Algonquin dentist all smiles with book, activities
Audrey Sim of Algonquin has been marking off items from her so-called bucket list. Learning to play the piano, check. Play with brother on PlayStation 3, check. Visit Japan and have lunch with geishas, sing karaoche and ride the Bullit train, check.
Cowrite a book. Well, it wasn’t on the list. But it has since been added and may even be expanded.
Sim, the owner of the All Smiles By Dr. Audrey dental practice in Algonquin, has written a chapter in the recently published book, “Healthy Input: America’s Leading Dentists Reveal the Secret Truths to a Healthy Body, Starting with What You Put in Your Mouth!” She’s one of eight authors. She did chapter 4 called “The Power of Your Smile” with advice and guidelines on the power of cosmetic dentistry.
She also will be recognized by The National Academy of Best-Selling Authors, an organization that honors authors from many of the leading independent best-sellers lists.
“I’ve always enjoyed writing, so when this opportunity came to me, I found that it was one of those things,” she said. “I thought about it for a couple of months, then one night, I stayed up late and just wrote it.”
The book was released in January and in one day, “Healthy Input” reached best-seller status in nine Amazon.com categories in the United States and Canada.
The lead on the book was dental marketing expert Chris Griffin. She met him during a conference and admired his out-of-the-box advice for dental practices.
“I came across his booth and he was handing out these cinnamon hearts,” she recalled. “And I thought that was something. Here he is giving away something for free, so he must really believe in his product. And he was very friendly and outgoing.”
She didn’t grow up wanting to be a dentist. In fact, she was studying microbiology in college when she was about to graduate and was sweeping the floor in a lab with test tubes. When she asked the professor when things would become more exciting, he said “You’re looking at it. This is the rush hour,” she recalled.
She then decided to get into a more interactive profession because she enjoyed talking and helping people, she said.
Since she loved science and working with people, she immediately discussed her options with a guidance counselor. She decided to try dentistry, took the admission tests at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and was admitted.
“There’s no going back now,” she said.
And she didn’t. “I love what I do,” she said.
<h3 class="briefHead">Enabling the chocoholic </h3>
Chef Alain Roby, owner of All Chocolate Kitchen in Geneva, this week will create whimsical chocolate creations, including 2 1/2-foot tall bunnies made with Grand-cru chocolate, sugar-blown robin’s nests with a chocolate truffle egg inside, and chocolate eggs with sugar-blown bows and smaller Grand-cru chocolate bunnies.
<h3 class="briefHead">Peapod a ‘greener’ grocer</h3>
Andrew Parkinson, Peapod president and general manager, said the Skokie-based online grocer is piloting a fleet of green delivery vehicles that run on co-called clean fuel sources, including compressed natural gas and liquid propane. In the Northwest suburbs, select Peapod trucks are fueling up on propane autogas that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
<h3 class="briefHead">Entrepreneurs start review site</h3>
Godard Abel of Lake Forest, Matt Gorniak of Vernon Hills, and Mark Meyers of Beach Park are among the leaders behind the new G2 Crowd, a website for business software reviews. It provides search engines for businesses that look like Yelp and lets them see what people are rating products, from anti-virus software to new instant messaging products.
<h3 class="briefHead">FastTrack</h3>
Jim Brizzolara, HydraForce president and CEO, said the Lincolnshire-based company will expand with a 142,000-square-foot Innovation and Technology Center in The Corporate Woods in Vernon Hills. HydraForce also will move more than 100 engineering, sales and marketing staff to the new location, which will be the epicenter of the company’s product research, development and testing efforts. HydraForce also has facilities in China and the United Kingdom.
Brian Tompkins, director of marketing of Proxima Division, and David Greenberg, executive vice president of strategy, at Mundelein-based Medline, were in New York City recently to ring the closing bell for Nasdaq. ... Andrew Limouris, CEO and president of Medix Staffing Solutions Inc., said the national staffing organization has been named to Inavero’s 2013 Best of Staffing Client list of award winners. ...
Branch Office Administrator Betty Krusell retired after 19 years, while financial adviser Bob Darnall welcomes Michele Sheahan, who brings 30 years of experience in the financial services and banking fields at Edward Jones in Geneva.
Cheryl Frommelt was promoted to clinical director of Fox Valley Institute in Naperville. ... Arlington Heights resident Patrick M. Ennes is the new project engineer at Skokie-based The Missner Group. ... Michael J. Carpanzano starts March 11 as the new president and CEO of the Bolingbrook Area Chamber of Commerce. ... Atul Bhatnagar is the new president and CEO of Rolling Meadows-based Cambium Networks, a provider of IP wireless broadband access and transport solutions. ... Matt Del Diudice joins Allstate Eggar Insurance Agency Inc. in Geneva as a licensed insurance producer.
Real estate agent Christine Jakubowski has joined Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Downers Grove. ... Melanie DeVos, of Carpentersville, has been promoted to vice president of client services, property and casualty at Assurance in Schaumburg. ... Evanston resident Stopher Bartol, president and CEO of Legacy.com which launched in 1998, has won an award in the innovation category at the Member Leadership Awards at the Think Big Vistage International Conference. ... Jay Farnam joined Rosemont-based Lee & Associates as a senior associate.
Dale Pollak, founder of vAuto in Oak Brook and pioneer of the Velocity Method of Inventory Management, released his new book, “Velocity Overdrive: The Road to Reinvention.” ... Meatheads Founder and CEO Tom Jednorowicz will be opening the company’s 11th restaurant in Elmhurst on March 11th. This is one of five locations expected to open in 2013. ... Realtor Sue Wiskowski-Fair has joined Realty Executives Premiere in Wheaton. ... Fred Hoch, president and CEO of the Illinois Technology Association, said the group is now accepting nominations for its 2013 CityLIGHTS Awards, which usually includes a number of suburban tech companies.
Ray Brownfield, principal at LandPro, will become managing broker, and will be joined by Sandra Dockus, who will be director of operations, at LandPro LLC, a farm management and real estate company that has recently moved in Oswego. It’s a full-service land real estate company offering real estate brokerage services for agricultural properties.
Karen Eng of Schaumburg-based KAE Consultants Inc., Karen Wilson of Oakbrook Terrace-based Make Corp., and Craig Zoberis of Burr Ridge-based Fusion Systems Inc. are among the entrepreneurs being inducted at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. The gala will be at 5:30 p.m. on March 14 at the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. ... Wilmette resident Sandy Villesvik recently joined MB Financial Bank as managing director of MB Capital Markets at in downtown Chicago. Glen Ellyn resident Thomas J. Carmody also joined MB Financial as first vice president, field credit manager, in downtown Chicago.
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