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Machell Avenue in Dallas to be closed Monday

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Happy birthday Coley Leonard Comparetta!

<p>WYOMING &#8212; As shoeless youngsters giggled and played in inflatable bounce houses around them, several well-dressed women sat around colorful tables with plates of cookies, talking about their lives between checking their smartphones for emails and updates.</p><p>It&#8217;s that work-play dichotomy that often presents itself in the lives of these women &#8212; all mothers of young children and all independent business owners.</p><p>The meeting at Super Bounce in Wyoming was the first time the eight women would physically get together, but the gathering stemmed from an informal support group that includes asking each other for advice on topics ranging from where to purchase insurance for their businesses to how to manage that work-life balance.</p><p>Aubrey Ginocchietti, 38, of Wyoming, said being the mother of 7-year-old triplets and a 5-year-old influenced her decision to open Super Bounce, a children&#8217;s entertainment facility in the Midway Shopping Center. The business opened in March but had been in the planning stages for two years prior.</p><p>As a first-time business owner, Ginocchietti said she turned to fellow moms in similar situations.</p><p>&#8220;I know everyone here, and I honestly go to each and every person and ask, &#8216;How do you deal with this? How do you deal with that?&#8217;&#8221; she said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve reached out to everybody, for everything, and whatever we can do to help in return, we&#8217;re here.&#8221;</p><p>Several of the moms felt their businesses allowed them the freedom to support their families while also remaining flexible in the amount of time spent with their loved ones.</p><p>Lisa Pollard, 42, of West Wyoming, runs four businesses &#8212; Bloomsburg Gold &amp; Chain, Bloomsburg Title &amp; Tag, Mountain Top Gold &amp; Chain, and Mountain Top Title &amp; Tag &#8212; to be able to take charge of her own schedule and be with her children, 7-year-old Simon and 5-year-old Roger, whenever she wanted.</p><p>&#8220;At the drop of a hat I could lock the door, because Simon and Roger are number one,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Their days don&#8217;t stop at the end of the work day, either. Bernadette Voisin, 47, of Wyoming, a dressmaker who owns Threads by Voisin, said she sometimes finds herself finishing work after closing her storefront on Wyoming Avenue and caring for 8-year-old Caleb in the evening.</p><p>&#8220;I do laundry and clean my house at 3 in the morning,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Kristin Favata, 31, of West Wyoming, owner of Booyah Burgers &amp; Bites in Wyoming, said it can be challenging at times to be a working mother but it can also be empowering.</p><p>&#8220;I call us superwomen,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I always say I have an S on my chest, because not only do we go to work, but &#8230; we don&#8217;t get to go home and sit down.&#8221;</p><p>Amanda Faneck, 32, of Dallas, owner of G+Me Children&#8217;s Yoga and Boutique in Dallas Township and mom to 3-year-old Grayson, said she has experienced flak for being a working mother, but doesn&#8217;t let it get to her.</p><p>&#8220;This is me trying to live out a dream,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And it&#8217;s trying to bring something to the community that doesn&#8217;t exist, not for only my son but for other kids his age.&#8221;</p><p>Pollard said she believes it takes the support of others to make it work, and she said asking for help is not something one should be ashamed to do.</p><p>&#8220;I am one who&#8217;s not afraid to ask for help, and I surround myself with a team of women who work for me or help me, whether that&#8217;s my mother or my assistants,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Ginocchietti said learning how to manage a calendar has been a big help.</p><p>&#8220;You have to be ultra organized &#8212; beyond ultra organized,&#8221; she said.</p><p>And scheduling any alone time for themselves is not always part of that calendar.</p><p>&#8220;My alone time is grocery shopping or cleaning,&#8221; said Ginocchietti.</p><p>Ginocchietti said she wishes she could clone herself some days, but she appreciates knowing others in her position are making it work.</p><p>Faneck believes the cross promotion is the best way to support fellow moms with businesses. She also works full-time in marketing, so the idea isn&#8217;t one that&#8217;s new to her.</p><p>&#8220;Social media is huge,&#8221; she said.</p><p>And sometimes it can be a burden. Several of the women discussed how they react to and deal with negative comments about their businesses on websites and social media.</p><p>Rebecca Martino, 34, of Falls, owner of Stately Pet Supply in Clarks Summit and mother to 5-year-old Adam and 13-year-old Jacob, said she once cried in a restaurant after a friend of hers referred a customer to another business on the Stately Pet Supply Facebook page.</p><p>She said she had worked hard to cross promote her friend&#8217;s business in her pet store, so she was hurt that her friend didn&#8217;t do that same.</p><p>&#8220;These businesses almost turn into, well, I have two children so I call it my third child,&#8221; said Martino.</p><p>Pollard said she has felt the same sort of betrayal.</p><p>&#8220;It takes the wind out of your sails for a little while because you put your heart and passion into all of your work and all of your customers, and to have somebody behind a keyboard knock you down a few notches is very defeating,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Favata said she believes the negative feedback helps to make her business stronger.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;re going to have a basket of apples, and there&#8217;s going to be a rotten apple in every basket,&#8221; she said.</p><p>She said the &#8220;take it all in stride&#8221; attitude provides a good example for her children, 6-year-old David and 1-year-old Donato.</p><p>&#8220;When your kids see you doing it, I think it will inspire them, so I think we&#8217;re creating entrepreneurs as well,&#8221; said Favata.</p><p>Trista Cruz, 32, of Wyoming, owner of American Grill in Exeter and mother of two boys, 7-year-old Shawn and 5-year-old Ty, can relate. She said her sons talk about starting their own businesses after seeing their parents run the restaurant.</p><p>&#8220;I think it brings out that creativity,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Voisin also said because she is her own boss, her son is able to understand where money comes from and why she works so hard to support them.</p><p>&#8220;If my son asks me for something and I say, &#8216;No we can&#8217;t afford it,&#8217; he says, &#8216;It&#8217;s OK, Mommy, we need to keep a roof over our heads first,&#8217;&#8221; said Voisin.</p><p>The women also agreed that it&#8217;s important to them to give back to the communities that support them. Pollard said she believes there is a negative stigma about Northeastern Pennsylvania.</p><p>She said she had au pairs live with the family for the first five years of her children&#8217;s lives, and the women who came overseas to live with the Pollards already had negative opinions of the Wyoming Valley.</p><p>Pollard feels that business owners and families who live in the area are working hard to change that.</p><p>&#8220;When I see people who are bringing something back and adding and really restoring our values to this area &#8230; it&#8217;s just so important and I&#8217;m just so grateful (these women) have, for lack of a better word, the grit to do it,&#8221; she said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">From left, Lisa Pollard, Chastity Krakosky, Amanda Faneck and Rebecca Martino discuss their roles as mothers and business owners. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_TTL051417moms1.jpg</photo0><caption0>From left, Lisa Pollard, Chastity Krakosky, Amanda Faneck and Rebecca Martino discuss their roles as mothers and business owners. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_TTL051417moms2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Aubrey Ginocchietti, of Wyoming, owner of Super Bounce, listens as Rebecca Martino, of Falls, owner of Stately Pet Supply, talks about being a mother and business owner. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_TTL051417moms2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Aubrey Ginocchietti, of Wyoming, owner of Super Bounce, listens as Rebecca Martino, of Falls, owner of Stately Pet Supply, talks about being a mother and business owner. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta></subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Sarah Hite Hando</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach the Time Leader newsroom at 570-829-7242</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Area women balance motherhood, running businesses