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Take a memo: Delaware’s businesswomen have the vision, ability and tenacity to build thriving companies. Meet executives who’ve succeeded despite unthinkable loss, financial obstacles or resistance from employees in male-dominated fields.
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Jennifer Simon has come a long way since her days as an advertising copywriter in New York. She made the most of her 11 years in the Big Apple, including developing and launching the exclusive Martha Stewart Living gift basket and food line for 1-800-FLOWERS, which increased sales 35 percent. When Simon moved back to her native Wilmington in 2009, she used her branding and creative conceptual knowledge while building a successful second career in merchandising. She founded Simon & Co., an Internet-based specialty foods and gifts shop. Simon sends her Simply Delicious foods in reusable containers instead of traditional gift baskets, and hand-selects all offerings.
Praise from Oprah Simon’s work has been featured on the 2002 holiday list in O, The Oprah Magazine.
Happy holidays Simon will offer 150 gifts this season at SimonandCo.com. Gifts include foods as well as spa, baby and pet goods.
Members of the nonprofit Downtown Milford Inc. have worked since 1993 to restore the charm of downtown Milford. Their efforts have paid off. Milford’s downtown businesses are booming, and women corner its retail market. Notable female leaders and owners include, from left: Teri Carter of EcoChic Boutique, Rhonda Bond of LadyBug Shop, Michiko Seto of Blooming Boutique, Leigh Minor Nagy of Minorbird and Gail Angelucci of Angelucci Fine Woodworking & Stained Glass Studios.
Of note Angelucci held a leadership role in the creation of Milford’s Riverwalk Center for the Arts, which features 6,000 square feet of studio and gallery space.
Marian R. Young is cofounder and president of BrightFields Inc., a 35-person environmental consulting and energy services company. When she helped start the company seven years ago, she was responsible for all facets of technical and administrative work, including logging wells, collecting soil and water samples and managing brownfield remediation. Now she focuses on staff mentoring, business development, major program management, client relations and strategic planning. Young’s greatest accomplishment is her work at the Christina Riverfront. “Our environmental team has worked for years on the riverfront redevelopment, for the state of Delaware, city of Wilmington, transportation engineers and private developers,” she says. “It’s been amazing to see all the new residential, commercial and retail buildings, roads, walkways, parks and museums emerge out of this formerly industrial area.”
Keep on truckin’ Young restarted her career after being laid off from a Pennsylvania company in 1993.
Future plans BrightFields plans to grow as a regional firm, and is positioned to bid on contracts with the Army Corps of Engineers and its prime contractors.
