Workin It (Part 1) 2009
President and CEO, RainbowVision
Joy Silver asked the question: “What will happen to us when we age, or are in need of help, and who will provide those services particularly since some of us have alternative family structures?” She answered by founding RainbowVision Santa Fe, an adult community with condos, rentals and assisted living, now in its third year, where the LGBTQI & A population lives in the majority. With a fitness center, salon, restaurant, cabaret, and an event space, RainbowVision has become “the de facto community center for the Santa Fe LGBTQI+A,” according to Silver, hosting a wide range of ages and sexual identification at its many events. “Living through the AIDS crisis taught us that care through the end of life–medical and mental health challenges – may not necessarily be related to becoming elderly. The benefits that RainbowVision provides to our community are that there is now a place, and options for us that have never existed before.” – KW
The first 18 of 2009’s Red Hot Entrepreneurs!
Dustin Tester
Founder / Director, Maui Surfer Girls
Maui Surfer Girls founder Dustin Tester grew up surfing in Hawaii, and now passes on the life lessons she’s gleaned from her sport. “Maui Surfer Girls was created to help girls excel in and out of the water,” she says. “MSG’s mission is to empower teen girls–giving them amazing water women role models and the aloha spirit to take home with them.” With a degree in Adventure Education with a minor in Wilderness Therapy and years of experience in extreme sports and as a wilderness guide, Tester returned to her home state to found the camp, which offers programs for teen girls, and year-round surf camps for men and women. She looks forward to expanding her programs for special needs populations, and “rite of passage” surf trips for women and girls. “My big advice to future business owners is a surfer’s maxim: Commit to the drop.” – KW
