Starting a music therapy business was Emily Labes’ answer to marrying her love for music and her yearning to help people. After growing up in a musical family, and taking piano lessons, choir, and band throughout high school, she had a tough decision to make after graduating from Fairmont High.
If not for a well-rounded education from her mother, 1978 St. Peter High graduate Bridget Blaido never would have begun 4 The Team within the last year in St. Peter.
She was the kid most likely to enjoy Scooby-Doo and Inspector Gadget, and later on, Columbo and Murder She Wrote, and most recently Law and Order and CSI—in other words, practically any detective or whodunit show with a puzzle needing solving.
“I grew up everywhere,” said 58-year-old owner Kevin Bores in a telephone interview. “I was born in Anchorage into an Air Force family. I grew up primarily in the South and graduated from high school in Ohio.”
While growing up in Amman, Jordan, Alia Bostaji (Bose-tah-gee) enjoyed watching her aunt manage a home-based artwork business. It seemed intriguing. But Alia’s father had other ideas.
“Snell Powersports & Equipment (Snell PSE) really began the day I was trying to get my (home) lawnmower fixed,” said 48-year-old Todd Snell in a telephone interview.
Each workday, Brad Radichel is continually reminded of the family business his great-grandfather D.W. Radichel started in 1888 as North Star Concrete. It jabs like a sharp elbow to the ribs. That’s because down the hall from his office, a boardroom brimming with nearly 125 years of company memorabilia was preserved as a reminder to him and other family members.
From Minnesota and Iowa to New Jersey to Minnesota and Iowa to California—and back again to Minnesota. CEO Paul Johnson of Express Diagnostics Int’l (EDI) took the long way home after graduating from Mayer Lutheran (Minn.) High School in 1988. And the business he has co-owned with four others since 2004 took the long way home, too.
Perched on a New Ulm hillside overlooking the Cottonwood River, Schell’s Brewing Company produced 115,000 barrels of beer last year. Each barrel filled 14 cases. That’s a lot of suds.
