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About Beaducation
The Beaducation Team »
Meet the Beaducation Team
Ever wonder who is that voice or the person typing that email? Meet the people that power Beaducation! Our team is dedicated to bringing our customers the best in products and service. Let us tell you a little bit about ourselves.

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Lisa Kelly

Lisa Kelly
Founder & CEO
A true pioneer in the industry, Lisa has been beading and teaching for more than 20 years. She was voted one of the nation's Top Ten Instructors by Bead & Button Magazine in 2010. That's like getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Except beads. And you don't have to put your hands in cement.
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Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly
Vice President, Director of IT
Dubbed "The Website Wonder" Paul is responsible for making all things "computer" run smoothly. The "King of Code" also enjoys playing music with his band, sailing and seed beads. (Okay, no seed beads, but that man can PLAY the guitar!)
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Claudia Navarrete

Claudia Navarrete
General Manager
As General Manager of our crazy business, Claudia does it all! When she is not checking in with each Department making sure everything is running smoothly, she is dancing. In fact, she is the best dancer who never tried out for 'So You Think You Can Dance.' We are glad because it means she won't become famous and leave us for Hollywood. How would Beaducation exist without her?

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Aisha Formanski

Aisha Formanski
Education Lead
Got jewerly tools? Our Education Lead Aisha certainly does! As a self-proclaimed addict, she admits wanting to have them all. Having worked in the bead and DIY jewelry industry for over half her life, this native Minnesotan has collected so many tools she lost count on how many she has. Not only is Aisha an accomplished jewelry designer with 6 months of courses at Revere Academy under her belt, she can also spin her own yarn and knit with it. Pretty talented, eh? You betcha!
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Lora Curran

Lora Curran
Customer Service
Lora heads up our customer service team. When you hear Lora’s helpful and sunny voice on the phone you would never know that she is a tough hockey player. We only know that because just last week she mistook a rubber block for a puck and made a goal by shooting it neatly through the door to the shipping department. Her favorite thing is to hear from our customers, so please drop her a line anytime. Her office is big and she gets kinda lonely.
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Mel McCabe

Mel McCabe
Product Manager
Mel has the uncanny ability to spot exciting new products for our site. Unearthing treasures is in her blood. It’s because her great-great-great-great-great grandmother owned the first thrift store ever. That was a long time ago, when things weren’t so antique. Not only is she a collector of interesting items, but she also knows her beads and makes beautiful jewelry. Her ggggggreat-grandmother would be proud.
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Mindy Prabhu

Mindy Prabhu
Visual Designer
This girl has an eye for design that we trust. She picked out all the wall colors for our new space and painted larger than life stamps on the interior windows! She takes a break from her life of interior design to tend to our site; taking all our photos, creating our ads and updating anything and everything you see at Beaducation. Did we mention she does all this with kids? Crazy, I know.

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Molly Sweeney

Molly Sweeney
Marketing Lead
Molly came to Beaducation with 15 years of corporate marketing experience, most of it in high tech and telecom. We keep hearing Molly taking deep breaths, which she assures us is the fresh air BeadYo is by comparison! Prior to joining our creative group, the only jewelry Molly had ever made was a friendship pin in fourth grade… She’s come a long way in a short time to learn our business. When she isn’t scouting out the best advertising opportunities or managing the blog, she’s probably swimming, biking, or running -- Molly is an Ironman triathlete!
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Danelle Street

Danelle Street
Inventory Lead
Danelle loves all shiny pretty things especially sterling silver and gems mixed in with a heavy dose of design stamps and hammering. Torn between a variety of creative pursuits, she just can't decide between making jewelry, refinishing furniture, embellishing anything she can get her hands on, or making a big, yummy pot of soup.
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Taryn McCabe

Taryn McCabe
Design Lead
Taryn (aka TOM) has been making jewelry for over twenty years. She started creating lampwork beads in her folks' garage in elementary school. By junior high, she was begging her mom to take her to the dump to scavenge for old tires to convert into soles for her own shoe collection. It was not a surprise that she ended up studying Art in college in New York, glassblowing and jewelry in Italy, and then went on to study footwear at Cordwainers in London. She loves to travel the globe, but made her way back to the San Francisco Bay Area to complete her Master's Degree in Art before devoting her time to making Design Ideas for the patrons of Beaducation.
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Elizabeth Emery

Elizabeth Emery
Inventory Assistant
Elizabeth Emery is good at counting. And as Inventory Assistant, "good" means fast and accurate. She's the perfect person for the job! Elizabeth was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, though has dual citizenship in Ireland. This blue-eyed lass is earning a degree in Kinesiology from San Francisco State University. When she's not getting new products ready to sell, she's either adding more treasures to her Pinterest collections or reading a book (not necessarily the textbook kind).
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Jenn Wilson

Jenn Wilson
Shipping Lead
Jenn rules the Beaducation warehouse. You want to know why your package gets to you so quickly? It's because she makes sure it does! Our Shipping Department is so lean and mean because Jenn's vegan lifestyle has it runnin' like an organic machine! When she's not sketching at home or recreating black and white photos, she is baking up some vegan cinnamon rolls or healthy s'mores cupcakes (they are mad crazy tasty!). Jenn's an avid runner and in such great shape that if the postman doesn't pick up our packages one day, she might even be able to run your stamps to your home faster than USPS!

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Jennifer Parzych

Jennifer Parzych
Shipping Team
This Georgia Peach is one crafty southern belle. Not only can she fabricate metal, cast and set stones, but she managed to ship out 136 packages in her first day in Shipping. She chews on ginko leaves throughout the day to keep her mind as sharp as a Samurai sword, which is why shipping errors are so rare in our warehouse. She can usually be found in a pair of hip Adidas runners, ready to run after the postman if he has left without a package. Don’t mess with JP!
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Colin Mahler

Colin Mahler
Inventory Specialist
Colin is the fastest counter we know, which makes her very good at her job as an Inventory Specialist! She catalogues all of our products as they arrive on our doorstep, re-packages them and puts everything in the correct spot. Talk about endless counting! She is also responsible for putting together our Stamping On Metal Starter Kits and Soldering Starer Kits and assisting with trade shows. But Colin is more than just a numbers whiz. She knows her way around a jeweler's bench with 26 years of experience, nine of which have specialized in chainmail. You may recognize her as the teacher in our chainmail classes! Jewelry is a big part of Colin's life at work and at home, but she still finds time to read, cook (and eat!), and spend time with family and friends.
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Rocco

Rocco
Dog
Rocco is kinda like that kid from school that would hang out by the wall at the basketball court during second period. Except he is a dog and does not listen to The Grateful Dead.