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!
Deborah Stanton
Founder / Creator, Eco-Licious Pet Food
Deborah Stanton enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 17, with a desire to attend medical school. After an honorable discharge and a stint in clinical research, Stanton felt a lack of creativity in her life so she took to the kitchen. She says, “I found the Culinary Arts a great venue because it was the perfect symbiosis of my two passions, science and creativity.” As both a celebrated chef and former restaurant owner, Stanton spent years providing fresh foods for her fellow humans. While serving her creations to friends and customers, she often wondered about the nutritional needs of their animal companions. Stanton’s curiosity combined with her industrious nature and her self-described “insatiable need to feed,” led her to create Eco-Licious Pet food for cats and dogs, made from local, organic food. Stanton has also recently launched Fab Füd (F(ood) U(nique) to D(eborah)) by Deborah, an alternative to restaurant dining, wherein Stanton “creates ünique themes & menus to be enjoyed by all 5 senses.” – CB
