Entrepreneur of Many Businesses
If you have the 3 E’s, you could consider starting your own business(es). What are the ‘3 E’s’? Read on!
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Christina Johanna Durante (CD) was born in Norristown (suburban Philadelphia), PA. Her grandmother had started a plastics company. Neither parent advised CD to follow any specific adult career path.
CHILDHOOD
As a child, CD recalls that her grandmother “gave me little jobs in the back office” of the plastics company.
EDUCATION
CD left her suburban high school before graduating with her childhood friends but eventually earned her G.E.D. (General Educational Development) certificate. Later, she studied psychology at Drexel University before dropping out to marry and have and raise three children.
THE 3 E’s: ENERGY, ENTHUSIASM, EXPERIENCE
CD launched her varied business career as a gift department manager at Boscov’s department store in Reading, PA. Her energy and enthusiasm so impressed the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Albert Boscov, that he nicknamed her ‘Tenacity’, promoted her to retail buyer and invited her into the company’s executive training program.
“He taught me how to be an entrepreneur,” CD said. “He showed me that if you were driven and had ambition, you could and would succeed financially.”
Always energetic and enthusiastic, then adding business experience as an employee with important responsibilities, CD left Boscov’s to become a high-achieving buyer at David’s Bridal stores.
WITH 3 E’s, STARTING BUSINESSES
Now with the three E’s and a vote of confidence from a seasoned business owner, CD had the courage to become a business partner at ‘Performance Lighting,’ which supplied parts for a lighting contract with the federal government.
Four years later, CD founded ‘PJs & Coffee,’ a social media marketing agency that promoted local restaurants, car dealers and other small businesses.
Two years later, CD created ‘Social Politics,’ a political consulting firm that among other projects, directed successful election campaigns for a county sheriff and a state legislator.
Eventually, CD started a retail business, ‘Buns Bakery.’
All the businesses created by CD – with and without business partners – were successful but one was most widely known – CD was the first woman to receive a medical marijuana license in Pennsylvania, founding ‘TerraVida Holistic Centers,’ which she opened as the first of her several marijuana dispensaries and was at one time the state’s dominant retailer of medical marijuana. CD later acquired distribution permits in other states and sold the company when she was diagnosed with cancer but remained as an executive with the new firm.
Committed to assisting cannabis users as well as selling to them, CD opened education and registration centers near the dispensaries and established the ‘VOWD’ Project – Victims of the War on Drugs – a nonprofit designed to ‘improve the lives of those victimized by cannabis prohibition.”
“Chris would not begin a project without finishing it,” her family said in a tribute. “She was a ‘giver.’ She was beyond generous and would give support or help to anyone.”
“Chris understood from the beginning that the marijuana business is, aside from whatever else it might be, a business,” said a former state legislator. “And as such, the basic rules of business apply: Provide a good product at a reasonable price and market yourself aggressively.”
CAREER SATISFACTION INCLUDES ‘A WOMAN OF HER WORD’
“There’s good reason why Chris was been so successful, and it’s not just her keen business sense. Chris really cared about her patients’ well-being, and it showed. You really can’t fake that kind of empathy,” said a former cannabis business colleague.
CD and her team spoke often about supporting local charities and initiatives in the communities in which they lived and worked. She lectured about the medical benefits of cannabis, especially after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“She had a passion to make people’s lives easier,” her family said. “She never missed an opportunity to educate people on the benefits of medical marijuana. She was passionate about everything.”
CD was active with the ‘Women’s Business Enterprise National Council’ and won awards for her local philanthropy.
Her sister-in-law said of CD: “She was giving and generous throughout her whole life. She had the biggest heart and was always a woman of her word.”
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This career story is based on several sources including an obituary written by Gary Miles, published by The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper on November 5, 2023, plus internet research.
