GROWING UP IN WISCONSIN
Laura grew up in the heartland of America. She was raised in Plymouth, Wisconsin whose population is 8,000 and a center of the cheese and dairy industry. It was there that she was grounded in her values and work ethic. Both of Laura’s parents are from the area and she took great pride growing up among her family roots and in her family’s photography business. Plymouth was a wonderful city in which to begin her life and she still has close ties to the community and Wisconsin.
The advantages of growing up in a small community were great. Laura benefited from the Plymouth Public School system starting at age 4 when she began speech therapy. Upon realizing that Laura was developing patterns of unclear enunciations, her parents enrolled her into speech therapy for which Laura credits with putting her on the path she is on today. Once she was able to speak clearly – she never wanted to stop! Today, as Laura speaks for a living she is always thankful for her parent’s realization in her early childhood development that there was a foreseeable problem that could be fixed and has a great respect for those teachers that specialize in children’s therapies and early childhood education. Laura enjoyed a wonderful childhood with her parents, sister, grandparents, cousins and neighbors and was always active whether in student government, theater, debate or sports.
It’s no doubt that Laura got her strong work ethic from her parents. In 2nd grade, her Dad was “let go” from the cheese company when it was bought out by another company that no longer needed his position. That’s when Laura’s Dad and Mom, who left her first love as a Registered Nurse to be an amazing stay at home Mom 8 years earlier, made a decision to follow her Dad’s talent and passion for pictures and moved their side business from the basement into a photography studio for family, wedding, graduate and commercial photography. With her Dad as the photographer and Mom as the business manager, Laura and her sister Andrea as “assistants”, it truly was a family business.
Laura’s parents invested a lot of hard work to make their photography studio successful by working together combining great optimism and positive attitudes. Laura and her sister carried gear, stamped envelopes and still take appointments and orders in the studio when they’re home visiting. It’s been over 30 years and she and her sister are both proud to see the success of the business with her Dad now an award winning Master Craftsman photographer and her Mom an active businesswoman in their studio and both as active leaders in the Chamber of Commerce and community.
Laura and her sister were raised with a lot of love and learned a lot and benefited by seeing the trials, tribulations and successes of a small business – like being responsible for their own health insurance, relying only on yourselves for income, not having those automatic vacation days (if you’re not working – you’re not getting paid!) and of course working 7 days a week but it was all worth it. Laura learned from her parents and their business that although you may sometimes wish your job were 9-5, your career is 24/7. Her parents instilled in her a great sense of faith as well as simple but smart mantra’s such as be nice to others and they will do the same to you, the importance of keeping a positive attitude and work hard and you’ll get results. Laura and her sister watched their example and try to live true to it everyday.
