Donna Whitehead
Wicked Local Northwest, Concord, Mass.
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) In honor of Women’s History Month some of the most inspirational women in the Boston area share who inspires them!
Concord
Mothers, sisters, friends, teachers. These are who local women business owners said they draw inspiration from during Women’s History Month this March.
Melissa Mazzeo
Melissa Mazzeo doesn’t look far when asked about the women who inspire her. One is her mother, Beth Mazzeo, who has been a role model as a business owner and as a parent.
Beth and Melissa are the co-owners of Merry Go Rounds, new and “pre-loved” children’s clothing store, in the North Easton Village Shoppes.
The business, which also offers toys, books and accessories, has been in Easton for three decades. Beth purchased it 20 years ago.
“My mom done such an amazing job with this business,” Melissa said. “When she took over it was much smaller.
“It’s become an institution within the community and people really love the business and feel they grew up with us.”
Melissa said her mother also would talk with customers about the challenges of raising kids.
Another woman who inspires Melissa is Marian Chertow, a professor at Yale University where Melissa received an MBA and master’s degree in environmental management.
Chertow is a professor of industrial environmental management at Yale and director of the Center for Industrial Ecology.
“She’s one of my favorite professors,” Melissa said. “She developed the entire field of industrial ecology she now teaches.”
Industrial ecology is concerned with shifting industrial process from linear systems to a closed loop where waste can become input for new processes. A consignment shop like Merry Go Rounds fits into this by taking what was consider waste and reusing it, Melissa said.
“It’s more environmentally sustainable,” she said. “For me that’s one of the most important parts of the business. My own mission is to promote sustainable consumption and make it more mainstream.”
Melissa described Chertow as a “complete trail blazer” who is really devoted to her students. She said Chertow held her own in a male-dominated field.
COVID pushed Melissa to expand the store’s online business quicker than she had initially imagined.
“I had intended to start before COVID, but COVID definitely accelerated that process,” she said. “We pivoted to selling items online. It was definitely a big learning experience.”
The store now offers personal shopping service online.
Melissa does video calls with customers, walking them through the store to pick out items or sending photos of merchandise.
“It’s now a formalized, personal shopping service that definitely grew out of COVID. It’s a new way of reaching customers.”
During the pandemic, Merry Go Rounds closed its second and original location on Belmont Street and is consolidating at the Washington Street shop.
Isobel Wilson
Easton real estate broker Isobel Wilson finds inspiration in both national and local women.
“There’s lots of women who inspire me,” she said.
But the first one who comes to mind is American marathon runner Kathrine Switzer. In 1967, Switzer became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as an officially registered competitor. During her run, race manager Jock Semple repeatedly assaulted Switzer, trying to grab her bib number and stop her competing. It was not until 1972 that the Boston Marathon established an official women’s race. Switzer went on to run more than 40 marathons, Wilson said.
“I really admire her tenacity,” Wilson said. “She was a trail blazer. She proved to other women and the world that a woman could do the marathon and that it wasn’t an exclusively male thing.”
In addition to owning her own real estate business, Bella Real Estate, Wilson is an Easton resident and president of the Easton Chamber of Commerce. Originally from Northern Ireland, Wilson lives in Easton with her husband and two sons.
“I also really get inspired with how many strong women we have in the Easton community,” she said.
Attorney Mahsa Khanbabai of Khanbabai Immigration Law in Easton is “a fierce advocate for people,” Wilson said.
Pratima Penumarthy, director of the Arya Math Academy in Easton, has started a Facebook group, Caring for aging parents (Indian-American way) with her husband, Ramakrishna, where those caring for parents can share information, advice and support.
Nora Yousif of RBC Wealth Management is a “trail blazer, advisor and speaker,” Wilson said. Select Board Chairman Dottie Fulginiti is “such an inspiration” and state Rep. Claire Cronin, who just became majority leader, “is just an all-around nice person.”
Wilson started Bella Homes Real Estate this past November in the middle of the pandemic after working in the field for a decade.
She prides herself on offering more than just house-hunting help but referrals to painters, movers and any services a homeowner might require.
“My goal is to provide a boutique, concierge style business,” she said. “I do that before the sale and forever after the sale.”
She said the main impact of the pandemic is to make brokers more cautious when showing homes.
“I have a huge supply of hand sanitizer, gloves, masks, shoe covers,” she said.
Leaf Shea
Leaf Shea, owner of Leaf Boutique in Mansfield, said she is inspired by her mom, Suzie Pacheco.
When Shea was 15 her mother opened a shop, Vintage Jewelry, in
Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. Shea worked for her mother and learned from her.
“She was a single parent and I was an only child, so it was just the two of us,” She said. “She was really a self-made entrepreneur.”
Mother and daughter opened Vintage, a clothing store in Brookline. Shea eventually became sole owner and moved the business to Mansfield, where she lives, two and half years ago.
Leaf Boutique, on Copeland Drive, is an “on-trend” boutique specializing in clothing, accessories and jewelry, Shea said.
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The shop has clothing for all ages and in all sizes.
“My favorite thing is when multiple generations come in together,” Shea said.
Today, her mother has a gallery, Creekville Art and Antiques in Menemsha, Shea said.
“She encouraged me to be in this business,” Shea said. “She helped me as a parent and as a business partner. She was always very supportive of everything I do.”
She said Pacheco is also an inspiration to her own children.
“She taught me a great deal about resiliency and that translated into my resilience during COVID,” Shea said.
When the governor’s orders closed non-essential businesses last March for three months, Shea started offering curbside pickup, like many retailers. But then she took things a step further — modeling the shop’s clothing herself online in photos and videos. She said it was very difficult at first and something she never thought she would do.
“People definitely responded,” Shea said. “I got a lot of feedback from customers. It was good for people who couldn’t visit the store, and if they had been home bound for a while it offered a virtual connection.”
Once the shop reopened, Shea continued modeling the clothing on Facebook. Shea, adding a Facebook Live broadcast, partnered with employee Christina Carlino on Thursdays. The two model clothing, describing the fabric and price and suggest ways to put together outfits. They also answer questions as they come in. Shea said detailed “Zoom” tops are currently popular.
“It’s a great way to sell things,” said Shea, adding it’s also expanded her customer base outside the local area.
Ellen Cree
Her mother, her sisters, her friend are all inspirations to Ellen Cree, who owns the Happy Hollow Frame Shop and Next Door Gallery in downtown Mansfield.
“My mom, Anne Rossi, was just a smart, intelligent, generous, funny, go-with-the-flow kind of gal,” Cree said. “She took people one on one and didn’t care what skin tone they were or what religion.”
She said her mother always said to give 150 percent and to “be kind.”
“And she did that very quietly all her life.”
Anne Rossi died last April at the age of 93. Cree also lost her close friend, Pat Gerard, 93, in January 2020.
Gerard would come down to the gallery and play piano and singing old standards like “Heart and Soul.”
“She had had a tough life and I never met anyone who would make better lemonade out of lemons,” Cree said. “I don’t think I had a better friend.”
She said Gerard would also come with Cree to the nursing home to visit Anne Rossi every Sunday and play piano for her. Cree recalled how Gerard would walk twice a week from her home on Rumford Avenue to the Mansfield Public Library carrying stacks of hardcover books, mostly nonfiction on topics like Louis Pasteur and Martha Washington.
“She’s a woman from the South, from Kentucky,” Cree said. “Her friends were Black or gay and she’d stick up for them and get fired.”
Cree is also inspired by her sisters, Leslie Conroy, a retired executive assistant who lives in California, and Susan Spencer, a physical therapist who lives in Topsfield.
“They would give you the shirt of your back in a heartbeat,” she said. “They are intelligent, curious. I just like the way they operate.”
COVID has meant Cree does business by appointment only with safety precautions taken, but she said she is still seeing a lot of new customers.
“Framing is sort of economy proof,” she said. “When the economy is good people spend money. When it’s not good they look inward. They are looking at their spaces and what’s really meaningful.”
She sees her work as a service.
“What people bring me (to frame) is very important to them,” she said.
Cree said she frames objects as unusual as an African Zulu spear in addition to traditional art work.
Visitors can also make appointments to view the gallery, which currently includes oil paintings by illustrator Dale Stephanos.
She described the gallery as an “art adoption agency.”
“The people I’ve seen over the course of last year are very interested in what’s hanging here,” Cree said. “They are really looking to see what might resonant for them.”
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