I'll reserve judgment at this time”
Outside interests: “Family is always a priority”; so are numerous business-related organizations. McCarthy founded the Women's Group to provide support for entrepreneurial women
Pat McCarthy says the distinctiveness of her business, which creates gift baskets, as well as networking and constant visibility contributes to her success. “The quality of the product and the trend toward personalization in gift-giving helps, too,” she adds.
Her new life as an entrepreneur follows a successful 20-year career in medical marketing, most recently for several rehabilitation facilities. While still working full-time, she started and ran several part-time businesses for about five years before leaving them all behind to strike out on her own.
Starting from zero, she built her client base to more than 100 corporate accounts and a like number of individual customers, which provides her with a full-time income.
Her personal success is the result of “unyielding persistence, a positive attitude, a belief in myself, the gift of creativity and a hunger to be the best I can,” she explains.
“As a frustrated entrepreneur, I was always trying to figure out how to start a unique business on a shoestring,” she recalls, “and finally decided to use my interest in painting, crafts and decorating to provide corporate and personal gift baskets using specialty items and gourmet foods.
“If I had it to do over, I would definitely choose this as a career. Though exhausting at times, it's mine. It's positive, it makes people happy and it's original. The added advantages are that it allows me to be there for my family and it's shown my daughters that success is self-made,” McCarthy says.
Her advice to other budding entrepreneurs is to “get involved.”
Specifically, “Get involved with your local chamber of commerce and your community, network, ask lots of questions, do your research and know your market and your competition,” McCarthy says.
Also, “Find a mentor who is successful and pattern yourself after her,” she adds. Someone like McCarthy, perhaps.
Name: Nicole Fitzgerald
Title: Principal
Company: iDesign, Seymour
No. employees: 1
Web site: None
Age: 30
Education: 1992 graduate, Paier College of Art. Also, coursework at Sacred Heart University and the Connecticut Institute of Art
Best movie seen this year: None
Outside interests: Target shooting, collecting black-and-white photography
A freelance graphic designer, Nicole Fitzgerald started her business in 1998 after grappling with - and finally surrendering to - a desire to quit the corporate rat race and change the way she worked.
“This was something that I thought I would never do,” Fitzgerald says. “I thought I would keep working as a creative director for an advertising agency forever. But my will to work from home became so strong I was determined to make it work.”
So she did.
“I had a strong desire to stay home with my daughter and [any] future children,” says Fitzgerald, who's expecting her second child in June, “and the support from my family convinced me I could make it happen.”
Fitzgerald began her career in a small print shop, moved to a service bureau as art director and them to an ad agency as creative director before setting off on her own.
In two years she has doubled the number of clients she works with - and doubled her revenues as well. That led to her being named a “rising star” by the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Fitzgerald attributes her success to her strong desire to make things in
her business life work to fit her private life.
“You never know what you can do until you really put your mind to it,” Fitzgerald says.
If she had it to do over again, Fitzgerald says she definitely would make the leap - and probably would do it sooner.
Her words of wisdom to others who are climbing that ladder of success? “Persistence really pays off,” Fitzgerald says.
Name: Christopher Zane
Title: Principal
Company: Zane's Cycles Inc., 105 North Main Street, Branford
No. employees: Approximately 30 full-time; 10 part-time
Web site: www.zanes.com
Age: 35
Education: Attended Quinnipiac College
Best movie seen this year: The Hurricane - “Even though the story was
polished and glamorized for the big screen,” Zane says, “the message that
perseverance and tenacity can overcome injustice and human shortcomings is very heart-warming for entrepreneurs who need to believe good people win over bad.”
Outside interests: Auto racing, golf, Tae Kwon Do
Chris Zane founded Zane's Cycles in 1981. He was 16 years old.
“I started as a bike mechanic and would still rather be turning a wrench than doing payroll or returning phone calls,” Zane says.
“Would I do it all over again? Twenty years ago when I started, I never thought in my wildest dreams that Zane's Cycles would become this successful, fun, interesting, rewarding or respected,” Zane says.
“Would I be willing to work this hard again? Certainly!” he adds.
In Zane's case, the hard work continues to pay off. Last year Zane's earned the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative for the state of Connecticut, while North American Bicyclists magazine named Zane's Bicycle Shop of the Year for 1999.
Buzz is good, but it's built on a foundation of real dollars and cents. Zane says sales have grown at least 35 percent each year. In 1999, revenues were up 50 percent over the year before.
One of the area's best-known entrepreneurs, Zane attributes his success to understanding human nature and the development and implementation of programs that benefit his customers first, and his business second. Luckily for him, he says, many of his competitors do just the opposite.
His advice to other entrepreneurs is that one must be willing “to do whatever it takes” to get the job done.
“Every successful entrepreneur I know has the same attitude,” Zane says. “Whether it's unloading a truck in the rain, jumping up and down in the dumpster to make more room or getting up in front of 1,000 people at a business conference to talk about how your business is unique, you need to do whatever it takes.”
Name: Denise Rawles-Smith
Title: Manager, Employee Recognition & Community Affairs
Company: Pitney Bowes Finance Services, 27 Waterview Drive, Shelton
Web site: www.pitneybowes.com/fin_serv/index.html
Age: 44
Education: B.A. (Education) Clark College, Atlanta, Ga., 1977
Best movie seen this year: The Hurricane - “Denzel Washington is one of my favorite actors. First of all, it was wonderful to see three Canadians recognize the potential of a young African-American and fight so desperately to help his achieve his goals. They reached out to help another human being - and never gave any thought to race, color or creed.”
Outside interests: Reading, volunteering
Denise Rawles-Smith doesn't measure success by her position or the amount of money she makes, but by who she is as a person and her beliefs.
“I attribute my success, first of all, to my faith in God,” she explains.
Rawles-Smith grew up in “a wonderful family, a loving community and the church,” which collectively gave her “the love, confidence and inspiration to reach my goals and get through all the difficult times.”
Twenty years after joining Pitney Bowes, Rawles-Smith's star continues on the ascendant. In 1992 she earned the Walter H. Wheeler award - the company's highest honor - for contributing to the community and training employees. More recently, on March 23 she received the Black Achievers in Industry honor from the Harlem (N.Y.) YMCA.
Rawles-Smith says she would choose the same career path again if she had to. “I am grateful that Pitney Bowes afforded me the opportunity to do what I love best,” she says, adding that the company always “encouraged and inspired” her to do more.
Rawles-Smith's advice to others is simple: “Remember that the same ladder of success that you climbed up can always come down.
“Be hungry for knowledge, seek opportunities and turn them into successes,” she says. “And take advantage of training opportunities.
“Be willing to make sacrifices and go the extra mile and identify and seek out a mentor who will be a positive influence in your life,” she adds.
“Set principles and goals and be appreciative of those who helped and made sacrifices for you to get to where you are,” Rawles-Smith says.
“And, last but not least, always remember to give back to others.”
Name: Kathleen (Kate) McNichols-Marks
Title: Principal
Company: Marks of Design, 500D Howe Avenue, Shelton
Web site: None
Age: 33
Education: B.F.A. (Metalsmithing), State University of New York/New Paltz; completing studies in gemology from Gemologists Institute of
America
Best movie seen this year: Life Is Beautiful - “It was an extremely thought-provoking movie about love of one's family and the protection of such in a Nazi war camp.”
Outside interests: Creating. “Goldsmithing is my true love, but I like
rallying my family to do fun, creative things.”
Although her retail shop has been open less than six months, McNichols-Marks has worked out of her home studio for ten of the past 15 years that she worked full-time during the day for other establishments, always striving for the ultimate goal: a business to call her own.
“Even if it seems unrealistic at the time, strive for the ultimate goal,” is what she says she would advise others.
“Those baby steps are most important in setting yourself up for the future,” McNichols-Marks says.
While she's been a metalsmith for years, now she's received the recognition her efforts merit. McNichols-Marks earned the 1999 Vision Award from the American Pearl Co. for the beauty of a ring she designed. And sales, she notes, have quadrupled since shortly after opening her shop.
She says she is inspired by this George Washington Carver quote she keeps framed in the store: “When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”
Always an artist, McNichols-Marks' interest in metalsmithing was born when she took a class in college because she needed another credit. “It was the path I never knew would fulfill my creative needs,” she says. “I loved the touch and the tools.”
McNichols-Marks says she doesn't regret any of the career choices she's made “because the bad choices only make us stronger individuals.”
“The bad times really do bite, and there were times I wanted to forget it or just table it,” she says.
Her success, she says, flows from the “never-ending support of family - and a sheer desire to reach a goal.”
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