Consolidated Printing Company
A “need to eat” started the environmentally-conscious empire that is the Consolidated Printing Company. After giving birth to her youngest child of three, Marilyn Jones’ vision of work-life changed; it was then that she decided to launch her own business. Crediting her grandmother for her inspiration, Marilyn says, “She grew up in Yugoslavia as one of nine children. She would make clothes from scratch and tailor for the entire village.” Marilyn’s grandmother moved her family to Little Village/Pilsen in Chicago and started a rooming house as well as a restaurant. Marilyn’s own hardworking, single-mother of two was also determined to teach her children the value of hard work, an effort that surely paid off in Marilyn’s life. “As a teen, I owned numerous businesses from babysitting to housecleaning.”
Marilyn found her niche working in the booming printing business and started Consolidated Printing in 1973 with $5,000 from her mother. Heeding the advice of her first client, a vitamin manufacturer that taught what we eat, breathe and touch can affect our health tremendously, Marilyn started the green aspect of her business long before it was popular to do so, fostering change within the printing industry. Today, she uses everyday household products throughout her company’s machinery, maintaining a completely eco-friendly business. “Many people think green means cheap, but making this environment better doesn’t mean you have to compromise the quality of your work. We won local and national awards for the printing used in Chicago’s 2016 Olympic Bid, and we’ve done printing for Caremark, Office Depot, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the Bill Clinton Library, the Obama for America Campaign and the WBDC and their annual Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference.”
Marilyn credits the WBDC greatly for her success. “What’s the best resource? Hedy Ratner. I watched how she interacts, her concern, initiative, passion and kindness. She has an ‘ask for the moon’ mentality. She is a businesswoman!” She cites Hedy’s example as the one she wants to follow in her business.
Marilyn’s environmentally-conscious efforts with Consolidated Printing have made it part of the national board for the Sustainable Green Print Partnership – an independent, non-profit, collaborative certification organization whose primary goals are defining sustainable green printing and recognizing facilities that have met established sustainable manufacturing and business practices. Her call for transparency to stop the harmful practice of ‘greenwashing,’ led the board to initiate a comprehensive two-day process tracking all invoices and procedures to determine a company’s true green status.
In a recent broadcast, NBC5 Chicago, a longtime partner of the WBDC, featured a story about Marilyn Jones. Please click here to view the telecast.
Renowned as a skillful innovator within the printing industry, Marilyn’s numerous accomplishments include being named by the EPA as the State of Illinois’ first Great Printer. She offers this advice to WBEs, “Persevere. If you really believe in it, keep doing it!” For more information about Consolidated Printing please
click here.
Chicago’s High Achievers (CHiA)
Jinnie English is CEO of Chicago’s High Achievers (CHiA). A Licensed Clinical Social Worker with her A.M. from the University of Chicago, Jinnie first started her counseling and therapy practice in 1999. Through this practice she stumbled upon a niche of clients who were high achieving professionals that while outwardly successful were internally struggling with many personal crises. Jinnie renamed her business Chicago’s High Achievers and began focusing on helping these individuals learn how to manage stress before it got out of hand and achieve greater personal and professional success.
Chicago’s High Achievers now employs seven consultants and offers personal, professional and corporate development services designed to help individuals and corporations realize their fullest potential. Services include think tanks, coaching, counseling, trainings and assessments. Jinnie notes that the demand for different services changes depending on the season and the economy. In a down economy, many clients seek out CHiA due to self-preservation and concern about keeping their jobs. Currently CHiA has more individual clients than corporations, and Jinnie has taken a special focus on helping women and people of color.
Jinnie first heard about the WBDC from trusted colleagues and friends who she calls some of the WBDC’s biggest fans. While she initially resisted coming to the WBDC because she thought a good business owner should be able to grow her business on her own merit and she’d been disappointed with other organizations in the past, Jinnie now finds herself recommending the WBDC to others.
Jinnie says, “The WBDC is one of THE most effective business development organizations in the city. Their expertise in developing businesses at any stage has helped me to remain viable, competitive and relevant during the best and worst economies. They are consummate professionals who help you think about and discover how business COULD be done.”
WBDC business counselors challenged Jinnie to think about her audience as well as how to diversify her services and keep her business economically viable. Jinnie was impressed both by their professionalism and their willingness to shoot straight and ask tough questions. She also attends the WBDC’s Annual Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference each year in September and finds it to be very informative and a great place to meet people.
For Jinnie, the WBDC remains a resource and a support ready to help her achieve her highest potential just as she helps her clients reach theirs.
For more information on Chicago’s High Achievers please
click here
