Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 17 O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 2 2 F O C U S FA M I LY OW N E D B U S I N E S S e brand, launched in Massachu- setts, is a nod to Chappaquiddick Island on Martha's Vineyard. Initial growth came from sales at shows and other in- person events that Livada helped out at on weekends during college. She left her speech-pathology job in July 2018 to join her mom at ChappyWrap as vice president of sales and marketing after LaSala's business partner retired. "When I first came on board, it was just my mom and I running the company, and we both wore a lot of hats," says Livada, who now oversees a remote team of eight employees. Livada describes her current role as "keeping the wheels moving on a daily basis and working with the rest of the team to make sure they have what they need to be doing their jobs." e team includes her husband, Drake, as sales and marketing director, while her mom moves towards retirement. Early on, mother and daughter rebranded the business with a new web- site, new logo, new designs and sizes and new packaging as they shifted towards an ecommerce-driven business model complemented by social media. "It was right at the time when Instagram and influencers were taking off — that whole world I didn't know anything about," LaSala says. Grateful to her daughter for bringing new life into the business, she says: "e energy level at 30 is a lot different than it is at 60." Today, the customer base is mostly women ages 30 to 55. Working with factories in Germany and Poland, the company makes blankets, throws and shawls from a blend of 58% premium cotton fibers, 35% acrylic and 7% polyester. Today, direct-to-consumer online sales account for 85% of business with the rest from wholesale. inking back to when she started working with her mom, Livada says they were very conscious about put- ting boundaries on talking business outside of work. "You know that lines are going to be blurred," she says, "but you don't really know how much they're going to be blurred until you're in them." ey've had to be just as deliberate about keeping personal stuff separate from work. "ere are times when we will not agree on something in the business, and we have to be like, 'OK, now we're not mother-daughter, let's talk about this from a business perspective.'" at was also hard at first for LaSala, who says, "If either one of us would push back, it felt a little bit per- sonal in the beginning. We recognized that going forward to this day." Livada's long-term goal for ChappyWrap: "To provide comfort to as many homes and families as pos- sible through our blankets." The accidental insurance executive When Marney Chalmers left her hometown of Bridgton for New York City to study at the Parsons School of Design, she never envisioned a career in insurance. "I don't have a background in insurance, other than the fact that my last name is Chalmers, and I wanted nothing to do with the family business growing up," the 40-year-old says. Join us Friday, December 9, 2022 for the Annual Educate Maine Symposium Holiday Inn by the Bay, Portland Learn More & Register www.educatemaine.org/2022-Symposium 20+ Breakout Sessions for Business, Education, & Policy Leaders: Strategies to meet the Demand for a Skilled Workforce New Initiatives to help Strengthen the School to Work Pipeline Registered Apprenticeships as a Strategy to Solve Workforce Shortages C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » National Accident Health Insurance Agency (NAHGA) Insurer processing third-party medical claims / Bridgton Second generation Employees: 50 The energy level at 30 is a lot different than it is at 60. — Beth LaSala ChappyWrap P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F N A H G A Marney Chalmers

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