Michelle Dean, owner of Waters Edge Winery in Broken Arrow, 116 S. Main St., is among the 17.8% of female winemakers in the United States.
Dean spoke to Tulsa World about how she garnered success in a male-dominated industry, her experience as a female business owner and her advice for young women with entrepreneurial dreams.
Ken currently serves on the board of directors for Community Church Rancho and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Inland Empire. Ken has been married to Angela for 31 years and they have one daughter. He enjoys wine (you’re not surprised, are you?), spending time with his family, and flying airplanes. He and Angela have 2 dogs.
Early in his sales career he adopted a saying from Zig Ziglar – “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” This has been the way he’s built the business from the ground up – with guests, employees, and ultimately, with his franchisees.
Click here to follow Ken on LinkedIn. Phone: 909-468-9463 ext 704
Emily is a bright, young women just starting to get her feet wet in the business world. A recent graduate from Concordia University Irvine with a BA in Studio Art, her career goals are centered around Art and Graphic Design. Emily is a studio artist, who emphasizes in graphic design, painting, illustration, and photography. All of these talents and experience are valuable in her current role of Assistant in the Franchise Liaison office at Waters Edge Wineries.
Emily is recently married and the parent of a young rescue dog named Coco. Emily has lived her entire life in the local area of Upland and Ontario. She excelled and enjoyed playing Basketball and Volleyball in High School. And she has a green thumb (particularly succulents) as well as a (not so) secret love for geology.
Deanne’s career has most notably been in the field of Finance, in particular the discipline of personal and commercial lending. She has also most recently worked for an Accounting firm as an assistant to the CFO. In addition to her career, Deanne pursues her passion for mission work as demonstrated by mission trips to Honduras and her current voluntary roles with local charities. Her experience and skills are a natural fit for her current role as Franchise Liaison for Waters Edge Wineries as she learns and grows in our wine business. An added bonus is that she enjoys a good glass of wine, particularly the reds!
On a personal note, Deanne was born and raised in Pomona, California but also has roots in Nebraska. She is the youngest of 4 siblings, the mother of 4 children, and the grandmother of 5.
Jennifer followed her passion for wine and entrepreneurship and joined Waters Edge in 2015 as one of our early franchisees. After spending 20 years in Marketing and Business Development, her career change was born from a love of all things wine and the hospitality industry. She and her winemaker/husband Chad ran their Colorado based winery and bistro for six years until the building they were housed in was sold. Jennifer’s passion for customer service, food and wine, creativity, and people has been at the forefront of her success since its inception.
Jennifer and her husband are avid divers with a love of outdoors and camping, and travel far and wide to pursue their passions. So many countries and islands are home to wineries and distilleries and they make it their priority to visit while traveling abroad to grow and share their knowledge.
Jennifer grew up in Michigan, graduated from Ferris State University with a Bachelors of Business Administration and Associates degree as a Paralegal. She and her husband Chad, a U.S. Navy veteran, builds Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants all over the US, they love their dogs (all dogs really!) and live at 6926 feet in Colorado Springs in the gorgeous Rocky Mountains.
Art transitioned from a career in technology to the wonderful world of wine in 2013 allowing him to pursue his passion for delicious food and flavorful wine. This desire arose at an early age since he had the opportunity to travel across the world alongside his father who was a Naval aviator. Throughout his career, he has spent seven years managing wineries throughout Temecula Valley and achieved his Level II Sommelier Certification. Art joined Waters Edge Wineries in 2020 intending to educate communities across the country on wine knowledge, etiquette, and business.
Art grew up in California and had the privilege of attending the United States Naval Academy as well as California State University – San Marcos. He has two dogs, Roman and Remi, and he enjoys traveling with as well as cooking for his wife, camping and snowboarding during his free time.
Mark has decades of experience managing small and medium size businesses. He founded his own silkscreen and embroidery company as well as working for his family’s grocery business. Mark’s role at Waters Edge Wineries is to oversee the site selection, lease negotiations and assist with the permit process to get the winery constructed as efficiently as possible. Mark also oversees our winemaking operations and inventory management at our headquarters location.
Mark grew up in the Inland Empire and he is well known in many of the local charity and business circles. Mark loves our LA sports teams, including the Dodgers and the Kings as well as his favorite university – USC. He has 3 daughters and 1 son as well as a new grandson.
Phone: 909-468-9463 ext 703
Angela created the model for guest service at our winery. She is relentless on making sure that every guests’ experience is as flawless as possible – and when it isn’t we do all we can to make up for it. She helped manage and operate the front end of The Wine Tailor. Angela is currently the main contact once someone joins The Waters Edge family to help them manage their opening checklist, solve issues during the opening process, and also manages all the ordering of product for our wineries.
Angela grew up (mostly) in Round Rock, Texas and then moved to California in 1990 where she met Ken. She graduated from the University of LaVerne in 1998. Before founding The Wine Tailor, she acquired her Broker license and became a partner in a property management business. Angela managed over 200 residential properties. This experience gave her the skills to help successfully manage business relationships and provide outstanding customer service that exceeds expectations.
Angela is an avid scrapbooking fan and loves to spend time at home with her rescue dogs and her family – and yes, in that order of preference!
Phone: 909-468-9463 ext 702
