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Her company, Tracy Negoshian Inc., began as a flagship store in Naples. Since then, the TN brand has expanded nationwide and throughout the Caribbean, offering styles for women ages 18 to 80. TN styles are designed with all women in mind, with prices that don’t break the bank. Over the years, the brand has gained a popularity and loyalty that still amazes Negoshian. “Even after all these years, I still get butterflies when I see ladies in TN. It’s an honor that of all the choices they have to fill their closets, they chose to purchase and wear something that our TN team spent hours designing and perfecting.” With a degree in marketing from the University of South Florida, Negoshian began her career at Saks Fifth Avenue with an elite clientele in the Palm Beach area. Her goal, she says, is to help women feel confident about themselves. She attributes much of her own confidence to support from her family. From her stepfather and business partner, Tom, to her “momager,” Linda, and her younger siblings Megan and Todd, Negoshian’s tribe is woven tightly in the fabric of her enterprise. Her newest endeavor — inviting women to market her fashions at “parties” they host from home — draws inspiration, she says, from her life with husband David and their children, Cooper and Ellery. “It’s the work-life-family balance that so many are seeking,” Negoshian says. “They set goals and work at a pace that is comfortable for their lifestyle. Our TN Stylist program offers one of the most rewarding compensation packages in the direct-sales marketplace.”
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Ed & Marti Koehler At first it might seem that these married artists couldn’t be more different. He’s a selftaught sculptor. She’s a classically trained painter. But here’s what makes this duo dynamic. Both native Floridians are more than comfortable coloring outside the lines that confine our concept of traditional art. Michelangelo transformed marble into masterpieces. Ed Koehler coaxes metals and epoxies into sconces, floor lamps and more. What gives Koehler’s organic sculptures standout appeal is the craftsman’s penchant for mixing media — from fiberglass and mosaics to steel and aluminum. “No one does what I do in my particular style,” says Koehler, and that’s putting it lightly. Picture a towering horseshoe crab fashioned from fiberglass, or a steel wall sconce posing as a driftwood branch. Nature, as you might rightly suspect, provides all of Koehler’s inspiration. Florida’s vivid colors, above and below the water, impressed the boy from Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys, who worked at a variety of jobs before
Jorge Ramirez (3)
Courtesy of Tracy Negoshian (2)
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following his passion for art. Wife Marti Koehler followed a more traditional path. She studied in New Orleans, Tallahassee and New York City as she sought ways to break down and reimagine the colors, shapes and textures of her natural surroundings. “I’m trying to push the limits of certain themes already done by other artists, like beaches or figures,” she says. “I try and push the concepts to a different direction, and I try to use a variety of mixed materials to make that happen.” In a new series of paintings, for example, she explores the geometry of synchronized swimmers. The swimmers appear to be positioned perfectly, but what else is going on? “It feels like it could be a representation of two different ways of thinking — poised on the outside with something churning under the surface.”