THE LIST

thelist

animation & acrobatics

Drawn to Life is a family-friendly show that tells the story of the love between a father and a daughter. The show draws inspiration from Disney’s 100-year heritage of animation and celebrates iconic Disney stories and characters through the innovative design, acrobatic performances, dazzling choreography, musical scores and brand-new animation lovingly created by Disney Animation artists. Years in the making, the show resulted from extensive visits Cirque du Soleil teams made to Disney theme parks, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Research Library, Walt Disney Archives, and The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. With the special Florida resident offer, tickets start from $87 through October 1 (some restrictions apply). cirquedusoleil.com

thelist Autumn ACCESSORIES

Clockwise from top: Felt hat with grosgrain trim

(The House on Lang, Mills 50); Chloe tweed headband (ShopModa, Winter Garden Village); Giovanna Barrios Bajia ostrich bag and Cristina Sabatini Daisy tweed crossbody (ShopModa); Jacquard and bead headband (The Grove, Winter Park); Dolce Vita Beaux leather bootie (Tuni, Winter Park); Virgin, Saints & Angels Magdalena multi-strand pearl necklace (Tuni); Heishi stone and bone stretch bracelets (Monkee’s, Winter Park); Cuoieria Fiorentina leather bag (Tuni); Red leather belt with triangle buckle (Tuni); Mestiza Clay large textured bangles (The House on Lang); Bold silk scarf (The House on Lang); and Marian Paquette Italian velvet bag with top handle and shoulder strap (The House on Lang); Gucci sunglasses with gold chain (Tuni).

thelist Autumn ACCESSORIES

Clockwise from top: Mar y Sol rafffia fedora (Coco

Indigo, Winter Park); Splatter painted Kelly bag with top handle and two shoulder straps (Tuni); Clear Coco bag with pearl details and chain strap (The Grove); Natural woven belt (The Grove); Dolce Vita Silma calf hair bootie (Monkee’s); Multicolored mother of pearl necklace (Coco Indigo); Acrylic bangles (The Grove); Rivieras woven leisure shoes (Coco Indigo); Micro leather pouch in lime (Monkee’s); and Jules Kae Chloe leather bucket bag (Monkee’s).

THREE FEMALE VPs at &BARR

Erin Pagán, Kim Blaylock and Janette Estep

Orlando’s oldest full-service advertising agency, &Barr (formerly Fry, Hammond, Barr) is celebrating 65 years in business this year. The company is dedicated to being a place for women’s career advancement with females making up nearly 70% of the entire agency, 34% being at the management level and half of the leadership team. Equally impressive is the firm’s former and current client list that includes Badcock Home Furniture &more, AAA, Sonny’s BBQ, Rosen Hotels & Resorts, Nemours, and the YMCA of Central Florida.

We recently chatted with three vice presidents — Kim Blaylock, VP of Account Service, Janette Estep, VP of Finance, and Erin Pagán, VP of Public Relations — about their professional paths, changes in the industry and where they see it heading.

Kim got into the advertising business shortly after college. She had previously worked as a paralegal and in the tourism industry. “I had a friend who was an account executive at an agency, and she told me it was the perfect job for me. I had a book with all the agencies listed and called Cramer-Krasselt who had an office in Orlando then. They had an opening at the front desk, so I started. I was there about six months when I got promoted into the media department. A year later I was moved into account service,” she says.

She worked on the pitch for Visit

Orlando, which the agency got, and continued to climb up as an assistant account executive, account executive and account supervisor. Faced with a common motherhood dilemma, she ended up taking five years off after her son was born. She got back into the field with a job in shopper marketing but got a call one day from someone at &Barr. “I came in for interviews and have been here 11 years,” she adds.

Janette did not have a background in advertising but came into the firm to work in the billing department. She had two job offers — one from &Barr and the other from a corporate energy company. “I came here because I didn’t want to be a number, and I made the right decision — obviously because I have been here 40 years. It’s been absolutely wonderful,” she says.

Erin interviewed with &Barr and Cramer-Krasselt 20 years ago when she moved to Orlando. But Cramer-Krasselt came back with an offer quicker, so she took it. “I had done some corporate PR work, but my mentor told me I needed agency experience to strengthen my skills personally and professionally,” she explains. She followed up that position with the American Red Cross to round out her resume. Three years ago, it came full circle when she joined &Barr.

They all agree that the environment at &Barr is what has kept them on board. “First of all, it’s the smart, passionate people. Ad agencies are very fast paced but everyone we work with loves what they do. It’s also the family atmosphere. Here there really is a work-life balance with flexibility,” Kim says.

Janette agrees: “I think it’s the people. We hear it in reviews and exit interviews all the time. They say, ‘I love the team; I love the people here.’ We are respected and made to feel special.”

“We’ve all been working moms, so we know how hard it is. You feel like you will never achieve that work-life balance. Something is always missing, but at least we can be with a company that understands and tries to give us as much flexibility, so we are fulfilled professionally without having to sacrifice being a mom. We are empowering everyone, whether you have a disabled sibling or parents who are sick — people who are happy at home are great team members,” Erin adds.

These three also serve as role models and mentors for the other women in the agency who are looking to launch, develop and expand their agency careers. “Many women who started here as managers and specialists are now directors. That’s a huge jump. They’ve had opportunities to step up and are building careers here,” Erin explains. For women wanting to enter the advertising and PR arena, they have some good, sound advice. “I would say be yourself and be a consumer. In account service, we are the liaison between the client and the agency. We balance the needs of the client with the needs of the internal teams. A lot of clients come to us for expert opinions, but they also know their brands better than anyone. We have to have a lot of various skills, but first and foremost we need to be consumers of all the media — all the creative that’s out there and all the channels. I say be yourself because when I was younger, I wouldn’t talk in meetings. But younger voices are critical now with all the new media and we value that here,” Kim explains.

“I always say do it all because it’s a little different in the PR space. Envision the three-legged stool with experience in a nonprofit, an agency, and a company, either public or private because you just don’t know where you will feel the most connected and where you can make the biggest impact. PR is a great career, especially for women,” Erin adds.

“It’s a little different for me in finance, but it’s a great career choice because it changes all the time. The clients change, technology changes, media changes, and you are always learning and trying to figure out the best way, in terms of processes, to be the most efficient. It’s an interesting place even if you are doing accounts payable,” Janette says.

They all agree that digital has been the one big change over the last decade. “The space is huge — not just digital media but influencers and the way people consume media in general. Add to that all the skills required to fulfill that from a creative side,” Kim explains.

“I think it’s relationships — they’re more fluid. Things are moving so fast, and people are moving around so much. We try to approach it from: let us serve you, let us help you. It creates a flow and people want to work with someone who’s not just shoving something at them. We’re not talking at them. We’re collaborating and making the magic happen in an efficient and effective way,” Erin adds.

As for what’s on the horizon, they say uber-personalized communications, more efficient targeting, and the continuing evolution of social media.

Carol Holladay: & dynamic determined

She is a bright light. Luminous from the inside out, she’s filled with a sense of peace and gratitude that can only come from a deep and dark journey. In early 2020 Carol Holladay was about to dive into her dream, opening a restaurant she conceived. Then a double dose of devastating situations quickly unfolded — the mid-March pandemic shutdown followed, barely weeks later, by a breast cancer diagnosis. Neither were part of the plan — but that’s life.

from the beginning she decided to fight — fight like hell — for her family (husband and two children) and her future. And now just two and a half years later, she’s healthy, and The Pinery on Lake Ivanhoe recently received Michelin Guide recognition.

Born in Orlando, but raised in rural North Carolina, Carol never thought she would be back in Central Florida. She moved to Charleston with her boyfriend when she was 18, forgoing college. “I started working in restaurants as a hostess. I asked a bunch of questions and just annoyed people. But for 10 years I worked my way up. I became a server, then a bartender, then assistant manager and manager — the youngest ever for the Condon Group,” she says. That curiosity and thirst for learning gave her a solid background in the business. And after stints in the Cayman Islands and New Orleans, where she had opened a restaurant (for someone else), she returned to Orlando.

Her father advised her the only place to live was in College Park and the only place to work was at The Tap Room at Dubsdread, so armed with her resume she went into owner Steve Gunter’s office only to be told they didn’t need a manager. “It was very hard for me to find a manager job at that time. I did want to be choosy about where I worked so I said, ‘Alright, I am open to other things.’ I accepted a job as a server even though I am terrible at it,” she explains.

She found there was too much freedom and knew she needed more. Soon she was offered a manager position with Bahama Breeze, but after asking her to wait a few days, Steve gave her a management job. Carol thrived there for 10 years before deciding to pursue her passion of opening her own place. She had given her notice before the pandemic but moved up the date to let others remain employed.

“March 17, 2020, the whole world shut down and on March 22 I left Dubsdread. It was a whole new world and I had to homeschool my kids. The following Monday I felt a lump in my breast. I didn’t think much of it — I have dense breasts and there’s no cancer in my family. When I told my business partner, he asked who I had called. But everything was shut down and there was no one to call. He said I was not leaving his office until I figured it out,” she adds.

She did call the Women’s Center for Radiology, and they told her she needed a referral. She questioned who was going to give her a referral when medical offices were closed, and they agreed to perform the mammogram and ultrasound.

“I went in the first of April, and they told me something was definitely wrong and that I would need a referral to get a biopsy for insurance coverage. I called my OB-GYN and explained the situation. He did make the referral and I got the core biopsy done. I then got a phone call from him on April 27. He said, ‘Do you have a minute to talk?’ I said, “Why does it sound like you’re getting ready to tell me I have breast cancer?’ And he said, ‘Because I am.’ At that moment my world crashed — I thought about my kids, about what was going to happen. And then I found out it was designated as an elective surgery. I had to live with the fact that cancer was growing in my body and there was nothing I could do,” she says.

She finally got her surgery scheduled in mid-June and the lumpectomy revealed another cancerous spot. Carol became her own advocate, listening to her doctor but also doing research, talking with other women, and joining online forums. Yet,

she still stayed somewhat silent about her condition. Her initial surgery did not get all the cancerous cells, so she had a second operation on June 23.

“I tell everyone, you have to listen to your body and if something is not right, get it checked out. I am fortunate my husband is a nurse at AdventHealth, so I had access not everyone does. That’s why [resource] organizations like Libby’s Legacy and Susan G. Komen are so important.,” she adds.

After Carol healed from the surgeries, she started radiation in August, five days a week for four weeks. At that point she thought she was in the clear, but when she saw her oncologist in September, he started talking to her about chemo.

“I thought I was there for my tamoxifen, but they did the genomics and the type of tumor I had, a Luminal B, is a traveler. He told me it could go to my lungs or my stomach or brain. My vanity took over as my long, curly hair was a trademark of mine,” she adds.

She had six sessions over 18 weeks with the official build-out at The Pinery starting November 1, 2020, right after her second round of chemo. “I made sure I scheduled my chemo around the construction. I had treatments on Thursday mornings — five hours — and by Friday night I would go downhill. So, I was out on the weekends and back to work on Monday. I tried not to skip a beat because living your life is the best way to combat it. I couldn’t stop. I looked at the positives and the silver lining. This became my sanctuary because it was fueling me and helping me feel better,” she explains.

Carol credits her strong support system of family and friends for getting her through the worst, and she finished her last treatment on January 29, 2021. “I don’t wish this on anyone, but I came out a better person. The blues are bluer, the greens are greener. The little things that would bother me before just don’t now. I think my family and friends had it worse because I knew I was going to fight this, and I would be good. I started taking better care of my overall health,” she says.

By the one-year anniversary of the diagnosis, The Pinery had opened. “I pulled off my scarf and just let my G.I. Jane out and it’s okay to have short, curly hair now. I just want to educate people. One night there were a couple of ladies here and one of them had hair just like mine. And the other lady also had short hair. As we complimented each other, there was just a look of knowing. And we just sat and bawled. It was a camaraderie being part of a club you never wanted to be part of. But it’s not a bad club because you are with likeminded people who, like you, are spreading awareness,” she adds.

Divas in Concert Returns

Divas in Concert is back with the original divas in a reboot performance on Sunday, September 11 at 5:30pm at the Orlando Museum of Art. The Steinway Society fundraiser features Carol Stein, (the piano lady), Jacqueline Jones, Michelle Amato, Michelle Mailhot and Suzy Park with the Carol Stein and Friends Trio.

The Society is pleased to bring back the original divas for its 8th year, after a hiatus due to COVID.” This fundraiser is important to support our mission of offering music lessons and pianos to disadvantaged children in central Florida,” says President and founder Gary Grimes. “The Steinway gala is the chance to see all these talented performers on-stage in a single show.”

This Steinway Society fundraiser, sponsored by Certified Financial Group, will feature a light dinner buffet, cash bar, silent auction and memorable performances. Tickets are $85; $75 for Steinway Society members; and $100 for VIP. The buffet begins at 5:30pm and concert at 6:30pm. Tickets are available at: https://

events.eventgroove.com/event/Divas-InConcert-Reboot-58393

The Steinway Society, a 501c3 organization, is celebrating its 16th year of providing pianos, lessons and music education to young children in economic need in Central Florida, with piano lessons in nine locations serving more than 180 children. It has awarded more than 250 pianos to deserving children and will give some 8,000 group lessons a year in area community centers, Boys & Girls Clubs, and schools. The Steinway Society was one of 10 finalists in the Victory Cup awards for non-profits in March.

Carol Stein and Jackie Jones