Entrepreneurial Harmony: Lisa and Heather Share Their Achievement Story

As part of the Early morning Lazziness sequence spotlighting pair entrepreneurs who have built corporations with each other, we have the pleasure of interviewing Lisa and Heather.

About Co-Founders:

Lisa Casoni brings a prosperity of product sales and promoting working experience from renowned organizations like Coldwell Banker, Giorgio Armani, and Prada. Her function as Communications and Promoting Supervisor at Promises Resource Solutions in Campbell, CA, from 2005 to 2010 showcased her prowess. Relocating to Ojai, CA, in 2010, she co-established the Ojai Artwork Competition in 2013 and, later that calendar year, partnered with Heather Stobo to establish The Porch Gallery Ojai in the historic John Montgomery Residence. In 2015, Lisa and Heather established Porch Girls Productions, an endeavor representing emerging and recognized artists although making inventive events across the Ojai Valley.

Heather Stobo, an accomplished artist and gallerist, retains levels in Artwork Record (BA), Photography (BFA), and Images (MFA) from Denison College, the San Francisco Artwork Institute, and the California Institute of the Arts, respectively. Her photographic collection have graced group and solo exhibitions in San Francisco and Los Angeles. With a occupation spanning artwork-associated roles since 1992, including positions at Crown Place Press and Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts, Heather’s intensive track record culminated in the institution of Porch Ladies Productions in 2013 alongside Lisa Casoni. Collectively, they curate, deal with, and generate artwork-similar exhibitions and activities, overseeing the acclaimed Porch Gallery Ojai.

About Beato Candies:

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Beato Chocolates, an artisan chocolate business, draws inspiration from the legendary artist Beatrice “Beato” Wood, affectionately acknowledged as the Mama of Dada. As an all-female enterprise, Beato Candies merges the worlds of art and confectionery, employing Beato’s unique artwork to craft witty and irreverent packaging for their delectable and ethically sourced chocolates. The identify “Beato” is utilised with permission from the Beatrice Wood Centre for the Arts in Ojai, CA, reflecting a harmonious blend of artistic homage and delectable treats.

What encouraged each of you to undertaking into entrepreneurship together?

Lisa: It appeared at the time to be a mix of a normal development of wherever we both of those were in our life and going to Ojai. We took advantage of an opportunity we ended up specified and the timing of it. We also thought we experienced the blended skill sets to place us in the finest situation to realize success.

Heather: In 2013, Lisa and I started off the Porch Gallery with each other. It was meant to be a facet project…something enjoyment to do. Inside 6 months, the two of us had stop our other careers to concentration on the gallery complete time that path ultimately led us to the artist Beatrice “Beato” Wooden and the chocolate business. 

How do your particular person strengths complement each and every other in your enterprise?

Heather: Lisa is an “idea person” and I am the realistic 1. Lisa never ever anticipates any complications. I start off scheduling for them months in progress, ordinarily at 3:00 in the early morning.

Can you share a unforgettable second or achievement that you the two cherish in your entrepreneurial journey?

Lisa: One of the issues that means the most to me in our entrepreneurial journey is that it received started off at all. Heather and I were being running a profitable artwork gallery in downtown Ojai in an historic making. At the conclusion of 2017, we were in the method of shopping for the building when we had been compelled to evacuate since of a main fire and nearly shed our making. When we returned to Ojai five times later on, we made a decision to honor a single of Ojai’s most famous artists (Beatrice Wood) by starting up a chocolate company in the building as an extension of our gallery. We were able to not only tell a great artwork tale, but also keep her legacy alive through chocolate (a little something that she famously liked) and current it in a way that is quite creative and brings us a good deal of joy. We also feel incredibly supported by our nearby community as nicely as our on-line group.

Heather: In the “you never know what you experienced till its long gone class,” the Porch Gallery. When we closed its doorways in April 2023, we realized what a group hub we experienced produced. For months later on, Lisa and I could not leave the home with no a person stopping us to let us know how a great deal they skipped the house. 

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How do you navigate the stability amongst your personal and experienced life as a pair in small business?

Lisa: It is not straightforward for the reason that it can be all consuming if you allow it. I delight in mountaineering, getting out in nature, reading, meditating, observing stay songs, driving my bike or driving around town in our golf cart delivering our chocolates to regional buyers and assembly up with buddies. Heather loves cold plunging, working out, crafting, studying, heading on her once-a-year girl’s journeys. It is significant to have our have retailers. We invest so a great deal time with each other that it is great to have other places of interest to delight in.

Heather: As Lisa described, we have a large amount of independent pursuits, but I would say that the week hyperlink in our partnership is our inability to distinguish among our individual and specialist lives.

In challenging occasions, how do you support and motivate each other to maintain pushing ahead?

Lisa: We’ve gone through some quite demanding times around the previous few yrs like the Thomas Fireplace, most just lately a hurricane and earthquake in the same working day, various Covid-19 shutdowns, flooding and the decline of near spouse and children members. We are grateful to be equipped to lean on every other, buddies, household and our neighborhood to enable us get via it. For instance, Beato Chocolates was designed for the reason that of the experience we experienced evacuating for five times when the Thomas Hearth surrounded the city.

Heather:  We are equally really superior at pivoting. I’m not certain if it is hubris or naivete, but both equally of us definitely believe that we can make everything function. 

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What is the division of roles and tasks like in your enterprise partnership?

Lisa: It’s been fairly uncomplicated because we started our company. I tackle activities, income and marketing and advertising and Heather handles the technical elements like site,billing, purchasing, and coordinating with vendors.

Heather:  I just take care of all the things that starts and finishes with a spreadsheet. Just about anything that will involve smiling and conversing is Lisa’s territory. 

Have you encountered any substantial troubles as a couple in company, and how did you defeat them?

Lisa: Issues in modest enterprise are a consistent. There are usually things that occur up that you have to deal with. Supply chain difficulties, cost of items, personnel retention, electrical power outages, you name it. You have to find out to be versatile and artistic in adversity simply because which is component of it. It is not what comes about, it’s how you shift by it in a way that doesn’t de-rail you and your eyesight.

Heather: When we experienced the gallery, some artists would engage in us off every single other. We have this sort of distinct personalities, that some people today quickly figured out that if I said “no,” there was a great opportunity Lisa would say “yes.” 

What function does effective communication engage in in your entrepreneurial relationship?

Lisa: It plays a large job. If you are not eager to listen to the other person’s place of check out, even if you disagree with it, then you shut oneself off to other methods of thinking that you could not have even thought of. When you are in a imaginative business, it is enjoyable to bounce issues off of each individual other and also your co-employees and pals. We have a circle of good friends and organization owners who we product or service examination and share suggestions with all the time and we know they have our ideal interests at heart.  It would make the journey even a lot more exciting when you can do it together and celebrate each and every other’s successes and also be there for each individual other when it does not go so nicely.

Heather: There is no way to have a great business and romantic romance without conversation.

How do you rejoice successes, both massive and tiny, inside of your small business and personalized lifestyle?

Lisa: You can evaluate success in several different strategies. There are instances when everything is likely smooth and you get calls from purchasers expressing how a lot they really like your merchandise and when you get created up in a nationwide publication and orders just pour in. It’s also individually rewarding that we made one thing that didn’t exist in advance of that people have responded to and supported from the really commencing.  We also adore the people today we get to perform with and use each and every day.  That tends to make life even that substantially sweeter and more satisfying.

Heather: Lisa and I invest some time functioning with each other that, when it arrives to celebrations, we like to share our pleasure with our friends. 

Can you share any advice for other couples looking at entrepreneurship with each other?

Lisa: It is not for the faint of coronary heart. There will be lots of worries and most people find it easier to perform for a organization that they can leave behind at the close of the day. Having your have business enterprise is a 7 working day a week motivation. Even if you are not open up, you’re working in some ability to make improvements to or help other entrepreneurs like your self. It is a way of lifetime.

Heather: Strap your self in, it’s heading to be a wild trip.