Suburban women entrepreneurs seek to clean up with new business

Two suburban women were in search of making their lives simpler and less cluttered and ended up creating a business.

Mary Beth Wright of St. Charles and Donelle Duvall of Geneva are both married and have small children. They quickly realized how complicated homes can get with a lot of “stuff” collected over the years.

That's what led to their creation of Simblissity.org, an online business that helps homeowners to get more organized, downsize or move.

“Donelle and I have been friends for the last 7 years,” Wright said. “We met when our children were in kindergarten together. About eight months ago, we were at a mutual friend's home having some wine and talking about, in a nut shell, ‘What next?' Our kids are getting older and we were ready to start the next chapter in our professional lives since we had both chosen to primarily stay at home.”

Duvall was doing some consulting work and Wright had taught some college courses. But the majority of their time had consisted of being stay-at-home moms. The conversation turned to their need to organize their basements, to how much Wright enjoyed helping people with those types of tasks, and to Duvall saying how that actually could be a profession.

“From that night grew many more conversations that crystallized our belief that this business could be fun and viable,” Wright said.

To be able to purge unnecessary things from your life is a tough thing to do, especially when you collect a lot of stuff over the years.

“More is less,” Duvall said. “There's a trend in our society that we should enjoy what we all have.”

With the downturn in the economy, they believed people were moving away from the desire to constantly be in the state of acquiring things.

“De-stressing has moved up on the to do list and a major way to accomplish this is to organize our home and work spaces in a way that makes us feel relaxed and in control of our surroundings,” Wright said. “Also, some people are downsizing into living spaces that are more affordable and easy to take care of day to day.”

The business name, Simblissity, originated from the idea that when one “simplifies” one's life, he or she can create “bliss” in their daily life, the women said.

“Our goal is to grow the business so that we can hire other local stay-at-home moms or anyone else who could benefit from earning some extra income. Since we have both lived locally for over a decade and are raising our families here, we would also like to partner up with local charities, such as the food bank, or a place like Lazurus House and run specials that tie our company earnings to financial donations. We believe that as a company, we can be both successful and mindful of helping out crucial organizations,” Wright said.

Investing in the future

Doug McConnell, a newly elected member of the board of the Les Turner ALS Foundation, has a personal investment in the organization. His father was diagnosed in 1994, at age 63, with ALS and died in 2006. Other family members also have the disease. McConnell, who lives in Barrington, has his own investment firm, Halyard Capital Advisors.

Home is where Beckman is

Barbara Beckman marks 10 years as executive director for Habitat for Humanity of Northern Fox Valley. During that time, the group has built or rehabbed about 50 homes. Outside of the area, she has helped to build homes in South Africa, Mexico, India and Thailand, among other places. Later this month, she and other volunteers will travel to Guatemala to build two homes.

Tops in management

Janel Larson of Aurora, the general manager of Culver's in Bolingbrook, earned the Excellence in Leadership Award from Culver's Restaurants at its annual convention in Phoenix. The award is given to the company's top performing general managers, based on sales growth, guest satisfaction, community involvement and food safety. The Bolingbrook restaurant opened in February 2003 and Larson has been its general manager since January 2009.

FastTrack

Justin Smith of Chicago opens The LAX Shop at 115 W. Ogden Ave., in Naperville's North Town Plaza. He opened the first store last April in Chicago. The store offers lacrosse equipment and apparel. A former all-star lacrosse player and coach, Smith is a 1993 graduate of Lake Forest High School, where he earned high school lacrosse all-American honors and three times was named to the Illinois all-state team.

Dr. Frederick Schuster and his Total Athleticare in Schaumburg has become the official chiropractor of the Schaumburg Boomers. Schuster also had served as a paramedic/fireman in the Northwest suburbs for about 10 years before entering chiropractic school. ... Charlotte M.E. Kremer, a native of the Netherlands, has joined Astellas Scientific and Medical Affairs to lead the company's Global Medical Affairs, based in Deerfield.

After 26 years, Wheaton dermatologists Moira Ariano and Arthur Gray have moved their practice to the Danada Professional Center at 2323 N. Naperville Road, Naperville. ... Richard Davies is the new chief commercial officer at Lake Forest-based Hospira Inc. He was born and raised in the United Kingdom. ... Sue Markgraf, president and founder of GreenMark Public Relations Inc. in Mundelein is now the immediate past president of the Publicity Club of Chicago. David Brimm, president of BrimmComm Inc. in Deerfield is the group's new treasurer.

A number of suburban workers at Verizon Wireless have been named to the company's President's Cabinet. The honor is for those ranking in the top 1 percent nationally in sales during 2011. They include Ali Hussain of Hoffman Estates, a retail sales representative in Lake Zurich; Barry Keeley of Bolingbrook, an associate director in Schaumburg; Chad Repp of Woodstock, manager solutions architect in Schaumburg; Raquel Ferrante of Huntley, retail sales representative in Lake of the Hills; Risa Unterberger of Palatine, assistant retail sales manager in Vernon Hills; Stephanie Dy of Bolingbrook, manager of business sales in Schaumburg; and Tim Hamrey of St. Charles, manager of business sales in Schaumburg.

Jeffrey Persin on Libertyville was named first vice president of commercial banking at MB Financial Bank located in Vernon Hills. ... Kristina Garcia, owner of Cradles & All in Geneva, marks 7 years in business. ... Nancy Manisco of St. Charles was promoted from senior wine consultant to team leader at WineShop at Home. ... Mary Pulsifer of Clarendon Hills, is a retired teacher who now volunteers at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital. She works in the post-anesthesia recovery unit where patients wake up after surgery.

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