Morgan Jackson started earning a paycheck when she was 12, picking strawberries on a neighbor’s farm in Scarborough. These days she scoops at Beal’s Ice Cream on Veranda Street in Portland, in between studying for three advance-placement classes at Scarborough High School and training as a kickboxer — she also has a black belt in […]
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Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Business, Oxford Hills, sj-web
After 40 years an innkeeper, guests feel like friends
WATERFORD — Barbara Vanderzanden and her mother, Rosalie, were two New Jersey schoolteachers looking to upend their lives and start something new. After scouting New England, three rooms into the tour, they knew the old 1825 Chadbourne homestead was the place to do it. Two months after converting it into an inn, they opened for […]
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Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Working: Bus driver-turned-potter, Michelle Gibbert balances both
AUBURN — Michelle Gibbert remembers digging up five-gallon buckets full of clay with her art teacher at Lewiston High School, when construction for a new football and soccer field unearthed a natural deposit 20 years ago. She loved ceramics class and headed into James Garner’s room every study hall she could. “I actually started helping […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Working: Al Andrews, L.L.Bean's first truck driver, finally retires
FREEPORT — Forty-two years ago, Al Andrews became L.L.Bean’s first full-time truck driver after a forced promotion from the clothing department — his boss told him to drive the truck or hit the road. Andrews laughs about it now. After half a century with the company, he’s ready to hand back the keys. Andrews, 67, […]
Posted inFranklin, Lewiston-Auburn
Working: Next stop, the world
Jessica Sueiro’s first experience living abroad with her family four years ago did not go well. The toilet in their small, “semi-nasty” Paris apartment barely worked. She and her husband, Will, slept on the couch the entire summer. Their daughter got so sick with mono she had to be hospitalized. And yet … “With everything […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Lewiston entrepreneur builds a scrap leather empire
Churchill Barton owns Brettuns Village Leather in Lewiston. The shop specializes in scrap leather and full cowhides such as those draped next to him. LEWISTON — Twenty years ago, as a geologist working with Cole Haan to help the shoemaker reduce its use of hazardous chemicals, Churchill Barton was shocked to see the factory routinely […]
Posted inBusiness, Lewiston-Auburn
Working: Help wanted, help found
LEWISTON — Haibado Daher was a teacher back home in Djibouti. Here, she was a single mom with three kids and no job. City staff pointed her toward the Trinity Jubilee Center last fall to fulfill a volunteering requirement tied to General Assistance. While she waited for a work permit, Daher, 38, helped people coming […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Working: Auburn chef bakes up a HUM-DINGAH!
AUBURN — Patrice Currie has rolled out gourmet brownie flavors like Did You Say Bacon? and Rocky Roads of Maine and named her new company after Maine slang for pretty darn great. The Auburn native hopes she’s got a hit on her hands with HUM-DINGAH! Brownies. Her tagline: “It’s a Maine thing …” Currie said […]
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Working: Growing a business from the ground up
BOWDOINHAM — Sean Hagan grew up in San Francisco, a city kid with no interest in agriculture who headed off to college to study international relations and art. Three months on a Hawaiian farm after graduation changed everything. In February, he bought 160 acres with four other farmers on Browns Point Road, down a long […]
Posted inBusiness, Lewiston-Auburn
Working: How boba built its following
A closeup of the ramen with a fried egg, kimchi and quick pickles. LEWISTON — Zach Pratt and Keshia Thanephonesy opened boba when he was 23, she was 21 and they had little to lose by signing a lease for a five-seat restaurant inside a Lisbon Street gas station. They offered pho, dumplings and bubble […]