OCT NIBJ: R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Celebrating women who lead and inspire

To paraphrase the great Aretha Franklin, it’s hard not to have a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T for the women at the center of this month’s North Idaho Business Journal.

They are smart. They are saving. They are making their communities better places through their businesses and actions. From candles and soaps to working in the woods and running a business, they love what they do, the communities in which they live, and spending time with their families.

There are local moms like Kaitlin Ellithorpe, who sells art prints and other creations through her Etsy shop, LateNightKait. In addition to running her business, she faces challenges each day as a single mom of two young children, one of whom has autism and ADHD.

For Ellithorpe, learning to lean on others has made a big difference in her ability to balance her creative work and her role as a mom.

There are women like Erin Roos, who has carved her own path in the timber industry while following in the footsteps of her father and grandfather.

A forester for Idaho Forest Group, where she has worked since 2016, Roos graduated from Sandpoint High School in 2008 and earned a degree in forest resources from the University of Idaho. Growing up in the timber industry, Roos said it just made sense that she would go in that direction with her career.

“I was around it as a kid,” she said. “My dad worked for a couple companies. I remember going with him to logging jobs. It’s always been very present in my life.”

There are women like Harper Myers, who is using her business, Up North Goods — which crafts all-natural candles — to give back to the firefighters who saved her home when it was threatened by the Sunset Fire.

Myers was relaxing at home with her boyfriend, Colton Wolschon, when their phones buzzed with a notification: An evacuation notice had been issued, and they needed to leave immediately. Luckily, their home survived the fire — as did Myers’ candle-making business.

For Myers, candles aren’t merely a product, but an experience for people to enjoy, inspired by moments from her life. It’s no wonder, then, that she soon began working on a product line dedicated to those same firefighters.

“They navigated us through the scariest moment of my life ... you just think you’re going to lose everything,” Myers said. “We are so grateful, but we can’t do anything. How do we help? How do we say thank you to these people who sacrificed so much for us?”

Caroline Lobsinger

Editor, North Idaho Business Journal