Queer Women We Love, Red Hot Entrepreneurs, Wonder Women

Workin’ It 2010

November 8, 2010 Cheryle Burke, Kat Long

Some chefs spend years in pricey culinary institutes trying to master natural foods. Deborah Gavito, proprietor of the snazzy NYC vegetarian restaurant Counter, learned the art of cooking with seasonal produce and edible weeds from her grandmothers. Gavito’s early fascination with natural cooking has grown into a long-time dedication to local and sustainable foods: her first venture, an all-natural baked goods business called Body & Soul, debuted in 1993. She sold her scrumptious treats at the Union Square Greenmarket, where she developed an appreciation for family farmers, and earned enough dough (pun intended) to open Counter in 2003. As Counter’s proprietor, Gavito designs fresh vegetarian fare, biodynamic wines and cleverly named organic vodka martinis (one is called “The Angry Lesbian”). “I waited on tables years and years ago, but other than that, I’ve only worked for myself,” Gavito says. “I don’t think I could take orders from any one else.”

45 of 2010’s Red Hot Entrepreneurs

Jenn Tracz’s Connecticut-based firm, JTracz Designs, offers communications services such as Web design, copy writing, press releases and social media consultation. Tracz is also the first executive director of the Connecticut Alliance for Business Opportuni-ties (CABO), the state’s gay and lesbian chamber of commerce. “I have been very fortunate that being out has catapulted my career,” Tracz says, adding that she plans to launch a second consulting business with a focus on the LGBT community in the next few months. “As the executive director of CABO, I jokingly refer to myself as a professional lesbian. It is an amazing feeling to wake up every day, be who you are, do what you love and be rewarded for it. I know not everyone has the luxury of being out professionally and there isn’t a day that goes by that I am not grateful for the opportunities I have been afforded.”