Seasoned & Savvy  

I’ve stepped into a new season, infusing my years of personal and professional experience with my artful and imaginative skills. As a business creatives coach, I’m excited to engage and empower talented women, accelerating their ability to build thriving businesses they love. I invite you to visit BizCreatv to learn more and the Creatv Catalyst for business coaching program specifics and to connect with me.

The interesting backstory of Red & Rugged…

From a young age, both “Rugged” and I have been hard-working individuals, doing what it takes to create opportunities and deliver a quality experience.

As the “Red” in this duo, I began delivering newspapers in sixth grade, having no idea it was the start of a long connection to content. “Rugged” began mowing lawns and shoveling snow in Pennsylvania, just a few miles from me, although we didn’t know each other then. We were both serving customers at a young age when you could still go door to door and work for your neighbors.

Growing up, I started writing in notebooks and exchanging them with friends as we documented our challenges and triumphs. This creative passion remained a constant. I started in business with a traditional corporate route: promoted from sales to business development to management until I made the life-changing transition to work for a strategic-backed start-up company. I quickly learned how much I loved the entrepreneurial community. From that point forward, I decided to remain close to that community for the rest of my work life. I launched my first business to write and promote news about regional entrepreneurs and disseminate that content via a sophisticated database. I then added events and launched a magazine distributed nationally – all things I had never done before. Venture capital groups hired me to assist young companies in their portfolios en route to acquisition.

I developed a deep background in working with entrepreneurs, investors, economic development, and community leaders. This network led to opportunities to launch and build multi-million dollar regional innovation communities - creating the infrastructure and attracting the talent to invest in, identify, and support strong entrepreneurial teams. Each regional organization became a nationally recognized platform.

Meanwhile, our family began to travel, attend art shows, visit main streets, and meet artisans around the country. Our artisan network grew, as did our interest in spending more time in this inspiring atmosphere. In 2017, we took the bold step to use our knowledge and skills in more fulfilling and creative business endeavors. We launched Red & Rugged to create luxurious, one-of-a-kind artisan gift experiences.

We grew Red & Rugged for seven years, expanding our artisan network and attracting discerning individuals and renowned companies who valued handcrafted, luxurious gifts. We are proud and humbled to have built lasting relationships in our artisan community and with global executives, esteemed hospitality professionals, and boutique business owners. In August 2024, Rugged retired fully to enjoy the freedom to fish, hunt, golf, cook (make pizza!), and travel with me.

This wealth of experience has led to my natural next step: infusing my years of personal and professional experience with my artful and imaginative skills. As a business creatives coach, I am excited to engage with talented women, accelerating their ability to build thriving businesses they love.

As for Rugged, he followed an accomplished corporate path for 40 years as a senior field engineer with his impressive aptitude for technical details, learning on the fly, working with his hands, and stellar customer service recognition. In addition to his full-time job, he led the custom craftsmanship at Red & Rugged, ensuring only beautiful, quality, handcrafted pieces were delivered to our clients. In December 2023, Rugged retired from his corporate role - earlier than planned, which you can read about in our blog, The Surprise Big Finish. He retired fully in the summer of 2024.