Long Island Women - Minding Their Business
by Kristen D'Andrea

The differences are subtle, but clear. Rather than golf outings, they organize theme-parties for all of their clients and friends. Everything from a Caribbean get-together on Fire Island, complete with a reggae band and grilled foods, to a stress-relief party with a masseuse on hand for guests to enjoy. "I'm not good at golf, I've tried to like it," joked Denise Goodwin Pace and Linda Passante, founding partners of The Halo Group, Incorporated, a marketing, public relations, advertising and strategic planning agency.

Painted across the wall of their new office on the 41st floor of the Empire State Building is a mural of superheroes - including life-size images of Spider Woman, Super Girl, Wonder Woman, and Cat Girl. "They're not all good, but they're all powerful," Passante joked. Their male counterparts are conspicuously missing in action. Pace and Passante started their agency in 1994 with "the two of us, the New York Times, and a chair," Passante said. Eight years later, they have increased their capitalized billings from $1 million to $25 million, grown their staff to include 17 employees, and outgrown their Hauppauge office space three times, most recently expanding to occupy their additional new office in Manhattan. "We've been on the fast track," said Pace.

They are two of hundreds of young, venturesome Long Island women who have followed their passions, given into their dreams, and set their stakes as business owners.

"When we started out, we said we're not going to do this unless we make a mark," Pace explained. While Passante admits she had some reservations about the personal price they would have to pay, she recalled saying to Pace "we have to be really committed if we decide to do this."

"Linda looked at it more pragmatically and clinically," Pace said. "I just said, 'It's going to work.'" And it did. The Halo Group relies on a unique team approach that requires eight senior staffers to work collaboratively and directly with each client. While the partners agree this is more challenging from a management standpoint, and is more costly, in the end, it enables the agency to better serve their clients.

"Since we stay as focused as we do, we have to be very selective of our clients," Pace said. The Halo Group will not take two competitive clients from the same industry, and they won't take on more than 10 clients at any given time.

"Whether it's compiling research, strategically planning, placing media, or sending out direct mail pieces, "a client's objective is never answered best by just one of those disciplines," said Passante. "It's always a combination."

Starting The Halo Group was not Passante's first business endeavor. She began her own advertising agency when she was just 23 years old. Her innate sense of business, coupled with a winning combination of creativity and confidence are not new to her. "I'm doing what I've always wanted to do," she said. Growing up, she had a very progressive role model. Passante's grandmother was a dressmaker who decided to go back to college at 58, and went onto become the head of International Banking for Banker's Trust.

"There are obstacles for every individual," Passante explained. "As many times as [being a woman] has been an obstacle, that's as many times as it's been an increased opportunity." Both women recall a prospective client meeting years back with a Japanese seafood company. During the meeting the company representative would not make eye contact with either of them. Apparently, he had not been aware that he would be meeting with women, they said. Still, this was only one occasion that has been offset by hundreds of other more positive experiences, they point out.

"Because of the nature of our business, we work with very progressive clients," Pace said. "Progressive clients wouldn't let something like that get in the way of success."

While PR is fortunate to include its share of both male and female professionals, other fields tend to see unequal representation. This fact didn't hinder Barbara Viola, however, who started her company just two years ago, in the male-dominated technology industry.

"I've always felt people are judged on the work they do," said Viola, founder, president and CEO of Viotech Solutions Inc. "And, I work very hard."

She has been involved in the high technology field for more than 13 years. Although she majored in English and began her career seeking a job with a public relations firm, she soon discovered her calling in the telecommunications field. Working for Oxford Pendaflex selling and planning the production of folders, she used her math skills more than writing.

"Then the company was taken over, and they wanted to see me there longer hours, and with a two-year-old and a baby at home, it was really hard," Viola said. Over the next few years, she started two separate businesses with partners, and in March 2000 found her niche on her own with Viotech.

"I knew what it would take to be successful, and I was just really confident," Viola said.

She currently manages an office staff of five, three recruiters and an entire database of consultants. Viotech, based in Farmingdale, specializes in project-oriented consulting to Fortune 500 companies, as well as alternative staffing and outsourcing in the information technology field. Viola is also founding member of the Help Desk Institute, Long Island Chapter, and president of the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP), Long Island Chapter.

"I didn't realize I was getting involved in such a male-dominated industry," she said. "I don't know why so few women go into this field, and I'm right in the middle of it."

She's hoping to do something to change that. In addition to volunteering to be on the Board of the Information Technology team at her daughter's middle school, she set up a successful internship program for college students and graduates of technology school with local technology companies.

"We need more women in the field, talking to students in schools, and trying to influence young women," she said. "I think it will be different for our daughters." As for her own 12- and 14-year-old daughters, "I think it would be great if they start their own businesses. I think my husband and I are great role models and we have helped to make them more aware and interested in the business environment."

Tracey Gittere knows all about entrepreneurship that runs in the family. She grew up in Buffalo, New York, answering phones at her parent's business, a full-service landscaping company.

"It came pretty naturally for me to launch a company," said Gittere, who founded Legendary Events, a special events planning company, in October 2001.

In addition to the confidence that comes with 20 years of experience in planning special events, Gittere was motivated by her mentor, Jim McCann, CEO and chairman of 1-800-FLOWERS. Years ago, Gittere worked for McCann, who built an international business from a single Manhattan flower shop. "He got my entrepreneurial bug going. I kept hearing him say, 'I can do it, I can do it.' He is so creative and wonderful, and I said I want to do it too."

The concept of Legendary Events, an affiliate of The Business Development Group, Inc., was developed four years ago, she said. Then, in January 1999, Gittere met Lucy Rosen, president of The Business Development Group, a strategic marketing and public relations firm based in Garden City, and vice president of Legendary Events. "We met and just knew we should be working together," Gittere said. After freelancing at The Business Development Group, Gittere came on board full-time as vice president. And, in October 2001, Legendary Events came to be.

"We realized there was a niche to fill - a need for an events planning company that can bring in strategic partners, supporters, marketing and public relations, to make any event legendary," she said.

Like Pace, Passante and Viola, this launch was not Gittere's first. In 1994, she co-founded Team Communications, a public relations/marketing agency, and in 1996, she founded and co-chaired Long Island's Random Acts of Kindness Week. "More than 300,000 Long Islanders participated," she said. "There were events all over Long Island, with people doing random acts of kindness."

With plans for expanding her company to include national and international clients, chances for Gittere's return to the corporate setting seem slim.

"The only way I would go back to the corporate world would be as a director on a corporation's Board," she said, smiling. "We need more women representation on Long Island's Boards."