Women in Business: New in Town
Corrections or additions?
This article was prepared for the February 6, 2002 edition of U.S.
1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
On the Move: Women in Business – Start-Ups
Alison Donald and Kate Kaeli are laying the foundation
for kma events LLC, a corporate event planning business. They are
filling their days with visits to vendors and potential clients. The
two women met at McCarter Theater last year after growing disenchanted
with corporate life in the big city.
Donald had been a commuter, taking the train from Princeton to her
job in the communications department of American Express, where she
planned sales meetings and other events. A 1994 graduate of Penn
State,
she had moved to American Express after a stint at a similar job at
Prudential in Newark.
Working in the city has advantages, she says, including a choice of
high-paying corporate jobs. But, newly married to Tim Donald, who
works for Blue Cross/Blue Shield in Newark, she found commuting to
New York left her little time or energy for enjoying her life in
Princeton.
Meanwhile, Kaeli, a 1995 graduate of Radford University, was both
living in New York and working there. The daughter and sister of
Salomon
Smith Barney stock brokers, she had worked for that firm, and also
for Alliance Capital, in event planning. A native of Rumson, she was
ready to leave New York and return to life in a small New Jersey town.
Both women came to McCarter at about the same time, Donald as the
theater’s manager of special events, and Kaeli as director of its
annual fund. Each took a 50 percent pay cut to make the switch, but
felt the quality-of-life improvement outweighed the salary reduction.
At McCarter, the two worked together closely on events for donors,
and soon started talking about going out on their own. They plan to
spend the next few months building a client base among area
corporations
and non-profits and learning how to run a business. “We already
know about event planning,” says Donald. “Now we have to learn
about marketing, sales, and accounting.”
KMA Events LLC, Box 492, Princeton 08542.609-924-1440;fax, 609-688-0773. Home page: www.kmaevents.comTop Of PageWomen in Business: New in TownMelissa Tenzer opened the 24th office of Careers USA,a personnel agency, at 3371 Route 1 in Lawrence on January 7. ACareersUSA employee for the past seven years, her last position was regionalvice president of the Boca Raton, Florida-based company, responsiblefor its operations in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.Tenzer made the leap to business ownership because of “less traveland more money.” Hers is the first franchise that Careers USA,a privately held, woman-owned business, has granted since theearly-1990’s.The company, with branches from Maine to Florida, fills a middle nichein the industry. It is larger than many mom and pop staffing agencies,but smaller than a number of national firms. Within three years sheplans to open offices in North Brunswick and New York City.Careers USA specializes in placing support personnel with accountingfirms and law offices, but also works in other industries. It handlesdirect hire, temp to permanent, and temp positions.Tenzer, who studied marketing at Rider (Class of 1994), has been inthe staffing business long enough to see the employment market doa couple of quick flips. By the late-’90s, even marginal jobcandidateswere hard to find as employers faced one of the toughest hiringclimatesin memory. Then, suddenly, an economic downturn hit, and, once again,employment became a buyer’s market.Says Tenzer of staffing circa winter 2002. “You have to beproactivein establishing relationships with employers. You have to beaggressivewith price.” She advertises for job seekers on Monster.com andin local newspapers, and is finding plenty of people eager to landa job. The bulk of applicants, she says, were recently downsized outof jobs.Commitment-shy employers, not sure where the economy is headed, areshowing a decided preference for long-term temporary workers. Jobcandidates, Tenzer says, often have to be willing to accept atemporaryassignment to get a foot in the door. Employers, she says, are nowfinding it “a lot easier to find the right person.”Careers USA, 3371 Route 1, Lawrence Commons,Lawrenceville 08648. Melissa Tenzer, president. 609-919-9100;fax, 609-919-9101. Www.careersusa.comTop Of PageChildren’s HealthThe Children’s Health Environmental Coalition is aboutto launch E-House at its Internet site, www.checnet.com The non-profitwas founded in California by Nancy Chuda, who lost her daughter anon-genetic cancer she believes the child contracted through exposureto environmental toxins. Two years ago, Elizabeth Sword agreed tobecome CHEC’s executive director, and the non-profit’s headquartersmoved to Princeton, at 145 Witherspoon Street.The organization exists to educate parents, caregivers, and healthprofessionals about the dangers common toxins hold for young childrenand for the unborn. Maureen Marchetta, a trained microbiologist andthe organization’s program director, points out that children aremore vulnerable than adults not only because of their small size andimmature nervous systems, but also because they live differently.”Children roll around in the grass,” she says. They also crawlon carpets, and have been known to lick crumbs from kitchen floorsand to gnaw on windowsills. These activities put children at greaterrisk of ingesting or inhaling toxins that could harm them.CHEC’s website already has a quiz for homeowners, asking, for example,whether they enforce a no-shoes-indoors policy (pesticides can betracked in) and whether they have wall-to-wall carpet, which can befull of chemicals.The new E-House feature, which is funded by HUD and is produced byWhitehurst, a Pennington-based Web company, will provide substantiallymore information on assessing — and possibly getting rid of —indoor toxins. Some of the information will be directed toward parentsand other caregivers. More technical material for researchers andphysicians also will be available.Marchetta, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences fromDouglass College in 1972 and a master’s in microbiology from Rutgersin 1978, was a special education instructional aide for the PrincetonRegional Schools before she began work for CHEC.Sword earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth in 1979 and is theeditor of A Child’s Anthology of Poetry. Before taking over as CHEC’sexecutive director, she was the director of PLANET (People LinkingAcross Networks), a project that created the first comprehensive,interactive database of service opportunities for K-12 youth on theInternet.Children’s Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC),145 Witherspoon, Box 1540, Princeton 08542. Maureen Marchetta, programdirector. 609-252-1915; fax, 609-252-1536.Top Of PageElder HealthSusan Hoskins has opened a socialization and supportprogram for individuals in the early stages of dementia orAlzheimer’s.”Our trip-based program fits a niche that is not addressedelsewhere,”says Hoskins. “It is a social and cognitively stimulating programfor those with early memory loss.”Located in a remodeled house owned by Quaker Settlement at StonyBrook,a project of the Princeton Friends Meeting, the program is coordinatedby Kay Leahy. More clients will soon join the program, which has anoptimal size of 10 to 12. Chandler Hall is a Quaker-sponsored healthservices organization based in Newtown, Pennsylvania.Chandler Hall Health Services, 600 Mercer Road,Princeton 08540. Kay Leahy, coordinator. 609-924-9715; fax,609-924-9715.Www.chandlerhall.orgTop Of PageDeathsGeorge A. Giegold Jr., 55, on January 11. He was an officemanager with Wild Oats on Nassau Street.Rev. Ernest Gordon, 85, on January 16. Retired as deanof Princeton University Chapel, he is the former prisoner of war whowrote “Through the Valley of the Kwai,” soon to be a movie,”To End All Wars.”Thomas B. Atwood, 48, on January 21. He was director ofsafety and insurance with A-1 Limousine Inc. on Emmons Drive.Joachim P. Zurakowski, 55, on January 24. He was vicepresident of administration at Siemens Corporate Research.Dr. John Slade, 52, on January 29. A pioneer advocatefor tobacco control, he directed the program for addictions at theSchool of Public Health at UMDNJ.Jane Kurtz Rodney, 61, on January 30. She co-directedthe Breast Cancer Resource Center (see page 4).Nelson G. Hightower, 47, on January 31. He was a managerin the audio/video department of the Princeton Marriott.Corrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
