Shelly Klein, 39
Title: Owner/Creative Director/Artist Company: k studio
Malinda Petersen, 40 Title: Founder and Owner Company: MP Talent
Malinda Petersen founded her talent management company, MP Talent, in 2009. Later, the business hit a snag. That’s when Petersen’s motivational juices started flowing. “Upon realizing that the original intention of MP Talent was not going to sustain itself financially, I was able to pivot the business model, re-brand and continue forward with a new iteration that is just beginning to blossom,” said Petersen. Since June 2009, MP Talent has worked in partnership with Grand Rapids Civic Theatre to offer the only film-specific acting classes in West Michigan. MP Talent procured industry professionals (actors Ralph Lister and Alyssa Bauer and producers Patrick Ziegler and T. Smith) to lead workshops and seminars informing new actors on industry protocol. Petersen’s career has revolved around theater, entertainment and education. She is a faculty member of the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre School of Theatre Arts; producer/director of “Motherhood: The Journey,” which served as a fundraiser for MomsBloom; contract event manager for Kids’ Food Basket; and stage manager for Grand Rapids Civic Theatre and Actors’ Theatre. Petersen is a charter member of Manufacturing Media in West Michigan. She continues to serve on the Kids’ Food Basket school liaison committee and is adjudicator of the Grand Awards Committee and planning committee member for the Michigan Film Festival, where she helped define and direct production workshops within the festival. Petersen credits her mother for leading by example in her younger years, during which time she earned a master’s degree and pastoral care certificate while raising four children. “I better understand her choices while I was growing up,” said Petersen.
It’s safe to say Shelly Klein isn’t interested in playing it safe. She’s been a selfemployed artist and designer all of her adult life. That suits Klein, a graduate of Kendall College of Art and Design, just fine. She distinguished herself when she and two other designers created a one-ofa-kind Eames lounge chair and ottoman for Herman Miller Inc.’s 50th anniversary celebration that included designing custom textiles that were exhibited at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. She also created custom textiles for 280 rooms of the Affinia Shelburne Hotel in New York. Klein’s upholstery pattern for her Eames chair — dubbed Everyday People — marked a major step forward in her studio’s evolution. In 2008, editors of Real Simple magazine tapped Klein’s studio to develop a product for the magazine’s 2008 holiday gift guide. Klein’s creative acumen resulted in the Family Series tote bag, which later spawned Family Series pillows sold through national catalog retailers’ Garnet Hill and Uncommon Goods.
Klein is equally willing to shepherd other artists’ creative ideas as a member of the UICA Curatorial Board and instructor for ArtWorks summer mentorship program. An auction of k studio products and artwork has supported UICA, professional design association AIGA, Progressive Women’s Alliance of West Michigan and the Humane Society of West Michigan. Klein credits her mother, Mary Klein, a veteran executive in the Grand Rapids furniture industry, for serving as her studio’s business manager and an essential sounding board for her new designs.
Gary Lee Smith, 26
Title: President/Owner Company: Smith Development and Eclipse Hunting Apparel Gary Lee Smith made his grand entrance into the building industry when he was only 21 years old and still a student at Grand Valley State University. A subsequent business venture is confirmation Smith remains on the hunt for additional entrepreneurial challenges. While a student, Smith earned the distinction of becoming the second largest builder in Muskegon County where he had 18 homes and condominiums under construction at one time. He graduated in 2006 with a bachelor of business administration degree in finance while working long hours managing his construction sites. Today, his company primarily builds custom homes along the lakeshore as well as a handful of commercial buildings that can range up to $3 million. The economic downturn in residential development led Smith to expand to home remodeling the last two years. Smith credits real estate developer Dave Jacobs for mentoring him while in college. Jacobs is the reason Smith decided to earn a college degree in finance, obtain his Realtor and builder’s licenses, and become Jacobs’ property investments builder for residential and commercial properties. In 2008, Smith’s love of the outdoors compelled him to open Eclipse Hunting Apparel. Eclipse has customers worldwide, including South Africa and Australia. “We have since set up a full cut-and-sew facility in Muskegon to manufacture all of our products, which can be purchased at nearly 1,200 Mathews dealers around the world,” said Smith “We also manufacture soft goods for other companies in the hunting industry.” Smith also is the exclusive manufacturer of 3D camouflage jackets for Mathews. Smith shares his knowledge of development as a board member for the West Michigan Lakeshore Tour of Homes, helping promote residential development.
16 Grand Rapids Business Journal | 40 under forty 2011
40underforty2011.indd 16
10/21/11 12:17 PM