Hoffman Estates entrepreneur hits home run with artistic furniture
Jennifer Hiser hit a home run with her new business in Hoffman Estates, 4Everly Adorned, where she paints artistic designs on furniture and other items.
She created a specially designed nightstand with the Chicago Cubs logo and other related images. It then sold for $700 at a charity raffle during Cubs Manager Joe Maddon's recent Try Not to Suck Celebrity Golf Classic.
The piece also included autographs from retired pitcher Kerry Wood, former pitcher Ryan Dempster, Joe Maddon and even Jennifer's father, Gene Hiser, a veteran Chicago Cubs outfielder during the 1970s.
"I've always been involved with the arts in some way," said Jennifer Hiser, 33.
Hiser interned at Seventeen Magazine in New York for three months while she finished her bachelor of arts from the Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago. After graduation, she was hired for a paid internship at Glamour Magazine in New York. While at Glamour, she earned a certificate in graphic and digital design at Parsons-The New School for Design. She then did some freelancing, including web design and graphics, until she became an assistant designer at Claire's in Hoffman Estates.
But her career shifted after she and her husband could not find the right furniture for their newborn daughter's bedroom. She designed her own furniture with one-of-a-kind designs and vibrant colors.
When she took the plunge as an entrepreneur, she also established a charitable connection after remembering her 2016 safari to South Africa. That's where she witnessed the plight of the rhinos, which were killed for their valuable horns.
"It was when I saw this one area where there were cross memorials," the animal lover said. "Each cross had the month and how many rhinos were killed. These poachers just want their horns and sometimes fly in during the night with helicopters and poach the animals."
She then merged her love of rhinos with her new business and now donates a percentage of the proceeds to Rhino Art, an initiative of Project Rhino, that raises awareness about the animals.
Since March, her artwork on furniture has "sold briskly," she said, with price tags ranging from a few hundred to more than $1,000, depending on the piece and whether it was a custom assignment.
"It's important to give back," she said.
Ad for awareness
Dawn Carlson, vice president of general medicine development and a researcher with AbbVie in North Chicago, is featured in new ads from America's Biopharmaceutical Companies. The ads shed light on the often overlooked disease and efforts to fight it. She is joined in the ad by Parker Lentini, a Florida teenager who has juvenile arthritis, an AbbVie spokesman tell us.
One of the best in Illinois
Rob Mondi, owner of Abby's Breakfast and Lunch in St. Charles, learned his restaurant was named one of the top 10 lunch places in Illinois by BestThingsIllinois.com. Mondi opened it in 2015. The mention characterizes Abby's as a "quiet, cozy place to have lunch in the St. Charles area," accenting the features and benefit of its recent expansion and remodel.
FastTracks
• Miriam Cooper of Arlington Heights said her Rolling Meadows law firm was selected as one of the 10 Best Law Firms in Illinois for client satisfaction.
• Jim Blake of Wheaton is the new director of property tax services in CBRE's Midwestern Valuation and Advisory Group based in Chicago.
•Kay Whitlock, vice president at Rosemont-based Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd., was named to the National Research Council's Water Science and Technology Board, which operates under the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
• Simha Kumar is the new executive vice president and chief operating officer at FTD Companies Inc. in Downers Grove. Kumar will lead the company's U.S. consumer businesses, including FTD.com, ProFlowers, Shari's Berries and Personal Creations.
• Mary Lou Savino is cutting the ribbon Thursday at her Be Fit! physical therapy and Pilates business in Downers Grove. She is a licensed physical therapist assistant and a certified Pilates instructor who integrates Pilates exercises with physical therapy treatments.
• There's more to business than just the bottom line. We want to tell you about the people who make business work. Send news about people in business to akukec@dailyherald.com. Follow Anna Marie Kukec on LinkedIn and Facebook and as AMKukec on Twitter.