When she relocated back to her hometown as an adult, Danica Factor’s unresolved trauma from childhood kept her awake at night — literally.  

“I woke up at 3 a.m. having panic attacks and was unsure why,” said Factor, who had worked for 17 years in the medical device industry, including at the executive level, before her relocation experience prompted a career shift to art. 

It began with doodling, which Factor did as a coping mechanism she gained through therapy. She drew things she wasn’t able to talk about, and discovered in the process that her unresolved trauma could also become a source of income.

“When you’re a child, you don’t necessarily have the words to vocalize what you went through, but we all have the ability to draw,” said Factor. Then, “what started as just ten to 15 minutes [of drawing to] work through some of that past turned into art full-time.” 

Factor shared her success story as part of a Women’s Entrepreneurs Panel held at Diablo Valley College on Feb. 11. The event was part of the Business Beyond the Classroom series hosted by business administration adjunct professors Mariam Worsham and LoAnn Winkler.

Factor told the crowd that her transition to running an art business started with friends and family buying her art, then more and more people became interested and purchased her work online. She now creates contemporary floral pictures that have vintage pictures of women in them.

“The idea is about re-looking at femininity historically,” she said, since many people continue to view “women as an afterthought in historical context.” 

“The artwork is really trying to bring that to the forefront,” said Factor.  

Another speaker at the BBC event, Julie Bench, a mother of three, said she started her own clothing line based on a pitch competition that she entered while studying at Utah State University. After her successful experience at the pitch competition, Bench and her husband continued with their “hobby” of selling clothes. 

Then, “in 2021, [my husband and I] decided that we either needed to quit because it was a very expensive hobby, or we needed to open a brick and mortar, and at that point I’d graduated so we’d moved back home to our hometown of Blackfoot, Idaho,” said Bench.

Now, Bench ships clothes online to all states in the country, and occasionally internationally, as well as also maintaining her permanent in-person establishment and business. 

“We’ve just really fallen in love with being part of the Blackfoot community, which is one of my biggest things that I love about being an entrepreneur: being part of the community,” said Bench. 

Finding a balance between being a mother and an entrepreneur was a challenge that she embraced. 

Winkler, the host, emphasized that “Julie started her business young, and she has three little ones on top of it, so for people to say that it’s not possible, it is possible.”

Bench responded, “being a mom is definitely my favorite role that I play right now, but I also really enjoy being an entrepreneur and owning a store and being part of the community.”

“You have to take your business and treat it like an additional child,” she added. “There are different seasons in life, and sometimes you have to give more attention to one of your children at this point of the day, and then a little less at this time, but making sure that you have quality time, even if it’s not quantity.” 

In the process of balancing these roles, Bench said she learned many tips and tricks to running a business. She shared two pieces of advice in particular with the audience. 

“Knowing your customer is probably the most important thing you can do in business,” Bench said. “If I’m just buying anything that I think is cute, but my customers don’t like it, or they don’t resonate with it, or it just doesn’t fill a need for them, then they’re not going to buy it.”

At the same time, she added, “I think budgeting is one of the most important things when owning a small business, because if you don’t know your numbers, if you’re just spending and hoping that you’ll be able to pay it off, it’s a lot more risky and you’re likely to struggle more.”

The event’s final panelist, Kim Trupiano, a resident of Clayton and a member of the DVC business advisory board, started working in non-profits after spending 30 years in the corporate world. 

It was her marketing and fundraising skills from business life that steered Trupiano toward the work she really wanted to do, she said. After she was offered a job at a non-profit, it turned into her first client and her business was off and running. 

“I realized that my passion was really working with nonprofits and taking them to the next level,” Trupiano said.

 “I  wasn’t expecting to start my own business, but I did. And it’s been the most rewarding thing.”