Editor’s note: Each December, Small Business Times chronicles the lives of business executives who have overcome some type of health affliction or disability. SBT presents these stories as inspirations of hope in the holiday season.
For most of her life, Shelly Parra was content. Waking up every day and reporting for work as a vice president at Boyd-Hunter Inc., a Hartford-based employment services firm, became her routine. However, Parra’s fast-paced routine came to a screeching halt in 2001, when she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer that was known to be resistant to treatment.
Parra knew all about the destructive nature of breast cancer, because her aunt and grandmother had died from it. She knew the importance of early detection and the increased probability, because of her family history, that she could be diagnosed with the disease.
She had had a mammogram just six months before that had ended with a good report. But by the time she felt a lump, Parra was already in dire condition.
And she was just 36 years old.
"When they caught it, the doctors told me the cancer was not like others and very aggressive," Parra said. "To hear doctors say that and to have no benchmark, I have learned not to take anything for granted."
Her breast cancer diagnosis was called HER-2 Positive. HER-2 is a gene that helps control how cells grow and directs the production of proteins in cancer cells called HER-2 receptors, according to breastcancer.org. Cancers with many copies or receptors tend to have an increased risk of spreading.
Parra’s treatments lasted nine months and included four months of chemotherapy, surgery for augmentation and radiation therapy.
But she survived.
"You learn a lot about what is important," Parra said. "I used to get so stressed out and obsessive compulsive about things. When you change and start saying, ‘We’ll work through it,’ it makes it so much easier."
Her newfound outlook for dealing with her cancer helped Parra become less on edge in the workplace.
"I said to myself that I wanted to create an environment where I can control my stress and live happier," Parra said.
Parra said she had always had a "type A" personality.
"I am an aggressive information hound, and I wanted to know everything," Parra said. "Some people (who have been diagnosed with cancer) want to be involved, and some people would rather listen to the doctors. I wanted to know what the doctors meant and how to ask the right questions and really understand everything about it."
She also tried to keep her sense of humor, even as she lost her hair, had parts of her breasts removed and then had breast augmentation surgery.
Having cancer also helped Parra realize that she was no longer as challenged as she would have liked in her position at Boyd-Hunter. She had been a vice president for 15 years and knew the company inside and out.
About a year after her diagnosis, Parra knew that she wanted to be more than a survivor. She wanted to help others, and she wanted to change the pace of her life.
"Just surviving would have kept me on the path of status quo," Parra said. "I wanted to make sure I was living, growing and challenged on an ongoing basis."
In 2004, Parra began volunteering with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation as a database manager and helped with registration for the Komen Milwaukee Race for the Cure.
Volunteering filled somewhat of a void in her life, but Parra says she still wanted more. She just did not know what "more" was.
"I want to make sure to the fullest that I am living, and if I can inspire other people, then that is even better," Parra said. "Money can never bring more than volunteering can, especially when you are volunteering in the arena you have been affected by."
Parra enrolled in a year-long goal-setting program in Delafield, where she lives. She called it a year-long introspective, and the program was the catalyst that made Parra decide that she needed to move forward with her goals. She needed to be more challenged.
Parra was trying to work a schedule with Boyd-Hunter where she was a part-time vice president and a part-time volunteer for the Race for the Cure, but found that arrangement was not fair to her, the foundation or the company.
"Between finding out that my current position did not provide what I needed in life and the more interested I became in volunteering, I started researching my options," Parra said.
She decided that she would become an entrepreneur. In the employment services industry at Boyd-Hunter, Parra knew she was talented in the area of product and client support.
Her friend and former co-worker, Luann Griffioen, was also looking to start a business.
The two became business partners and formed Best Edge Marketing LLC in July 2005, when Parra left Boyd-Hunter after 17 years. Best Edge Marketing provides promotional products and marketing concepts to companies.
Best Edge Marketing has a database with thousands of vendors across the country. The company can find vendors for clients to put their logo on anything from T-shirts to pens, hats and chairs. Many of their clients are manufacturing firms.
Parra and Griffioen both are able to work out of their homes (Griffioen lives in Hartland) and already nearly have their hands full with client requests. Their plan is to serve clients as best as they can while continuing to work out of their homes and to be the only employees, Parra said.
Parra takes care of bidding suppliers, research and the management of suppliers, while Griffioen is the sales representative.
The company serves both Parra’s knack for driving a business and her desire to live a more relaxing life. One of her favorite parts about working from home is being able to do research on her laptop in the summer while sitting on her back porch.
"I live on a lake," Parra said, who shares her home with her husband, Dean, and their family of pets. "I wanted to spend more time at home and enjoy what we have. (Best Edge Marketing) provides me with the challenge I need.
"We are building a good clientele base," Parra said. "We are looking for long-term (business) relationships, and we both have been in the service industry for so long that we know what to do and what not to do."
Parra and Griffioen found promotional items to be a good niche for them because of the similarity between service industries. They received advice from Parra’s friend in Arizona who runs a similar business.
"In the employment industry, we would say, ‘You are only as good as the person you send out,’ because the person you send may not show up or may not do a good job," Parra said. "Now we say, ‘If the pen doesn’t work, just throw it away.’"
Parra and Griffioen hope to eventually add a corporate concierge service, in which they will cover personal shopping for a client. The service would know when a client’s customer’s birthday was and automatically send a card every year. Then the client would receive an e-mail mentioning that Best Edge Marketing just sent a birthday or anniversary card to a customer from the client.
"It goes back to our feelings about service," Parra said. "It’s the things that make other companies look good that are important."
Parra is now in remission from breast cancer and continues to work for the Race for the Cure. Parra says she remembers her promise to herself to be more than a survivor.
"I get it," Parra said. "I clearly have an understanding that I have been given a second chance, and I want to do everything. I don’t want any time to go by without being effective in anything I do."
Small Business Times, December 16, 2005, Milwaukee, WI
