The businesswomen of Sandpoint

March is women’s history month, so for this year’s annual Progress report, the Bee interviewed some of their area’s local businesswomen. Many of them started their businesses in the past year, and some just months ago. Here are their stories.

Beth Giacomo, Wine 4 U

For Beth Giacomo, wine isn’t just an interest. It’s a passion and a way of life.

For 10 years, Giacomo made her living as a wine sales representative in Idaho. After years of thinking about starting her own business, she finally took the plunge, starting her wine subscription service, Wine 4 U, in December.

Before starting the wine club, Giacomo worked for a major wine distributor, she said. After taking a break for an injury last year, she decided it was finally time to start her own business.

“I've literally been thinking about it for eight years, starting the wine club. It was something I really wanted to do,” she said. “It was just kind of a timing thing.”

While many businesses have been struggling, Giacomo said she’s seen quite an interest in her business from community members.

One of her favorite things so far has been helping her customers discover new wines they might not have tried in the past, she said. While previously she dealt primarily with wines grown in the Pacific Northwest, her new business and an influx of new customers who moved from larger cities have allowed her to branch out.

“They're way more open to having a French bottle or an Italian balm, or Spanish or South African,” she said. “So what's happening is it's opening up a little bit of a window for me to be able to present wines from areas that normally in the past, I wouldn't have been able to really get much traction with.”

Giacomo can get her customers nearly any wine that’s sold through a distributor in the state, she said. Helping people to find wines that they love is what she enjoys the most about her job.

“I love it. I love selling it. I love seeing people get a thrill out of drinking, you know something that makes them happy or finding something unique or different,” she said. “I just love it.”

Every month, Giacomo hand-picks wines for clients to try, she said. There are two levels to the wine club — $35 plus tax for tier one, and then $65 plus tax for tier two.

Giacomo also helps customers find specific wines, even if they don’t opt for the wine club, she said.

In the past year, she said, online wine sales boomed. And although some predictions say that may come to an end soon, Giacomo’s business provides more than just convenience — it provides expertly-curated wine selections from around the world for locals to try, Giacomo said.

In the future, she plans to start putting together gift baskets, she said. For now, customers can contact her on her website, wine4uonline.com, or by phone at 800-228-5897.

Jen Meyer

Jen Meyer has worked in commercial printing for most of her life, she said. For the past three years, Meyer worked as a graphic designer for Mountain Sky Printing in Sandpoint. When the business closed last year, she decided she wanted to continue.

“I decided to jump on the opportunity,” she said. “And here I am. There was this office available for rent right across the street, so it kind of just worked out.”

Meyer costume-makes unique designs and prints for her customers, she said, which is one of the ways her business stands out from online services.

Now two months into starting her new business, Bonner Media, Meyer said she’s still learning the ropes of being a business owner — but many of her customers are familiar, return clients from her former workplace.

Starting has been a challenge she said, but having things go a little slower, in the beginning, works for her considering there’s so much for her to do as a new business owner.

“I'm okay with the slow time right now,” she said, “because it'll be busier in the summer.”

A lot of Meyer’s business comes from other business owners who order signs, she said. Other clients she has often order decals for trucks or boats.

“The boat decals are what will be picking up this summer. I think there'll be quite a bit of business, especially being close to the lake,” she said.

One of her favorite recent projects, a canvas banner at Outdoor Experience in Sandpoint, shows a terrain map of the area.

They're gonna like, pin up location points like hiking trails and just recreational things like that,” she said. “That was kind of a fun project.”

Meyer can be reached at 208-920-0459 or online at bonner.media.

Jennifer Steinbachs, Certified Traditional Naturopath

Jennifer Steinbachs noticed her patients kept having the same problems back around October, she said.

In December, she noticed she had been using the same techniques to help people, she said.

“I realized, everybody's having the same pattern. And I started looking back through my notes,” Steinbachs said. “Like, it's been the same pattern since I got busy in October. And, you know, why is that? When we're stressed, our bodies want us to curl up into the fetal position. And then when we stand up, we're not necessarily releasing that.”

Most of Steinbachs’ clients are women, she said. She does integrative body work, she said, often dealing with fixing alignment to reduce pain. Often, a big part of her job is reminding clients to make time for themselves.

“It's just reminders that they need,” she said. “Make sure that you're eating well. Have a cup of tea, make sure you breathe. Here, let's do some body work. Let's get some of that stress out.”

A certified traditional naturopath, Steinbachs said that despite uncertainty regarding the pandemic, her business has actually picked up in the past couple of months.

“I've been busier than I was at the same point in my previous practice,” she said.

Before opening Syringa Wellness in Sandpoint in November of 2019, Steinbachs had a clinic in Bloomington, Indiana.

Steinbachs first got interested in naturopathic healing while looking for remedies for her toddler, who had eczema.

“I ended up getting help from a practitioner back in the Midwest,” she said. “And he helped me with that. But then he also helped me with my own structural problems.”

As a then-pregnant mother, she found herself struggling to walk up and down stairs as early as her first trimester, Steinbachs said.

“It got way worse after I gave birth. And my OB said, ‘Oh, it's, it's normal.’ It's not normal,” she said. “A family physician sent me for physical therapy, which helped, but then I encountered this other naturopath, and he did this bodywork on me. And wow. I mean, my pain was gone.

Many of the challenges her clients encounter, especially now, are rooted in stress, Steinbachs said.

“Everybody's a little bit stressed,” she said. “In fact, it's really surprising to me that many of [my clients] don't realize just how stressed they are until they get on the table. I'm able to gently press on various spots, and they hurt. And they're surprised, ‘I didn’t know I hurt there.’”

Steinbachs can be reached at 208-946-2620 jen@syringawellness.com and syringawellness.com.

Emily Neff/Lake Pend Oreille Neighbors Magazine

Before Emily Neff was a magazine publisher, she worked as an electrical engineer.

The change was sudden, she said,so much so that she didn’t have much time to think about it. But she knew she wanted to do something different.

“I was working and commuting every day. My family was worried about me. And I was kind of worried about me, with the commute every day,” she said.

So Neff went to training, and started her job as publisher for the Lake Pend Oreille Neighbors magazine, owned by Best Version Media. The hyper-local magazine runs on advertisements and is direct mailed to target markets, she said.

After a little over a year, Neff is doing some of everything, she said. Some of the stories she’s written have included business features, gift guides and ideas for birthday parties. She also has readers submit their own family feature, written by themselves.

The biggest challenge right now, she said, is that not everyone wants to advertise.

“I think I'm in the same boat as just about everybody else [during the pandemic],” she said. “So it's been definitely challenging.”

Despite those challenges, Neff is still looking ahead to future plans. A new magazine she’s planning, “Bonner and Boundary Business Connections” will allow businesses to advertise directly to other businesses, she said.

“I am 65% to print right now, and I just need a few more advertisers to get there. And it's going to be direct-mailed monthly to every business in Bonner and Boundary counties,” she said. “I'm really excited about that.”

Neff can be reached at 208-360-7937, eneff@bestversionmedia.com and on the Lake Pend Oreille Neighbors magazine Facebook page.

Kristine Rae

Before she started her myofascial release clinic, Kristine Rae spent 13 years working as a physical therapist.

She had been frustrated by seeing her patients’ having slow progress, or having them hit a wall altogether, she said.

During that time, she discovered myofascial release, a technique that involves gentle pressure and stretching to the fascia — a thin connective tissue that surrounds organs, blood vessels, bones, nerve fiber and muscles all parts of the body.

“The fascia responds to gentle sustained pressure and stretch,” Rae said. “It's a slow, gentle process with the tissue where I give it sort of the nudge or … give it almost like the guidance that it needs.”

Although scholarly research on myofascial release is still limited, Rae said her experience using it has been overwhelmingly positive since she started using it at the clinic she worked at.

“People were getting better, like right away,” she said.

Eventually, Rae started her own business to focus on myofascial release in addition to her work at a physical therapy office. Rae started a year and a half ago, before moving away shortly before the pandemic. Now having returned, she recently opened her own office.

Rae opened her clinic in May, and since then has had a lot of ups and downs in her practice. She had a lot of bookings when she first opened, then cancelations weeks later when many clients were exposed to COVID-19.

Business also slowed down when Rae implemented a mask policy after she was exposed to the COVID.

“My face is about 12 inches from their face when I'm working on their neck, and I usually work on someone's neck for 30 to 45 minutes,” she said. “So it's like, I feel like it's my job to protect my clients and myself and my family.”

Her biggest challenge outside of the pandemic, Rae said, is educating the public about what myofascial release is. Rae also has challenges with not being able to accept insurance, she said, but it does mean that most of her clients are very serious about taking care of their health.

“That's who I actually want to work with because they are the ones who are willing and open to receive this kind of work,” she said. “[It’s] different from traditional physical therapy. And it's more holistic. It's, it's structural, and it's physical, but it is also energetic. And I would even say spiritual in nature.”

Rae can be reached at 208-946-7072.

Laura Clemmons

After close to a decade dedicated to herbalism, complementary and alternative medicine, herbalist Laura Clemmons will be opening her own business in Sandpoint, Tendril Herbal Apothecary and Healing Center, in April.

In the past, Clemmons has studied Chinese Medicine and North American indigenous healing practices, she said.

Most of her work draws from traditional herbal medicine, Mayan healing techniques and Functional and Integrative modalities, she said. She believes physical, psychological, and spiritual issues are at the root cause of many health concerns.

Clemmons also puts a significant focus on nutrition, she said, which she said has a significant impact on overall health and well-being.

She expects her clients to be a mix of practitioners and traditional clients, she said, who she hopes to help in conjunction with other practitioners, doctors, nutritionists and therapists.

“I want people to feel like they are coming home when they step into the apothecary and healing center,” she wrote. “The saying goes that it takes a village to raise a child and I think it also takes a village to continue that care of one another beyond childhood.

Clemmons is currently accepting new clients, and specializes in women’s health including fertility issues, PMS, thyroid and adrenal function support. She is seeing clients at Embody Studios on Main Street and online via Zoom.

Clemmons can be reached at 720-380-9916.

Mickey Quinn

Mickey Quinn is in the business of working her way out of a job. That is to say, she’s a consultant.

Quinn, who’s made her home in Sandpoint since 1997, started her LLC in 2018. She works consulting individuals and companies locally and across the country.

Over the past few months, she said, she’s seen a huge increase in customers. Many have told her the pandemic was a “wake up call.”

“I feel the growth has come because people have had a lot of time to slow down and reflect on their lives, relationships, careers, and overall goals,” she wrote.

Before becoming a consultant, Quinn worked in various corporate offices for 30 years, including JCPenney, Barnes and Noble and Coldwater Creek.

“I loved mentoring and coaching my employees,” she said. “When I decided to start my own business, I wanted to focus on helping others achieve their goals.”

The biggest challenge in her work, Quinn said, is that making changes is hard for many of her clients. Sometimes people will know what they want, but not give themselves the chance to make that goal happen

Still, she said, she’s also seen her clients reach incredibly ambitious goals. In the past few months, Quinn has consulted with businesses remotely, including several that started at the beginning of 2020. Two of those businesses, she said, based in Chicago, Illinois, and Fargo, North Dakota, are brick-and-mortar retail stores.

“Though they were shut down for several weeks in March [and] April 2020, they are both doing better than they ever expected,” she wrote.

Quinn can be reached at 208-610-0342, mickey@mickeyquinnconsulting.com or mickeyquinnconsulting.com.

Dawn-Marie Hancock

Dawn-Marie Hancock’s favorite thing about her practice is helping her patients regain their health, energy and lifestyles she said.

As an occupational therapist of 30 years with 20 years of experience in myofascial release and lymphatic massage therapy, her work focuses on reducing pain, dysfunction and anxiety-related symptoms, she said.

“The fascial system and the lymphatic system are vitally important,” Hancock wrote. “They allow] our bodies to allow recovery from injury and illnesses and maintain a high lack of health and energy.”

Hancock started offering myofascial release and lymphatic massage therapy 17 years ago, she said. Since then, they have become the foundations of her practice. She also implements techniques including mindfulness, breath, exercise and visualization, she said.

“ Both of these treatments provide long-term benefits and continuous improvements for our bodies,” she wrote.

Two years ago, Hancock opened an office in Hayden. In September of last year, she opened another in Sandpoint.

Hancock works with people of all ages, from babies to elders. Her treatment cannot take the place of needed surgeries, she said, but can improve recovery time, reduce the severity of needed surgeries and prevent potential problems down the road.

The pandemic has had some effect on her business, Hancock said, but with medical guidelines in place, most of her clients have felt comfortable coming in for treatment.

“[They] often stated how beneficial it was to gain a sense of peace and relaxation during this time of stress due to COVID,” she wrote. “Most folks have had increased levels of anxiety, and anxiety symptoms such as decreased sleep, headaches, body aches and pain.”

Hancock can be reached at 208-389-8234, dawn@healingheartstogether.org or her website, healingheartstogether.org.

Lindsay Hollenback

In 2019, Lindsay Hollenback decided to buy So I Sew in Kootenai. In the spring of 2020 the business ran into challenges as she had few customers with the state’s shelter in place order. But those challenges also pushed her to expand her services.

“It was during that time that [my husband and I] decided to expand and offer knife and scissor sharpening and sewing machine repair,” Hollenback wrote. “The sewing machine repair was actually directly inspired by the pandemic; we had so many people calling trying to find a place to take their machines to be serviced, as many people were making masks and returning to hobby sewing.”

Now, despite those challenges, Hollenback said she and her husband, who co-owns the business, decided to stay open because of their passion for reducing waste.

The biggest challenge now, she said, has been keeping up with demand as more people come to her business. Currently, she’s working on changing the shop’s name to better reflect all of the services they offer.

Her favorite thing about being a business owner, Hollenback wrote, is connecting with the community.

“Being able to work alongside my husband has also been a huge blessing and lots of fun,” she wrote.

Hollenback can be reached at 208-263-2300, soisew7b@gmail.com or the So I Sew Facebook page.