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The
2000 WBO Nellie Cashman
Women
Business Owners congratulates
2000 Nellie Cashman Woman Business Owner of
the Year:

Diane
Symms
Lombardi's Cucina
Distinguished
Finalists:
Fran
Bigelow
Fran's Chocolatse, Ltd.
Tanya
Fraioli
Reprographics Northwest
Karen
Mask
KJM & Associates
Janet
Tupper
Fiddlehead, Inc.
Fran
Bigelow
Fran's Chocolates, Ltd.
Fran Bigelow, a widely recognized expert in the art of chocolate
creations, built her business the old fashioned way -in her own
kitchen. Fran, a Seattle native and wife and mother of two, became
fascinated with cooking desserts in the early 1970's. Studying under
the tutelage of Josephine Araldo, a 1921 graduate of the Cordon
Bleu cooking school in Paris, Fran began the process of perfecting
her art of creating exquisite desserts by opening her first shop
in 1 982. By 1998, she had expanded into two luxurious European
style chocolate salons.
With
her specialty chocolates available throughout the United States,
Fran has managed to achieve her dream-creating a product with universal
appeal. Using the finest European and Venezuelan chocolates, Fran
has captured the sweet tooth of the dessert market. She was named
the best Chocolatier in America by some of the most well known food
publications in the U. S., including "The Book of Chocolate".
Nellie
Cashman 2000 Winner and Finalists
Tanya
Fraioli
Reprographics Northwest
Tanya Fraioli, CEO of Reprographics Northwest, moved back to Seattle
in 1995, at the age of 26, to reclaim her father's former company.
Plagued with a variety of business problems, Tanya began rebuilding
the troubled company from the ground up; today, she oversees 76
employees and RNW has expanded into 3 locations.
RNW
has been voted the best place to work by Washington CEO magazine,
ranked 59th by INC magazine for fastest growing inner-city business
in the nation and won Tanya the SBA Small Business Person of the
year award.
She
has used her business education background and considerable customer
service skills well, including a stint in Germany that all owed
her to put her to use her fluency in the German language as well
as develop new markets in the Far East and Russia. Her varied background
has enabled RNW to become a leader in the field of large-scale architectural
and engineering print projects.
Tanya
is also a new mother and credits her parents and husband for their
unwavering support of her choice to take a fledging company and
turn it into a 21st century success.
Nellie
Cashman 2000 Winner and Finalists
Karen
J. Mask
KJM & Associates
Karen J. Mask, owner and president of KJM & Associates, began her
career with a M.S. in Economics from the University of Washington.
After serving as Vice President and General Manager of Xebek, Inc.,
Karen formed KJM, a project and construction management firm, and
has been the point of contact on several rail projects, including
the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Light Rail Project, the Chicago Transit
Authority, and the Downtown Seattle Transit Project.
As
president of KJM, Karen's responsibilities include developing initial
project plans and schedules, strategic planning and overall management.
She oversees budgeting, operations, marketing, personnel, and forecasting
growth expansions. Her past experience includes teaching project
management classes at public institutions and private companies.
For
over 26 years, Karen has fine tuned her skills and applied them
to the Seattle area which, in 1997, earned her the prestigious award
of Department of Transportation's Outstanding Woman Owned Business
of the Year.
Nellie
Cashman 2000 Winner and Finalists
Diane
Symms
Lombardi's Cucina
Diane Symms, owner of Lombardi's Cucina, has been a restaurant owner
for 28 years in the Seattle area. In the early 1970's, Diane began
a small sandwich shop which blossomed into a concession trailer.
She traveled the summer festival circuit while raising 2 small children
and eventually expanded into the food industry wholeheartedly with
her first full-service Italian restaurant.
Diane
presently owns three Italian restaurants. Her annual sales generate
more than $4.5 million dollars and she oversees day to day operations,
which include the livelihood of over 120 employees. In her spare
time, she owns and manages the commercial property of her original
restaurant site.
With
her management training background, Diane has built a formidable
and profitable business which has earned her several awards including
Restaurateur of the Year in 1998 and Seattle Mayor's Small Business
of the Year in 1990. She is also active in Republican fundraising
events and served as President of the Washington Restaurant Association
from 1996 to 1998.
Nellie
Cashman 2000 Winner and Finalists
Janet
M. Tupper
Fiddlehead, Inc.
Janet Tupper is the founder and president of Fiddlehead, Inc., a
merchandising company with locations in Seattle, Kansas City, Denver,
and New York. Founded in 1990, Fiddlehead serves companies primarily
in the pharmaceutical, telecom, entertainment, and tech/e-commerce
fields with revenues exceeding $1 billion. The wholesale division,
launched in May 2000, designs and manufactures fashion-forward desk
accessories and paper products . Her clients include 20th Century
Fox, Voicestream, Hallmark, Earthlink, and Crate & Barrel.
Her
extensive background in business management has honed Janet's leadership
skills. This, in turn, has allowed her to expand into more philanthropic
areas such as the Seattle Art Museum Family Advisory Committee,
the Young Presidents' Organization and St. Joseph's Auction Committee.
She
and her husband, Greg, a broker with Dain Rauscher are busy raising
an 8- year-old daughter while Janet continues to lead Fiddlehead
into new and exciting avenues of merchandising.
Photo
Credits: Kate Baldwin, Kate
Baldwin Photography. Email: kate@katebphoto.com.
Nellie
Cashman 2000 Winner and Finalists
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