Category Archives: Women In Business

Maria Billis is an independent consultant for Young Living Essential Oils.

©2016 Saratoga Photographer.com

By Jennifer Farnsworth

Maria Billis just might have the key to success. She lives the mantra that if you believe in what you are doing, and love doing it, then success will follow.

This Saratoga business woman was once the owner of a popular restaurant before she made a career change, which has led her to being a powerful entrepreneur.

Billis works as an independent consultant for Young Living Essential Oils, a wellness company that focuses on both the aspects of physical and emotional healthy living through everyday products. The company is centered around nature’s living energy, while allowing its consultants to enjoy a financial rewards program by selling its products.

Billis said she became involved with the company through a trusted friend.

“A close friend of mine gave me the Young Living Wellness products as a gift and I fell in love with them. Wellness has always been an integral part of my life and after sharing both the products and business opportunity, I knew this was would be both amazing and exciting and that I would be very successful at it,” said Billis.

Jennifer Ricupero, owner of RAW Fitness in Saratoga Springs

©2016 Saratoga Photographer.com

By Lisa Balschunat

Four years ago, Jennifer Ricupero packed her bags and her business in Tampa and headed back home to the Capital Region. With three degrees in hand–a master’s in education, bachelor’s in recreation and leisure management, and minor in business administration, and years of experience as a fitness director in Vermont, Florida and then Albany–Ricupero landed in Saratoga Springs with an intention and a business plan to help people feel better about themselves through physical activities and recreation.

“When I started RAW Fitness, I wanted to get people outdoors. Deep down we all crave to be outside,” she said. “It’s human nature. The idea of RAW was and still is being ‘ready and willing’ to find a physical activity that makes you happy, then weaving physical and mental goals into that activity to develop the body as a whole.”

At first, some of her classes were held in a studio, but most were held outdoors–on a path, in the woods, in Congress Park, in a client’s backyard.

In 2012, Ricupero, an AFAA-certified fitness professional, opened RAW Fitness on Beekman Street in a small rented garage space, that she transformed it into a workout studio. She offered only three classes at the onset, but as word got out about her energetic and down-to-earth style of teaching, her classes started to filled.

She outgrew the 300-square-foot space in six months. She moved in April 2014, and then again in September 2015 to her present location at 51 Caroline St. RAW Fitness now employs five part-time instructors and two-full time staff. All instructors are certified in CPR, First Aid and AED, and they complete a one-month RAW instructor training, Ricupero said.

“Most of my instructors were in my classes before they decided they wanted to teach,” she said. “When they begin teaching they follow the basic vision of RAW, but they can build own class personality.”

Heather Howley is the owner of Independent Helicopters.

©2016 Saratoga Photographer.com

By Susan E. Campbell

Adventurous young women often make their dreams take flight by starting their own businesses. For Heather Howley, taking flight literally means putting a 1,500-pound helicopter into the air every day.

Howley is chief pilot and CEO of Independent Helicopters, a flight services company she founded in 2008 at age 25.

Originally from Niskayuna and educated at Hudson Valley Community College, Howley was in California working in her field of study, biology, when she decided to follow up on a new-found interest in flying that unfolded while traveling through Europe.

She took a flying course at a community college in San Diego, where her female instructor and mentor suggested piloting helicopters rather than planes “because the industry is more stable than the airlines.”

But it was a free ride for the helicopter students that changed her life.

“I was hooked,” Howley said.

By Jill Nagy

Violet’s of Saratoga, a women’s clothing and accessories store at 494 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, reopened in February after a major makeover. Owner Laura Farrar-Pileckas plans a party on March 10 to show off the new look and celebrate the reopening.

In the meantime, the shop is fully stocked and open for business.

Violet’s has “a fresh new feel,” more modern and plush, with new furnishings and light fixtures, as well as a few new brands of merchandise, according to Pilleckas. “I’m excited about the season coming up,” she said, and she hopes that customers will share her enthusiasm.

Pileckas opened Violet’s nine years ago as a women’s clothing store. A few years later, she opened Stella’s, a women’s shoe store. The two were later combined into the store at its present site in the Collamer Building, near the Saratoga Springs City Hall.

Pileckas said that she “always loved fashion” and also enjoyed business, including working in retail. She has a bachelors degree in finance and worked for five years in that field in Boston.

Then, she “decided to become an entrepreneur. … I couldn’t see myself sitting at a desk for the rest of my life.”

BY MAUREEN WERTHER

Country Corner Café on Church Street in Saratoga Springs is celebrating its 25th year, and owner Roseann Hotaling couldn’t be happier with the business she has created.

In 1991, she opened the 19-seat café, catering to the early morning working crowd. The mother of a three-year old and a kindergartener, Hotaling managed to arrive at the café by 5 a.m. and open the doors for business at 6 a.m. By 8 a.m., she would change and head over to her full-time job as director of food service for the Saratoga Springs City School District.

This routine lasted for 14 years, and in 2005 Hotaling made the decision to leave the school district and devote her energy full-time to the café. She opened a second location on High Rock Avenue in Saratoga Springs.

Two and a half years after opening the High Rock location, Hotaling was offered the opportunity to expand the Church Street location and jumped at the chance. The additional space tripled the seating capacity. For the next couple of years, she was, in effect, running three businesses–the original café, the expanded dining room next door, and the High Rock location.

Although the High Rock café was equally successful, “things just got too crazy,” said Hotaling. When the lease expired there, she did not renew. She focused on the expanded Church Street business.

BY MAUREEN WERTHER

Kimberly Harbour knows that, regardless of the type of business you own, an understanding of how business works is vital to success.

With B. Couture Fashions in Ballston Lake, Harbour has combined her business and marketing expertise with her love of fashion to create a successful retail company.

B. Couture Fashions carries Carlisle-Etcetera, an exclusive luxury line of clothing and accessories catering to the busy woman who needs to keep current with her wardrobe, but who doesn’t have the time or the inclination to go from department store to department store in search of items that fit and look great.

Harbour, who has a degree in business and marketing from Skidmore College, began her career in retail, and later opened her own public relations firm. She was a longtime client of B. Couture before she was approached by the former owner to purchase the business.

She took over in January 2014 and has been doing great ever since. B. Couture already had a loyal following and Harbour continues to attract new customers. Her marketing and PR skills have been a huge help to her in her efforts, but her biggest challenge is getting people to make that initial appointment.

Vicki Ure, an interior decorator for 25 years, opened her first Victoria’s Corner shop in Malta. Now she owns and operates three such shops, in Clifton Park, Ballston Spa and Glens Falls.©2016 Saratoga Photographer.com

BY MAUREEN WERTHER

Vicki Ure has been an interior decorator for 25 years, originally occupying space in Malta Commons, but thirteen years ago she moved to the mall in Clifton Park.

Her professional reputation and the popularity of her Victoria’s Corner shop increased rapidly, prompting expansion to a second studio at 20 Learned St. in Albany in March 2015.

Last July, she opened a third studio in Glens Falls.

The Glens Falls Shirt Factory, 71 Lawrence St., Glens Falls, is home to the latest expansion of Victoria’s Corner.

In 2003, Ure left the mall and worked out of her home for about seven years in order to raise her family and care for her mother.

In 2013, She decided to open Victoria’s Corner at 252 Milton Ave. in Ballston Spa. It proved to be an ideal location for Ure, especially since her services have expanded to include reviving and re-purposing old and heirloom furnishings and accessories. Ballston Spa is a popular destination for antiques and antiques lovers.

Ure offers a complete menu of design and interior decorating services at all of her locations, including custom window treatments, upholstery and slipcovers, as well as refurbishing, reviving, and reinventing old furniture, lamps, dishware, and other decorative accessories.

Marcia J. White, president and executive director of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), is stepping down from her job at the end of 2016, SPAC’s 50th anniversary season.

This will be her 12th summer season at SPAC.

Hon. Susan Phillips Read, a retired associate judge of the state Court of Appeals and chairwoman of SPAC’s board of directors, said during the upcoming summer’s golden anniversary season, SPAC will “celebrate our many visionary leaders since 1966. Marcia is certainly one of them. Her imprint will remain long after her tenure at SPAC ends.”

“It has been a privilege and a joy of my life to lead, serve, and work for one of the most extraordinary performing arts centers in the world,” White said in February. “The Saratoga Performing Arts Center has enriched and enhanced the quality of life for millions of people since its founding 50 years ago. I have been truly blessed to have had the unique opportunity to work with SPAC’s passionate board, dedicated staff and the greater Capital Region Community, and I am immensely proud of all that we have accomplished together.”

She came to SPAC just prior to the 40th anniversary season, “and feel that the ideal time to depart is at the conclusion of SPAC’s 50th anniversary celebration season. While I feel my energies leading me in new directions, it’s with deeply bitter-sweet emotion that I announce my decision to leave SPAC,” said White.

White became president and executive director of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in March of 2005. With a leadership style developed during 20 years as a top-level political advisor and public relations strategist in the state Legislature, she ushered in a new era for SPAC, characterized by a strengthened financial picture, historic capital improvements, a robust educational focus, and artistic excellence, SPAC officials said.