2009 30 under 40 winners

Erica Chandler, 35

Co-owner, DEsigned Glass, Burnsville, Minn.

You wouldn’t know it to talk to this business owner now, but Chandler admits to being befuddled with glass specs when she first landed in the industry after high school. “It overwhelmed me the first few days. I thought there were a million different types of glass: DS, FS, 16ths, 8ths. My boss handed me a binder to read through and it was like looking at Greek.” In time, Chandler grew to love the endless possibilities glass offers. “I fell in love with flat glass. The different things you could do with it, to me, were just awesome,” she says.

Chandler recalls how she moved to a new town just after high school graduation and needed a full-time job. She interviewed with a glass company and wasn’t home an hour after the interview before the phone rang and a company representative offered her a second interview. “When I came back for the second interview, she introduced me to her husband who said, ‘C’mon kid, I’ll show you what this is all about.’” Chandler worked for that company for more than a decade before starting her own business.

One-word description of the glass industry: “Amazerful”
One-word description of self: Genuine
Career history: 2003-present, co-owner, DEsigned Glass, Burnsville, Minn.; 1991-2003, customer service representative, Gordy’s Glass, Hastings, Minn.
Education: 1991, Lakeville High School, Lakeville, Minn.
Diversions: Cross-stitch, snowmobiling, boating, spending time with family
Family: Partner, Dale; five sons Nilo, 14, Martin, 12, Adam, 11, Leevi, 9, Alexzander, 8
Favorite book: “The Confident Woman: Start Today Living Boldly and Without Fear,” Joyce Myer
If a movie were made about your life, who would you cast to play you? Heather Locklear, because “she has the perfect amount of everything I have.”
Connections: 1941 West Burnsville Pkwy., Burnsville, MN, 55337, 952/895-1095, Erica@designedglass.com, www.designedglass.com

 
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