2004 Highline Graduates Take Arts and Crafts Fair Online

Pair Puts Business Degrees to Use and Launches Web Site Showcasing Artists and Their Wares

WWhat do you do if you are a middle-aged woman displaced from your job? Go to college and then go shopping.

That is the Cliff Notes version of Bonnie Taub’s and Kim Dubé’s road to Ladie Nin’s Collectibles, a new Web-based business they launched online in September at www.ladynin.com.

The unabridged version of their story begins in 2002 when Taub, an office manager for a nonprofit organization, and Dubé, an assembler at Boeing, were laid off. The two, who did not know each other at the time, took advantage of the Worker Retraining program, which provides financial assistance to attend college and support services to those looking to acquire new workplace skills or upgrade existing ones. Taub, a resident of Burien, and Dubé, of Federal Way, enrolled at Highline Community College and met while taking a finance class. They soon found they had much in common.

“Since we were both middle-aged, returning students, we found we could commiserate together,” says Taub, now 49. “Through many coffee and lunch breaks, the idea of partnering a business was born. We were both in the business program at Highline and enrolled in the new capstone course in marketing communication.” The course—taught by instructors Meg Ryan and Gary Nelson—gives students real-life experience by having them assist actual clients in achieving their mission objectives.

“We knew we could work well together, but we were unsure of what business we should create,” says Dubé, 43. “In getting to know each other, we discovered our mutual love of art shows, craft fairs and street festivals. We both had stories of great items we saw and didn’t buy at the time and couldn’t find again.”

Taub is a longtime pro of online marketing, having created a store on eBay to sell a variety of items, beginning with her husband’s vast music collection on compact discs. “I kept telling Kim that I knew how to sell online, so that should be our focus,” says Taub. “When we came up with the idea of creating a virtual arts and crafts fair, we had realized a market niche. We both graduated from Highline as Phi Theta Kappa honor society members in June of 2004 and with degrees in hand, we set out to do something about our passion.”

That is when they went shopping.

The two attended many festivals, from Seattle to Anacortes, to find the artists and products to feature on their Web site. “We have the blisters to prove it,” says Dubé. “Some artists were very happy to accommodate, while others were very skeptical.” The site currently features 32 artists representing a broad range of work including ceramics and pottery, glass, garden and yard art, jewelry, sculpture, wearable art and “yummy stuff” such as gourmet coffee and specialty mixes.

One of the artists, Valerie Gower, is a SeaTac-based illustrator, political cartoonist and caricaturist. Among her many projects, she has produced political cartoons for The Seattle Times and fashion illustrations for Fashions, Inc., in Des Moines. Through the Ladie Nin’s Web site, Gower offers caricature and portrait work, something she does at private parties for area employers and local festivals and events.

“The two-person team behind Ladie Nin’s Collectibles apparently gained extensive expertise while business school students at Highline,” says Zev Siegl, the Business Development Specialist at the Des Moines office of the statewide Small Business Development Centers. “At their first meeting with me, Bonnie and Kim demonstrated a high degree of proficiency with financial statements, forecasting and financing alternatives. I was particularly impressed with their business model and the founder’s passion.” For the SBDC, Siegl provides confidential consulting to a wide variety of businesses in the cities of Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, SeaTac and Tukwila, as well as several nearby areas of unincorporated King County.

“Because of the quality of the artists’ wares on our Web site, we are realizing our dreams of not only having our own business, but a business that we are very proud of,” says Taub. “We are always out there shopping and looking for more artists who wish to join us.”

Highline Community College was founded in 1961 as the first community college in King County. With approximately 10,000 students and 350,000 alumni, it is one of the state’s largest institutions of higher education. The college offers a wide range of academic transfer and professional-technical education programs, with day, evening and weekend classes. Alumni include former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, entrepreneur Junki Yoshida and noted author Ann Rule.

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2400 South 240th Street • P.O. Box 98000 • Des Moines, WA 98198-9800 • 206-878-3710, ext. 3283 • www.highline.edu