WOMEN
IN BUSINESS
Friday, March 24, 2017
Inspired by family, mentors, Lisa Long achieves career Jennifer Best CON TR IBU TING W R ITE R
‘With family support, you can do something at one stage in your life, and then do something equally great at another stage’
Len Wood, Staff
Lisa Long is the Deputy Controller for the Central Coast Water Authority. She is shown in her Buellton office. While raising her family and working for the City of Santa Maria, she earned her bachelor and master’s degrees. She is immediate past president of Rotary Club of Santa Maria.
Lisa Long spent most of her adult life raising children. Today, she is the deputy controller for the Central Coast Water Authority and two classes and one thesis away from earning her master’s degree. “With family support, you can do something at one stage in your life, and then do something equally great at another stage,” Long said. Long, who lives in Orcutt, didn’t start working toward her associate’s degree until her own children had reached school age. “At that point, I never thought I’d have a college education. It turns out that, with family support, applying yourself and a crazy amount of work, you can get a lot done,” she said. While serving family, she also began serving the community. She volunteered as a women’s Bible study leader at First Christian Church in Santa Maria. She got involved with a group of women who traveled annually to Pattaya, Thailand to volunteer at Tamar Center, which provides job-skills training for prostitutes leaving the streets. There, Long and other members of her Team America spoke about their life choices, jobs, careers of women they knew. She had part-time jobs here and there, she said, but nothing that could lead to a career or provided retirement benefits. By 2008, her own children largely self sufficient, Long returned to full-time work. At Comcast, her general manager, Christina Villanueva, encouraged Long to continue her education. “If it hadn’t been for the encouragement of a great, woman manager who helped me see my potential, I wouldn’t have gone on to get my bachelor’s degree, and because of that degree, PLEASE SEE LONG, Page A8
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Michelle Shipman started her real estate career from scratch Jennifer Best
CO NT R I B UT I NG W R I T E R
Len Wood, Staff
Michelle Shipman is the founder and CEO of Searchlight Properties in Santa Maria.
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| Friday, March 24, 2017 | Lee Central Coast Newspapers
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Part counselor, part educator, part inspirational speaker, Michelle Shipman is becoming a professional force to be reckoned with. The founder and chief executive officer of Searchlight Properties in Orcutt has grown the business into a full-service, residential and commercial real estate brokerage and property management company. “I’ve worked diligently on investing in working through and past the limiting beliefs, the challenges, all those things we still tell ourselves about what we can and cannot do, that we’re not good enough,” Shipman said. She challenges herself and her staff to further their education, empower themselves, and to take charge of their careers and their lives. “If we can train ourselves to take our power back, we don’t have to feel badly about having a feeling or wanting a certain thing. It’s crazy, this dysfunction. We’re all taught to squash our dreams, put them under the bed, ‘you’re crazy,’ ‘success only happens to special people.’ That’s all fear-based and no reflection of our abilities. We have to put it out there,” Shipman said. After an early career as an executive assistant, earning her bachelor’s degree, moving cross country and back to keep the family together through her husband’s job transfers, Shipman re-entered the workplace as a part-time marketing
‘We were at the bottom of the bottom of the real estate market in the worst economic crisis of our time, and there I was, doing the craziest thing’ assistant for the City of Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department. She moved to Comcast where she ran the marketing department, purchasing real estate on the side, until her position was eliminated along with 30 other marketing positions throughout the state. “Real estate was always a passion of mine that wouldn’t go away, but it seemed like such a lowly job. It wasn’t that executive position that I always thought I wanted. But I had to trust God. I believe this was always there,” Shipman said. Twenty-seven days after leaving Comcast, she passed the brokerage exam, and five weeks later, in March 2010, she hung her shingle. “We were at the bottom of the bottom of the real estate market in the worst economic crisis of our time, and there I was, doing the craziest thing,” Shipman said. Making a name for herself in Santa Maria Valley was a challenge. She was young, a woman, and an outsider. But, she says, she prayed, and she got involved in the community. She joined Santa Maria Women’s Network where she served on the board for five years, two as president. “It was a great introduction to leadership for me, having to get in front of the group and blow past my fear of ‘I suck at this. How did this happen
to me?’ It was the beginning of taking bigger steps,” Shipman said. She joined Santa Maria Noontime Rotary, and now encourages her employees to join service organizations. “There’s not really a shortcut to improving your confidence, but by doing the things that are difficult and scary, taking that board position, you’re doing that hard work,” Shipman said. Finding employees with similar hunger for knowledge has been key to her business’s success. “When we feel valued as employees, content and happy at work, we’re willing to give our all. When everyone in the office is in that same mindset, it makes us all want to grow,” Shipman said. Now, she puts it out there: all her dreams, her plans, her desires. “My big, hairy, audacious goal is to have offices throughout California with the same philosophy, employees that believe and want the same things for their own lives, and through this medium which just happens to be real estate. I don’t know how long it will take, but it will unravel in its proper time. Everything happens in its perfect timing,” Shipman said. Jennifer Best can be reached at jbest@bestfamilyadventures.com.
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Terri Lee Coleman balances career with giving back Jennifer Best CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Jennifer Best can be reached at jbest@bestfamilyadventures.com.
Len Wood, Staff
Terri Lee Coleman is among the busiest volunteers in the Santa Maria Valley. In addition to her professional role at her alma mater, Hancock College, she serves on the Santa Maria Police Council Board, Leadership Santa Maria Valley Alumni Association, is a member of California Women for Agriculture, the Rotary Club of Santa Maria and Pacific Christian Center. She also spent 20 years as a board member at Santa Maria Valley YMCA.
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gave me a hand, and it’s an opportunity to give back,” Coleman said. Coleman moved to Santa Maria when she was 8 years old. She attended Fairlawn Elementary, El Camino Junior High and Santa Maria High schools before heading to Hancock College, from which she is a proud graduate. As a single parent, she got involved in the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Maria. “My kids are products of the Boys & Girls Club, so I’ve remained involved with them,” she said. It was her son, Manny Martinez, who inspired Coleman to become involved in the Santa Maria Police Council. For half a dozen years, he served as an Explorer Scout at the department. Coleman stayed on with the council, a nonprofit which serves to provide safety materials and equipment for the city’s police officers. Since the council was established in 2007, more than $525,000 has been donated to meet unbudgeted needs. Some items funded through the council have included an armored vehicle, training weapons, crime lab equipment, canine unit and related training, patches for the Explorer program, state-of-the-art property and evidence
systems, and tasers for every officer. “A lot of people keep their professional life and their volunteer life separate. That’s a struggle. Their home life is their home life. Their work life is their work life. I’m a different breed,” Coleman said. She includes her children and grandchildren in community activities as well. “We can give back at the same time as spending time together. With the grandkids being small, it’s meaningful to them to be involved and to see how much it means to people to help out. It’s a good message to share with them, that community service is important,” Coleman said. Her husband of 15 years, Doug Coleman, seems to understand after dedicating his own career to public service. He was Santa Maria Police Department’s crime lab supervisor until his retirement in 2008. Both of her children also have entered careers of service. Her daughter, April Soto, went into nursing. Martinez is a lieutenant with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Soto is raising her own four small children, and Martinez serves as a big brother in Big Brothers/Big Sisters. “You don’t set out to teach kids to serve. You show through example. That’s all my kids have known: to serve others,” Coleman said.
Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Friday, March 24, 2017 |
It might be said that Terri Lee Coleman is a child-led volunteer — as one of the busiest volunteers in Santa Maria Valley she demonstrates the balance of maintaining a professional career with conducting the busy life of volunteer service. “Ultimately, I’m perfectly content spending my time and energy focusing on making Santa Maria a better community. I thoroughly enjoy being involved in the community,” said Coleman, advancement specialist at her alma mater, Allan Hancock College. In addition to her professional role seeking out grants and other resources for college students and programs, Coleman serves on the Santa Maria Police Council Board, Leadership Santa Maria Valley Alumni Association, Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Maria Valley, and is a member of California Women for Agriculture, Rotary Club of Santa Maria, and Pacific Christian Center. She also spent 20 hears on the board at Santa Maria YMCA. In October, California State Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian awarded Coleman the 2016 Community Impact Award for the 35th Assembly District. She was among only two people honored among the nearly half a million to choose from in the twocounty district. “When I was younger, there were people who
‘You don’t set out to teach kids to serve. You show through example.’
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Laurie Tamura has made urban planning her passion Jennifer Best CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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| Friday, March 24, 2017 | Lee Central Coast Newspapers
Laurie Tamura is proud of her roles as business owner, Rotary Club president, Boy Scout liaison and mother, but she blanches at requests for the complete list of her community service. “There are so many opportunities to give back. Find out what your passion is, and explore that,” Tamura said. Now president of Santa Maria Breakfast Rotary, Tamura also served on the Santa Maria Valley
Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for a decade, helped create Leadership Santa Maria Valley and has been appointed to the Orcutt General Plan Advisory Committee. In addition to her professional memberships, she serves the community as a member of the Santa Maria Police Council, Home Builders Association of the Central Coast, and Coalition of Labor, Agriculture & Business (COLAB). “I think part of receiving so much encouragement when I entered my
field here was that I also volunteered to help with a lot of things. It all went hand in hand. I got to know people within the community,” Tamura said. Originally from Wisconsin, Tamura moved to the Central Coast in 1972 among 1,000 families transferred by Delco Electronics to their Goleta location. She graduated from Dos Pueblos High school, and earned her degree in environmental studies at University of California, Santa Barbara. “I didn’t know a whole lot about the planning
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‘During the last recession, we definitely had to be more creative’ profession, but I knew I wanted to do something environmentally related. Urban planning is the best implementation of a lot of the environmental studies programs,” Tamura said. She worked for the Santa Barbara County Planning Department before establishing her own business, Urban Planning Concepts, in 1988. “When I started, I found those leaders in the community were so encouraging to me. Harrell Fletcher, Gordon Gil, George Hobbs. I could go down the list of movers and shakers from 30 years ago. They were very encouraging in helping me in what I was doing,” Tamura said. She has spent her entire career working with residential and commercial development projects, from determining a parcel’s best use through the planning, review and permitting process. “We look at a piece of property someone brings to us, research not only community requirements based on zoning, but environmental constraints of the site and what’s happening around the property, make recommendations to the landowner or developer, then put a team together that includes civil engineers, architects, landscape architects, maybe even biologists and archaeologists. We put a design
together in coordination with the city or county, submit applications, work through the permit process and various steps including environmental review and public hearings,” Tamura explained. Urban Planning Concepts has been involved in a laundry list of Santa Maria Valley projects including the development of Rice Ranch, Los Flores Ranch, Kohl’s, Westgate, Windset Farms, Presqu’ile Winery & Vineyards, Enos Ranch, and Rivergate. Their work extends beyond the valley to include school projects in Atascadero, Guadalupe’s DJ Farms and the Santa Ynez Airport. “We’ve ridden the highs and lows of the real estate market,” Tamura said of her 29 years as a business owner. “During the last recession, we definitely had to be more creative,” Tamura said. The company focused on working with government agencies as well as agricultural clients to augment their work with the lagging residential,
commercial and industrial project market. New projects included wineries, greenhouses and working on oil field permitting processes. “We work toward planning that’s done with respect to the environment, what the jurisdiction wants and the constraints of the site,” Tamura said. When not planning, Tamura is likely working on one Boy Scout project or another. Raised by an Eagle Scout, she was an Explorer herself during her teen years. She married a Scout, and together they raised two Eagle Scouts. Though her boys are grown, Tamura has remained involved in the program as part of the council board. She served Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County scouts as Los Padres Council president for three years. “I believe they make men out of boys,” she said, “and boys out of men.” Jennifer Best can be reached at jbest@bestfamilyadventures.com.
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Pat Silva-Zeitler has been serving Lompoc for a generation Jennifer Best CO N T R I B U T I NG WRI T E R
PLEASE SEE SILVA, Page A8
Len Wood, Staff
Pat Silva-Zeitler, owner of Appliance Center, left, and repair technician Cully Thomas work on billing.
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started building houses, filling them, buying appliances. There was a massive population of GIs. Mr. Moore asked my father if he would like to run the appliance department,” SilvaZeitler recalled. By the time Pat was born her father had opened his own storefront where she recalls playing as a small child while her parents sold and maintained washers and driers, refrigerators and more. John returned to Moore’s for a short stint before opening the Appliance Center in 1969. Silva-Zeitler married and moved overseas, following her husband in his assignments to tracking stations along the equator: Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, Seychelles, Hawaii. Throughout their travels, she sought out people with special needs, educated their families and provided medical supplies and equipment to hospitals while also teaching people with hearing and speech loss. “We traveled around to do outreach programs to find disabled individuals. We would literally pull them out of closets,” she recalled. She is proud that her own daughter, Jean, was a willing example of what living with deafness could look like. While other cultures hid their citizens with disabilities,
Silva-Zeitler traveled around the globe with her daughter. Her service area included Guam, Pohnpei, Palau, Marianas, Majuro and other islands where she helped provide hearing aids and medical audiology equipment to clinics and hospitals. When they transferred to the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, she became the director of the state’s special education program. “It wasn’t that I had the background to run a statewide program. It was a matter of simply having more experience than anyone else who was available,” SilvaZeitler recalled. With support from Save the Children Fund, her program again explored remote areas to find people with disabilities and provide them assistance. “It was one of the proudest moments of my life,” she said. When Silva-Zeitler returned to Lompoc in 1988, her father made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. “I spent more than 20 years overseas. I loved it. But you still couldn’t find a better place to live than on the Central Coast of California. I loved coming back to the family business. I grew up in the business, and it gave me the same opportunity I’d had in my previous positions to provide customer service, to become friends and family with customers, and now I’ve been here almost 30 years,” she said.
Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Friday, March 24, 2017 |
While appliance sales, maintenance and repair are in Pat Silva-Zeitler’s blood, it is service to people with special needs that fills her soul. The second-generation owner of Appliance Center—Maytag in Lompoc doesn’t hit the floor to reach under appliances anymore. Instead, she staffs the office and relies on her younger, more agile technician, Cully Thomas, to carry on the work her family has provided for 70 years. While technology, visibility and staffing have changed, their commitment to service, family ideals and friendly tradition haven’t. Though they closed their storefront a year ago, they still work six days a week, nine hours per day from a home office and mobile unit, providing concierge shopping services, maintenance and repair. “We believe in oldtown customer service. We still have the same way of hopefully treating our customers like our friends, and we treat our employees the same way. We’re not a big box, leave-your-moneyand-go-away business. If you have a problem, we’re here to help,” SilvaZeitler said. Silva-Zeitler’s grandparents moved from Santa Maria to Lompoc in 1917, one wagon load at a time. In 1947, upon returning from his military service, her father, John Silva, went to work for Moore’s Department Store, heading its appliance department. “After the war, people
‘If you don’t know your business, you have no business being in that business’
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Mary Nohr works in a man’s world, and succeeds ‘I was the only woman out there, and the only mechanical tech working on the Titan missile’
Jennifer Best CO N T R I B UT I NG W R I T E R
Len Wood photos, Staff
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| Friday, March 24, 2017 | Lee Central Coast Newspapers
Mary Nohr is the only female auto mechanic in the Santa Ynez Valley, and one of only a handful of Mercedes-Benz mechanics in the country. She is shown in her garage in May 2015
Mary Nohr’s natural place is under the hood of a car, wrench in hand. Since 1987, she and her husband, Richard Nohr, have owned and operated Nohr’s Auto Haus in Buellton, but everyone in town knows it’s Mary’s shop. Head to the front desk; it’s Mary. Look in the shop; there’s Mary. “Most of my customers are women. They do appreciate having a woman talking to them, not a man talking down to them,” Mary said. In fact, she and Richard, who met as airplane
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Mary and Rich Nohr use several computers to run their Buellton garage and diagnose issues with the Mercedes-Benz and other vehicles they work on. They are shown in their garage in May 2015.
mechanics, share the dirty work specializing in repair and maintenance of BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Volvo and Audi cars. “There have been a few older men who don’t want to talk to me, who think they’re supposed to talk to Rich, but a little bit of training on their part and they’re OK with it,” Mary said. Mary grew up on a fruit and vegetable truck farm in Wisconsin where she putzed with trucks and tractors at her father’s side. “I just got into the mechanical stuff. It was always there. I didn’t want to be a desk secretary person, so out of high school, I decided to go to study mechanics,” she said. Her Catholic high school didn’t offer auto shop, but when she graduated in 1974, she headed to her nearest community college to take up auto technology. Her sister was a pilot, so it wasn’t long before she advanced to earn her airframe and powerplant license. “I was a pioneer in my auto mechanics classes
and in aircraft mechanics, but I was very well accepted everywhere. I don’t know if it was just the way I was, or what, but I’ve never had any trouble,” Mary said. In 1978, she became a mechanic at Napa Airport where she and Richard met. A job working on the maintenance crew for a business jet at Santa Barbara brought them to the Santa Ynez Valley. For a time, Mary worked for Martin Marietta at Vandenberg Air Force Base. “That was pretty cool. I was the only woman out there, and the only mechanical tech working on the Titan missile,” Mary said. She was working at the Buellton shop part time when the opportunity to buy presented itself in 1987. Since then, the Nohrs have done all the work themselves. “You have to be a strong woman to do this style of work, a man’s job,” Nohr said. She recommends that young women considering a career in auto technology take high school
shop first to get the basics, then go into community college courses. “They need to find out if they’re really interested, if they can take the teasing that comes with any shop, whether you’re male or female. It’s part of working in a shop, and some people can take it, some people can’t,” Mary said. She advises young mechanics to get out, talk to other mechanics, and start taking stuff apart. “Practice. Go out and do stuff on your own car. Get a feel for what it’s like, if this is what you want to do for the rest of your life,” she said. As for Mary, she can’t imagine another life. “Every day is different; that’s what’s nice about the work. It’s challenging, and today, it’s very electronic. You need multiple laptops — they diagnose the problem — but then you have to know how to solve the problem,” she said. When she’s not under the car or behind the counter, chances are good Mary’s playing with glass: stained glass, fused glass, etched glass. To see her incredible class creations, visit http://www.nohrsglass. com/portfolio_category/ stained-glass/ Jennifer Best can be reached at jbest@bestfamilyadventures.com.
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Sharon Pensabene took a chance, and it was worth it Jennifer Best
‘When you get down to brass knuckles, you have more inside than you ever think you do’
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
to every youth sporting event, league and team they can find, Pensabene said. She was also a founding member of Lompoc Business Women’s Network, for which she served as president for years. In addition to networking,
Contributed photo
Sharon Pensabene, front, is shown with her daughter Angelina Pensabene, who is her office manager.
me and given me a start with that $100-permonth office space, I would never have started to have a business. That was her gift to me,” Pensabene said. Through her professional life, she built longterm ties to the community, made close friends, maintained long-term customers. Her volunteer service has run in line with her family-focused life. She joined Kiwanis because of its focus on serving children in the community. She and her husband, Joe, donate
Jennifer Best can be reached at jbest@bestfamilyadventures.com.
Jeannie Bassett-Lambert has been a licensed Realtor for the past 16 years. She started her career with Century 21 Hometown Realty where she was a multiple award winner during her time there. Prior to working for Century 21 Real Estate, Jeannie worked in new home sales with Pro-Built Homes and Inland Pacific Builders in Santa Maria as a sales agent. She joined Keller Williams Realty Coastal Valley in December 2014 to broaden her real estate opportunities. Jeannie has been trained by some of the best professionals in the region. She works to please both her buyers and sellers in every transaction from the first initial contact all the way through past closing.
Jeannie goes the extra mile in everything she does. She has worked through both up and down real estate markets, Short Sales and Foreclosures. Jeannie focuses her work in the Santa Maria and Orcutt area working with buyers and sellers. A NATIVE of Santa Maria/Orcutt, she knows the Central Coast area well. Jeannie is very devoted to her family, husband, 2 daughters and 4 grandchildren. You may even sometimes find her with a grandchild in hand working alongside her.
There are 5 words to describe Jeannie; GENUINE, COMMITTED, PASSIONATE, LOYAL AND FUN!!!
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how women can actually think they can run a business and raise a family, and sometimes you can’t; you do the best you can,” Pensabene said. The home-based office arrangement lasted a year before she met Charlotte Benton, once the mayor of Lompoc and an icon in Lompoc’s business community. Benton invited Pensabene to rent a small office space which, in turn, provided a more professional facade, a space to meet people, an office presence. “If she hadn’t come to
Jeannie Bassett-Lambert, Realtor BRE#01360443 (805) 714-6444 jeannieblambert@gmail.com
words, be able to service the community because you’re able to carve out time,” Pensabene said. She said she doesn’t regret, for a moment, her decision to make the career switch. “You have to take a chance, even if it’s something you think you could never do. Take a risk. When you get down to brass knuckles, you have more inside than you ever think you do. It’s worth it,” Pensabene said.
Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Friday, March 24, 2017 |
Sharon Pensabene’s story epitomizes that of many women balancing professional careers with family life and community service. Now celebrating 25 years as an agent with New York Life Insurance Company, she has ridden the roller coasters of parenthood and the economy, changes in her industry and in technology. “Where I am today is light years away from where I started. When I sit back and look, it’s amazing that I stuck to it and have been somewhat successful. It’s been hardfought,” she said. In 1992, Pensabene was putting in long hours in the hotel and restaurant industry. She was rarely available to her family. Looking for a change, she answered an ad in the newspaper which led her to open an insurance agency in her Lompoc home. That first year, two toddlers often interrupted her work. When her school-age children returned home, there were practices and games, after-school activities of all sorts. She was chief cook and bottle washer, taxi driver and nurse. One season, all four children were playing softball on different teams, on different fields across town from each other. She’d race from one field to another to try to catch the action. “Sometimes, it was hysterical. Sometimes you wonder how it could possibly go the way it did,
the organization focused on volunteer service to women: scholarships, maintenance at the domestic violence shelter, women’s college reentry programs. She’s taken part in half a dozen breast cancer fundraising walks, including the 39-mile Avon walk. After 9/11, she was part of an effort which raised $25,000 in the Lompoc Valley for donation to the American Red Cross. My job has allowed me to have a career be a part of my life, make wonderful friendships that I can’t even put across in
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Contributed photos
Lisa Long, employees of the City of Santa Maria Utilities Department, and volunteers participate in the Adopt a Road program.
Long
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moved on to a great career,” Long said. The shake-up at Comcast led Long to a new job as business services manager for the City of Santa Maria Utilities Department while she wrapped up her bachelor’s degree from Brandman University. “I really didn’t think this would be something I could do. I thought I had made a choice that wouldn’t allow me to ever have a career,” she said. She became a member of Santa Maria Noontime Rotary, which she also served as president, and Leadership Santa Maria Valley. “I loved my job at Santa Maria and had great bosses, amazing opportunities, but I wanted more number work. I really enjoy that,” Long said.
Len Wood, Staff
Repair technician Cully Thomas, left, and Pat SilvaZeitler, owner of Appliance Center, pose with a repair in progress.
Silva From A5
David and Lisa Long are shown in an undated photo.
Now she’s a month into her new numbers gig, with no plans to leave the water district until she retires. “I made my choice as a mom, and I was so happy to have made that choice, but it turns out you don’t have to give up the opportunity to have a career if you
choose to step back for a while,” Long said. Long enjoys speaking to women’s groups, where she emphasizes that non-standard work histories don’t mean an end to career. “Just because you make the choices you have to make at the time, choices that are
best for your family, doesn’t mean you have to rule out something else. You can be different things, do different things in different slices of your life,” Long said. Jennifer Best can be reached at jbest@bestfamilyadventures.com.
She returned to school to become a service technician. “If you don’t know your business, you have no business being in that business,” she said. In her personal time, Silva-Zeitler got involved with Special Olympics which she has served as a volunteer, coach and assistant coach. Today, she serves as president of Supporting Special Needs Adaptive Programs (SSNAP), a nonprofit which aims to raise
awareness and funding for adaptive programs for local people with disabilities. “We have been extraordinarily fortunate. Should I choose to retire, and I have no plans to retire (my dad didn’t retire until he was 95), Cully will be the third-generation here because, although he is no blood relative to me, he could be my son. I really treasure him in that way. The business will continue as long as our customers like us,” SilvaZeitler said. Jennifer Best can be reached at jbest@bestfamilyadventures.com.