Rosie the Entrepreneurs

Modern Blondes

 I met Heidi and Jayne sometime mid-2000’s. I had been living and working out of my basement darkroom in Forest Park for several years. One of my earliest memories of the two of them was quite the vision. They were marching in Forest Park’s amazing St Paddy’s Day parade. Winter was stubborn with flurries in the air. All attendees were keeping warm by huddling together and using a fair amount of drinking to ward off the chill.

We could see the Team Blonde group from a distance. Amid the sea of green, orange-and winter coats-strutting toward us in the parade was a swatch of pink and blonde. Five members came into focus as they approached me with my three young boys, all donning blonde super bouffant wigs with necks wrapped in hot pink super boas. They floated down Madison St announcing their Team Blonde business while championing female empowerment in their own fun satirical way.

By the time I opened my studio space in 2006 I had gotten to know the two of them a bit. Their sisterhood was formed in undergrad at the University of Illinois. Heidi went on for a law degree and Jayne an MBA. Both incredibly smart, ambitious, and often underestimated. We collaborated on chamber boards and crowd sourced dollars for a marketing effort to drive shoppers from all over Chicagoland to our community. 

They purchased the original Team Blonde shop on a hot corner of Forest Park. When they bought their current building just down the street, they worked to find new tenants for their original space during a difficult downturn in the 2008 economy. With few prospects, they developed the corner into Counter Coffee, doing many renovations on their own. Establishing a space for coffee-clutchers several years before the current inhabitant, Kribi Coffee Air Roasters, took over in 2019 making it their flagship location.

Their current Team Blonde location has grown into an established eco-spa and boutique. You’ll find beautiful women’s clothing, products promoting a better earth for future generations, and an atmosphere that encourages kindness, demands respect for women, and promotes love for pets. My wife, mother, and mother-in-law all shop there. My sons and I are regulars whenever we are in need of a gift for the special people in our lives.

Their Modern Rosie portrait is set in their boutique eco-spa, surrounded by many stylish and witty “girl power” offerings. Heidi holding a law book, Jayne her essential tablet and favorite coffee mug. You’ll notice in the mirror over Jayne’s shoulder the framed portrait of the blondes with Heidi’s charming dog Jazz from back when we met. 

These small business entrepreneurs own property and look to acquire more as investments. They consult for large corporations and are on charity boards. They embody the notion that blondes can be intelligent, flashy, witty, kind, impactful and powerful. I wonder if the writers of the Barbie movie were at that 2008 parade, secretly met them, or have shopped in their store. If so, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Agent Rosie

As a co-owner of The Standard Society, established in 2013, Heather is a talent agent primarily for directors, animators, and editors in the commercial advertising industry. As their representative, Heather connects them to opportunities to expand their artistic ability, and promote their skills, and vision for story.

I met Heather purely because she and my cousin Tom met, fell in love, married, and now have a daughter, home & life together. 

Early on, each encounter I had with Heather one upped the previous. She was charming, beautiful, and electric. Smart, incredibly witty, with an infectious laugh. For years I knew little about her professional life. Here and there I'd hear she was writing something, working with creatives. Made sense to me, she was always donning a tint of wild color in her hair, plus her sense for storytelling was solid. My cousin had an incredible partner and I was grateful that she was part of our family. I find it wild how, when people are part of your family, you really know little about what exactly they do for their career. You rarely get into the conversation. 

Around 2012, I was talking to Tom, expressing a struggle I was having with my career. He suggested I talk with Heather, saying she helped creative people. I reached out. The short conversation was, as expected, brilliant and fun. However, her natural ability to listen, connect, encourage, and then direct me on a path for my future was highly impactful. The moment was pivotal for me. I began to think differently about what I was currently doing as a creative and developed new aspirations for my creative future. 

Agent Rosie firmly stands here on set as a trend setter in an industry with far too few female agents. As an ally for those in the director's chair, impacting and inspiring the voices of both women and men. This Modern Rosie portrait depicts my cousin Heather in a powerful light. As a beaming symbol to her daughter, our family, and the larger creative community. She expands the notion that women can be wildly passionate mothers inside their homes, while simultaneously being fierce economic agents for change outside.

#modernrosie #agentrosie

Rosie the Healer

May 2021

Dr. Ingrid Liu was our family’s amazing physician for several years. My wife and I were comforted to have our family physician for many years to come. Then suddenly, she announced she was leaving the practice and would no longer be in our network. 

We were so sad to lose touch with a provider who was so dependable, sensible, attentive, and friendly. She had brought us so much comfort during many scares, which happen with three growing boys. 

Some months later we bumped into one another. "We miss you so much,” I stated. With a warm smiling reply, "I know, I miss you all, too! How is the family?" We exchanged updates.

She explained that she left to start her own membership-based practice after feeling confined by the statistics and money driven practices of insurance companies. Those interactions were monopolizing her time with constant communication and mandated procedures that were often not the most sensible. I shared my appreciation for her stance, explaining my being denied health insurance by one of the big companies because I was seeing a therapist. She nodded unsurprised. Which is why she needed to start something new. If she hadn't, she was on a path to leave medicine altogether. The norm was too often not allowing her to advocate and help her patients in the best way possible — antithetical to why she became a family practitioner. 

Dr. Liu now has a practice allowing her to provide the compassionate care she always envisioned. She has a partner and a small staff to provide very personalized care at a reasonable monthly rate.  Relationships with labs and centers keep common tests significantly lower than what they are with the insurance companies in the middle. They also offer many prescription medications at wholesale prices, likewise, a fraction of the cost of the pharmacy.

This Modern Rosie image portrays Dr. Liu proud and comfortable, providing a highly valuable service to the community. Instead of being directed by statistic focused pencil pushers, she now leads with the skills, knowledge and medicine that drive her passion to care for others. After all, that's why she got into medicine in the first place.

Rosie the Advocate

June 2020

I met Dr. Amara Enyia while photographing a panel discussion on women leaders at Adler University in early March 2020. Dr. Enyia immediately stood out to me as she challenged the audience to "have the difficult conversations regarding race/politics within your families, inner groups and circles” and added, “The world will only move forward with those discussions happening." I stayed after for a quick chat to commend her bold and courageous charge. While I immediately had her in mind for the Modern Rosie project, I felt a need to learn more about her before approaching her to participate. It didn’t take long to admire her impressive advocacy and leadership as a Chicago west sider and her influence on the international stage.⁠

Early that June, I decided to reconnect, share my Modern Rosie project’s artist statement, and ask if she’d be interested in being a Rosie. Given her powerful leadership and influential voice, she was an ideal candidate. She was very receptive, saying, “given the current social climate, I am excited and honored to be a part of this project.” ⁠⁠

As with each Modern Rosie, I informed her that she should research and reflect on the persona of Rosie the Riveter. With this being a contemporary Rosie series honoring the hard work and contributions women leaders make to our currrent economy and society, the only required link to past Rosies was that she wear a red bandana. ⁠

We set the location near her west side home under the Green Line L tracks. The day was perfect.⁠ She arrived wearing this stunning solid black outfit and bold red shoes. In addition, her necklace, sourced in South Africa by a dear friend of hers who owns The Silver Room in Hyde Park, was chosen to represent her commitment to Pan-Africanism.⁠⁠

⁠Dr. Enyia boldly stands as a fierce advocate for the people, community and world around her, facing life’s traffic. Determined to engage with, and positively impact, the direction of the forces moving around her. Challenging people to slow down, think, and reflect on the routes we automatically follow every day. Rosie the Advocate inspires us to consider our patterns and embrace a different path toward a better future.