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Creativity in the workplace Modern Postcard employee creates art from recyclable products
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vol. 29, no. 2
Journal
Theme park unveils additions for 2012
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an award-winning, monthly publication of the carlsbad chamber of commerce
FEBRUary 2012
(Photo by Brian Meagher.)
Military mentoring program off to fast start By José A. López Editor Carlsbad Business Journal
Boots in Business, the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce’s Military Mentoring Initiative, has hit the ground running, and is already placing active service members based out of Camp Pendleton into local businesses for job shadowing and mentoring. After launching in November, the program has attracted more than 30 participating businesses, willing to open their doors to spend time mentoring active servicemembers, allowing them to see what it’s actually like to be in the civilian workforce. One of the program's participants was Matthew Goodacre, a 25-year-old radio operator that is leaving the Marines in April after serving for nearly eight years. Goodacre spent several days over the course of a week shadowing and talking to employees at Air Products and Chemicals, AT&T, Datron World Communications and the La Costa Resort and Spa. Goodacre, who will be returning to his hometown in Wisconsin, plans to study Information Technology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwuakee with the hopes of pursuing a career in computer security. Goodacre said he decided to participate in Boots in Business because he
SEE MILITARY, Page 14
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Boots in Business participant Matthew Goodacre (in blue) pictured with, from left, Datron World Communications employees Benny Bajoyo, Skip Catching and Paul Wilson.
Jazzercise opened its studio space, pictured above, to New Village Arts Theatre for five years, allowing the then-fledgeling company to find its identity.
At the Jazzercise building, NVA staged "The Playboy of the Western World," featuring, from left, Monique Fleming, Joshua Everett Johnson, Grace Delaney, Rachael VanWormer and Aurora Brito.
A TALE OF TWO PASSIONS How Jazzercise HELPED New Village Arts REACH THEATRICAL EXCELLENCE
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By José A. López | Editor, Carlsbad Business Journal
ne is a well-known international company, a leader in the fitness industry whose winning formula of combining jazz dance with elements of resistance training, yoga, cardio boxing and Pilates has helped countless people stay fit and healthy since 1969. The other is a small professional theater company that came on the scene about a decade ago and quickly became a critic’s darling, gaining a reputation for staging thought-provoking and adventurous plays with a focus on strong ensemble work. From the outside, one would be hardpressed to find much to link Jazzercise to New Village Arts Theatre (NVA). In truth, however, New Village Arts owes much to Jazzercise. For five years, before landing its home in the Village of Carlsbad, NVA called a portion of Jazzercise’s corporate headquarters in Carlsbad home. During that time, the studio space that Jazzercise staff use to record the routines they send to their instructors and promotional video shoots became a theater, capable of seating up to 80 people. In that nontraditional setting, NVA staged several criticallyacclaimed productions, including Sam Shepard’s “A Lie of the Mind,” and Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters.”
Kristianne Kurner, NVA’s executive artistic director, said the time was invaluable to the then young theater company. Not having to worry about paying rent, utility bills and the other overhead costs associated with operating its own theater, New Village Arts was able to focus on its productions and on finding its theatrical identity, Kurner said. Jazzercise served, in a way, as an incubator for New Villarge Arts. “In those five years, we were able to build support for what we were doing and build up our patron base,” Kurner said. “When Jazzercise President we moved, we were already established.” Shanna Missett Nelson Kurner and her ex-husband, both graduates of New York’s Actors Studio Drama School, founded New Village Arts in 2001. Their first full production was held in the Granary in Magee Park. The theater group also held regular workshops at the Granary. When they were about to lose their space because it was going to be renovated, one of the students in the workshop suggested they approach Jazzercise about the space. That person was Jack Missett, husband of Jazzercise founder and CEO Judi Sheppard Missett. Jack Missett, a former television news reporter who has been active in the theater scene in San Diego and Orange County for many years, said he made no promises to the young theater group. “I told them right away that just because my wife and I own
SEE PASSIONS, Page 14
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
InXpress relieves shipping headaches Jenny runs an Internet-based business and ships products to customers all over the world. She’s frustrated because her packages often get held up in customs, annoying her customers. Rich ships five to 10 pallets per week all over the United States and experience tells him that at least one shipment a week gets re-classified by the carrier, resulting in increased costs. Furthermore, his shipments are periodically late by a day or two, which makes a lot of people angry. Rich, too, is frustrated. Talk to any business who ships and you’ll quickly find that Rich and Jenny, our fictitious and frustrated shippers, are more real than you think. Enter InXpress, experts in international small
Francisco Checa, from left, and Chris Lopez of InXpress. parcel and domestic LTL (less than truckload) shipping. “Our focus is on relieving the migraine headaches associated with shipping,” says Chris
Lopez, local owner of InXpress, a veteran-owned freight consulting franchise based out of Carlsbad and headquartered in Sandy, Utah. “We offer unique
shipping solutions that put time back in our customers’ day and money back in the till.” In our weakened economy, companies are stuck doing more with less and in many cases struggling just to keep the lights on. These businesses don’t have time to waste on becoming experts in shipping and logistics, said Lopez. “Our goal is to make them more profitable and that happens through training, streamlining processes and implementing a more cost effective strategy,” Lopez added. InXpress can be found in nine countries and has developed strategic and worldwide alliances
SEE INXPRESS, Page 14