Mom Entrepreneurs Balance Business and Family

In today's economy, and with the recent closings of Commack fixtures like and , local mothers are forming their own small businesses and keeping them close by. 

Commack resident Stephanie Giardina founded Paint A Piece Pottery on Jericho Turnpike last year. Giardina wanted to create a friendly environment where people could craft something inspirational without leaving town. 

The effort to stay local has paid off. “Customers tell me 'we heard you are a Commack mom and we love it. We want to support local,'” she said.

Joanne Lehman, a mother of grown children and grandmother of two, has been serving pre-schoolers and their families for more than 17 years as the founder of . 

Michelle Gural, who owns and directs , a Commack-based dance school, is a Commack High School graduate and chooses to keep here family and business here.

Handcraft by Loribelle’s owner, Lorraine Guerriero, crochets and knits children’s hats and sweaters. The soon-to-be-grandmother focuses on Facebook and esty.com to promote her wares, which negate the need for a storefront, yet the majority of her sales is generated by local word of mouth.

While each of these four women run different businesses, they bring a common maternal prescence in each. Giardina does not see herself as a businesswoman, she says. She is more than content when a customer is proud of the piece he or she created, and finds it particularly rewarding when she knows it is a gift. 

The inspiration for her pottery studio came from a bowl her daughter painted for Giardina’s mother. Sadly, that gift was never given, as Giardina’s mother passed away before she could receive it. 

Despite her passing, Giardina finds inspiration in her mother's memory. She maintains the ideals her mother instilled in her business practice—“not to be run by fear, not to become complacent and not to be afraid to take risks," she said. Giardina aims to lead by example and pass these lessons along to her own daughter. 

Gural, too, cites her greatest reward in the success of others. “My greatest reward is watching these children grown and develop as dancers, she said. "My business is like my family.” 

Lehman believes the ability to run her own center as opposed to working for someone else gives her the opportunity to create an educational environment with personal attention to each student.  Her previous work experience required her to run a larger operation. At , she and her teachers are able to provide Commack’s students with “a lot of nurturing because, this is a smaller program.”  Lehman says this is as important as ever, as the economic downturn has prompted both parents to work in many households. 

Guerriero receives that same kind of maternal reward when a baby wears one of her hats, she says, as the child is warm and protected.

At a time when big bad businesses are going belly up, local moms are making their mark in the business world with thought and sincerity.