Growing up with a mother and an aunt who were both actresses, as a little girl Laurel Watt dreamed of being in the theater. As a grown-up, she studied acting and theater arts, and built a career in professional and community theater.

Watt, the artistic director at Poulsbo’s Jewel Box Theater (www.jewelboxpoulsbo.org), directed her first play in seventh grade, when a teacher allowed her to direct her fellow students. That encouraged her to pursue her drama interests into high school and beyond. read more »

When Dr. Nancy Isbell, DVM, decided to become a veterinarian nearly three decades ago, she combined her interest in science and her empathy for animals with her “deep feeling of obligation to heal the wounds people cause animals.” Now an industry veteran with 26 years as a veterinarian, Isbell says all those passions still drive her, but over the years have evolved to include enjoyment from watching the bond between pets and humans.

Seeing as many as 500 or 600 patients a month read more »

Teresa Mosey is not afraid to use tools to repair equipment — and in her business, she does those repairs herself more often than not. Mosey, the co-owner with her two sisters of Fabricare Cleaners, runs the daily operations, equipment repair and all.

Mosey and sisters Jonee Dubos and Danielle Lopeman took over the company two years ago after their father retired. Mosey has been working at the business ever since he bought it in 1985. “Dad was in banking, but he looked at a business the family can help run,” she said. read more »

Many of the Kitsap-based nonprofit foundations are run by women, who love their jobs as a way of giving back. Here are some of these successful women who work to make the community a better place to live:

Joan Hanten is the executive director for Olympic College Foundation, overseeing the foundation while managing its endowments, totaling more than $7 million. She works with the donors and sets up the gifts, and is one of three employees of the foundation, which has a 21-member volunteer board.

Hanten, who has been the director for more than seven years, has a law school degree and worked for an appeals court before she joined the foundation. She uses her legal background frequently read more »

When Patti Kleist worked as a buyer for a large packaged-foods manufacturing corporation, she was told one day she had leukemia and was given two years to live. Although a year later the diagnosis proved false, that experience was life-changing. In one of those moments of epiphany, Kleist realized she needed to do something meaningful with her life. So she started working in the nonprofit sector, initially in addiction recovery.

Kleist hasn’t looked back since, and instead read more »

Women-owned businesses are estimated to generate 16 percent of all jobs nationwide, and some estimates are calling them America’s next job-creation engine: A survey published in Forbes in January estimates that women business owners will create a third of the 15 million new jobs that the Bureau of Labor Statistics anticipates in the next eight years. read more »

Annie Eissler, co-founder of Mixtur Interactive on Bainbridge Island, was a marketing professional for 15 years before launching her business with her husband, Mark. The company, which now has five staff members, is a full-service marketing agency catering primarily to technology companies. The agency can act as a company’s marketing department, planning, designing and implementing campaigns. “We do soup to nuts,” Eissler said.  read more »

If you twist the cliché that behind every great man there is a great woman, you could say that for every decision-maker or busy organization, there is someone working in a supportive role to keep things running smoothly. Often times, they work quietly behind the scenes and are trying to make sure their bosses look good at all times.

Below are the stories of some local women whose demanding jobs include, among other things, keeping various local decision makers on their toes or keeping the office running like a well-oiled machine. read more »