By AML Publisher
Photography courtesy of Bernadette Uzcategui Photography

The brains and beauty behind a brilliant business model are Main Line moms and Tymel co-principals Melissa Parker (left) and Tyra Hodges (right).

If there are two idioms that ring true when describing a successful entrepreneurial business model in 2009 it is the following: 1) Necessity is the mother of invention. 2) Timing is everything. With so many Americans astutely aware of reducing their carbon footprint, the green industry is thriving with creative concepts that speak to the nation’s environmentally-cautious consumer. Despite a down economy, all signs point positively towards a growing demand for socially responsible business models.

In the case of Main Line entrepreneurs Tyra Hodges, 45, and Melissa Parker, 40, their invention-fashion forward reusable bags made from recycled materials-was inspired by some timely conversations they had with their children. Hodges was unpacking her groceries one evening in her kitchen last spring when her (then 11-year-old) daughter, Natalie, commented on the amount of plastic and paper she was wasting. Parker had received similar feedback from one of her daughters a few weeks earlier after she completed a school project on the importance of recycling.
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By AML Publisher
Photos Courtesy of Kevin E. McPherson

Grand Opening: A Capacity Crowd Filled the Bakery Anxious to Test the Gluten-Free Treats.

Christine Ruggio had suffered for twenty-five years with debilitating stomach ailments, making hundreds of visits to her doctor complaining of severe pain and digestive issues. And, for twenty-five years, Ruggio was given the same diagnosis. “’You are hyper, you are in high school, so it’s stress-related. You are about to get married, you need to calm down, it is all about stress. You have IBS, you need to calm down and relax, look what you are doing to yourself! You have children now, you are getting too wound up,’” Ruggio explains. So, Ruggio’s doctor placed her on medication for IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and strictly advised her to take it easy—ensuring her the symptoms would eventually subside if she followed her prescriptions and cut back on her busy lifestyle.

But Ruggio felt that there was something more to her body’s rejection of some of the food she consumed – and finally she confronted her doctor again. “I said to him, ‘Let’s get real here. Aren’t we masking the problem and not trying to solve it? This is not going away and I’m getting worse,’” she said.

But the doctor visits continued and Ruggio’s health continued to worsen. Then, a few years ago she took a family trip to Italy, where her Italian cousin happened to be on a gluten-free diet. Everywhere they went the whole family dined on gluten-free meals, and educated Ruggio about the intolerance to wheat that had made her cousin very ill. This was the first time she had heard about a medical condition called Celiac Disease, an autoimmune intestinal disorder that affects people for life.

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