The Story

In 2003 I was laid off from a telecommunications company along with my boss, my direct report and a peer. It wasn't the first time that we all found ourselves in this position and so it became a mission to take back some control over our own destiny. I had always wanted to be self-employed, an entrepreneur, a business owner! But what would we do?

At the time I was restoring a 1926 Cotswold home. I would complain to anyone that would listen to me about the trouble I was having locating similar original accents and details that had long been discarded from my home. I scoured salvage yards and antique stores on the weekends, ever weekend. After my husband became absolutely bored with my search I convinced my co-workers to join me.

We'd plan out farm auctions and demolition sales we wanted to attend during the week and set out on the weekends for the goods.

After a while we were all picking up things that we liked but didn't necessarily need because we couldn't pass up the price or rarity of a piece. This turned into obsession for a couple of us and subconsciously we had started our future businesses inventory. When we started hearing the rumblings of layoffs, Island Girl Salvage was born.

Immediately after the layoff Liz and I signed up at the WBDC (Women's Business Development Center) in Chicago. If anyone out there is looking for a inspirational, supportive, back-breaking, stimulating, empowering and rewarding crash course on building a business you need to visit www.wbdc.org

The WBDC taught us how to write a business plan, where to get financing, how to market our business, and the sometimes cruel reality of owning your own business but also the joy in the creation and the appreciation of the experience. The program we went through was called "Jump Start Your Business" and I can tell you they kicked our butts week after week but we needed it and we carry with us many of the lessons learned to this day.

The name Island Girl Salvage was created by my mom. We were searching for something catchy and off kilter. Island Girl was a nickname of mine. My grandparents have lived in Kauai, Hawaii my whole life. As a fair haired haole (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haole for meaning) , the Island Girl nickname was a play on words. As it turned out both Liz and Jim were from Long Island, New York. So the island theme stuck.

Today, the original four are now two. Liz and I are the owners of Island Girl Salvage. Jim decided to pursue his life long dream of teaching college history. He's accomplished that and continues to teach but he wasn't able to stay away from Island Girl Salvage. He now helps us out in the store several days a week. There was one more original partner, Duncan Taylor. Duncan passed away unexpectedly just prior to us signing a lease on our first location. We all miss him dearly.