March 8, 2016

Margarita Druker, Persona Jewelry

Margarita Druker with her husband and master jeweler, Gary Shteyman, opened Persona Jewelry eleven years ago in the heart of Kenmore Square in the Hotel Commonwealth. Persona Jewelry specializes in one-of-a-kind custom jewelry, while also working with a variety of local artisans and jewelers. Over the course of the next 8 years they opened 6 more stores across the country with their special brand of lifestyle luxury stores combining the ease of hotel gift shops with the high-end jewelry merchandise Persona was known for. This landed Margarita in the pages of the Boston Business Journal as one of the business innovators of 2008.

Born in Moldova, Margarita achieved the true American dream that she had been promised as a child. Margarita began her career very young, graduating high school at sixteen years old and college at nineteen. She was one of the youngest students ever to graduate Babson College with an advanced degree in Entrepreneurship & Marketing. She was the queen of nightlife in Boston connecting thousands of nightclub denizens with open space throughout the city to establish dance nights or cocktail hours that are still in effect over a decade later. Next came restaurant management, with a variety of foodie names throughout the city. This is when her personal and professional life merged with her husband Gary who had recently become a master jeweler after 13 years apprenticing and creating his own lines of jewelry in Newton.

It was time for the next career move. At the age of 22 Margarita launched her jewelry company, Persona Jewelry. In the year 2004, the Hotel Commonwealth in Kenmore Square was the talk of the town. Promised was an extension of Newbury Street, the fashion trail that begins at the Boston Common and would now trail past Mass Ave through to Kenmore Square. Stores opened, stores closed, but Persona remained resilient. When remodeling threatened the future of the store on the eve of their ten year anniversary at Hotel Commonwealth, Persona took the opportunity to start fresh, moving to historic Beacon Hill, where Margarita had always envisioned her bijoux. Over one year on Charles Street has proven that success can come from happy accidents by those with the skills to navigate them.

February 9, 2016

Lana Barakat, December Thieves

December Thieves is a creative and dynamic artist-owned, artist-run retail concept with two brick and mortar locations in Boston.

The collections offered in store– many exclusive only to December Thieves in Boston or in some cases in the US- feature distinctive lines of sophisticated and contemporary apparel, jewelry, personal accessory and home décor brands from independent and hard-to-find US and international designers.

Lana Barakat is the founder of December Thieves. Also a jewelry designer, Lana owned and operated her first store from 2002- 2007 on Newbury St. which featured her own designs in addition to a range of emerging jewelry designer brands. Taking a “retail break” for several years to concentrate on her wholesale and ecommerce business while starting a family, Lana found herself itching to return to her passion and opened her first December Thieves store in the fall of 2013 in the South End. The incredible opportunity to join the Beacon Hill neighborhood presented itself only one short year later. The South End location plays host to various workshops and pop ups, enhancing creative connections between customers and the local artist community and the Beacon Hill store focuses on providing shoppers with a wide array of quality products (may of them one-of-a-kind), and an engaging and informative approach to relationship building with our customers.

January 12, 2016

Tara Foley and Amy Murphy, Follain

Follain is a new kind of beauty store. Our curated portfolio includes safe and effective products by 40 passionate U.S. brands. Many products are local and some are refillable, to cut back on the immense plastic waste created by beauty products today. Read about our strict ingredient safety platform here. Follain exists so that you no longer have to sacrifice your health or values for beauty! We opened our first store in Boston’s South End, in July 2013, and now have four locations: South End, Beacon Hill, Nantucket, and Union Market (Washington, DC).

Tara Foley is the founder of Follain, and Amy Murphy is the director of Follain’s Beacon Hill store. Shocked by the unsafe ingredients in U.S. beauty products, Tara launched Follain after years researching safe and sustainable skincare, and receiving her MBA from Babson. Before joining the Follain team, Amy worked in operations, management, and training for many national and international retail companies. Together, Tara and Amy are passionate about educating Beacon Hill women about the importance and benefits of feeding your skin safe, clean ingredients!

Visit us at 65 Charles Street, or online at http://www.shopfollain.com

October 13, 2015

Victoria Glazomitsky
Executive Director, Nichols House Museum

In May, 2015 Victoria Glazomitsky became the Executive Director of the Nichols House Museum. In addition to preserving and interpreting the museum and its collection, developing programming and overseeing daily operations, Victoria also sets the vision for the museum. In concert with her Board and staff, she is redefining what it means to be an historic house museum in the 21st century, and how the ethos of investigative thought, equality and creativity, of the museum’s founder and last resident, Rose Standish Nichols, applies to contemporary life. Previously, Victoria was the Special Projects Manager for the CEO at the Peabody Essex Museum, where she worked on organization-wide projects that did not neatly fit into any one department, including PEM’s recently announced building expansion, organizational strategies, and programmatic initiatives. She has previously worked at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, as well as the industries of fashion and health insurance. She has completed the Getty Museum Leadership Program for the Next Generation of Museum Leaders and has a degree in Art History and International Management from UMass, Boston. Originally from Russia, Victoria lives in East Boston with her fiancé.

September 8, 2015

Susan Symonds
Infinity Portrait Design

Infinity Portrait Design is a boutique portrait studio located in one of the beautiful brownstones on Boston’s historic Beacon Hill since 2005 offering a full line of newborn, children, family and executive portraiture.

Congratulations on your 10 year Anniversary on the Hill!

Susan is offering photography services before the September and October Forums for professional use and the Membership Directory.

Email her to reserve your spot: susan@infinityportraitdesign.com

April 14, 2015

Ali Ringenburg

Ali Ringenburg has a strong commitment to the tradition of representational work and the artistic profession. Prior to opening Sloane Merrill Gallery in 2012, she worked with Nashville-based interdisciplinary artist Adrienne Outlaw, at the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Contemporary Arts Center, and was Director at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia. The daughter of two teachers, Ali spent her summers visiting museums, historic sites, and natural parks both in the States and abroad — contributing to her love of the arts. Ali holds a BA in Art & Art History and English Literature from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Sara Demeter

Art Resource Collaborative for Kids, (ARCK) 501(c)(3) nonprofit was born/founded by Sara Mraish Demeter’s art studio in Beacon Hill. She founded ARCK 3 years ago in response to the lack of arts education at her son’s Boston Public School when he started kindergarten. After spearheading a schoolwide program of art lessons and a spring art exhibition at the school, She founded Art Resource Collaborative for Kids (ARCK) to provide high quality arts education opportunities to underserved students in schools across Boston.

ARCK trains highly qualified teaching artists and brings them into school classrooms along with volunteer mentors. ARCK’s lesson plans are aligned with Common Core and national visual art standards, and closely tied to what the kids are learning in their academic subjects. They take a unique approach, working side-by-side with teachers and including a multicultural, community perspective in art education. ARCK’s core values are leadership roles, social justice, and civic engagement.

Click here for more information.

February 10, 2015

PRESSED
Ashley Gleeson

PRESSED a new Boston brand, born in Beacon Hill, was developed to cater to those with fast paced lifestyles still seeking high quality, healthy menu choices on the go. The menu includes a line of cold-pressed juices concentrated on critical essential elements and phytochemicals, superfood shakes designed around mood, a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu of various plant based entrees, as well as house made paletas (gourmet popsicles) in fun and unique flavors. All of their items are made in house from the best and healthy ingredients around to make sure you are feeling your best on any given day.

PRESSED’s founders, Ashley and Dave, all too often would hear locals with busy lives not unlick their own complain ‘there are too few choices for healthy food on-the-go’ or that high quality ingredients or novel and creative menus rarely accompanied food on-the-go. With a combined background in hospitality management and medicine they developed the brand for the people of Boston, recognizing that those with busy lives also deserve to eat from a creative, healthy menu.

PRESSED is located at 120 Charles St. serving the neighborhood 7 days a week.

January 13, 2015

Green Room Boston
Jessica Thornton

The Green Room is a concierge hair studio, providing hair services in a private, relaxed setting with a single chair and a singular stylist. The hallmarks of a Green Room experience are meticulous attention to detail, the utmost in discretion and above all – fun.

Jessica is committed to creating hair that that fits seamlessly into daily life through collaboration with my client. Looking at pictures together and talking about goals creates space for me to refine the overall look and feel that we want to accomplish and explain what the options are. Every appointment is an opportunity to create something fresh and seasonally nuanced.

The Green Room is located at 49 River Street in Beacon Hill. For additional information, please visit: http://www.greenroomboston.com/

November 11, 2014

Fastachi
Susan Etyemezian, Co-Owner

Susan Etyemezian is Co-Owner of Fastachi, a local artisanal food manufacturing and retail company that specializes in artisanal nuts, nut butters, hand-dipped chocolates, and gifts.  Susan is a graduate of Parson School of Design with a background in Fashion Marketing.  But her passion for food took over shortly after she married, and Susan joined her husband, Souren, in 1999 to develop and build the Fastachi Brand.  From a small storefront in Belmont, MA, where they mastered the craft of nut roasting, they quickly established Fastachi as one of the country’s top purveyors of fresh roasted nuts.  They expanded the business to include both Wholesale and E-Commerce Divisions, moved the entire operation, including the small storefront, to Watertown, MA. Fastachi began selling in Boston area Farmers’ Markets.  And in 2014, Susan and Souren opened their second and newest retail location in Beacon Hill.  With Souren as visionary and Susan as implementer, together they have created the “Fastachi Experience”.   An experience which is defined by innovative nut products, combined with creative packaging, uncompromising quality, exceptional customer service, and a warm and inviting atmosphere.  They truly are nuts about nuts.  But that’s why when you eat any nut, you’ll always judge it by a Fastachi.

October 14, 2014

Hilary House Interiors
Hilary Hickock, Owner

Hilary Hickok owns and operates Hilary House Interiors, a shop and residential interior design firm which has been located at 86 Chestnut Street for 56 years. Originally started by her mother, Ann Sullivan and grandmother, Hilary House also had a second shop located on Cape Cod in West Brewster for over 20 years.

Hilary grew up on Beacon Hill and is a graduate of Buckingham Browne and Nichols School and the University of Massachusetts Amherst-School of Business. She worked in New York City for ten years in the publishing field, travelled nationally for a trade publication in the advanced manufacturing industry and later worked for Barron’s Magazine Dow Jones and Company. Returning to Boston, she joined Hilary House Interiors and has worked for twenty five years designing and completing numerous projects throughout Boston, the Cape and Islands, Maine, Rhode Island as well as Florida, San Diego and Washington D.C.

September 9, 2014

Exclusive Jewels
Alissa Eck, Owner
107 Charles Street, Boston, MA

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March 5, 2013

Charles Street Supply and Hardware, Cassie Gurnon, Owner

February 7, 2013

Blackstone’s of Beacon Hill, Jen Hill, Owner

January 7, 2013

Upstairs Downstairs, owner, Laura Cousineau

December 3, 2013

Emily Montany – Rouvalis Flowers & Garden

November 5, 2013

Ellen Comerford – core de vie

October 8, 2013

Amy Bailey
The Beauty Mark
Townhouse Beauty Bar

September 3, 2013

Tani Marinovich
The Esplanade Association