Member Highlights

 On May 22nd I had the pleasure of talking with Tamara J. Hufford-Wong of Tamara J. Whole Communication tm, a communication company in Portland.

Laurie: First of all tell me about your business.
Tamara: My business started out years ago as a greeting card line for the alternative lifestyle market. The greeting cards were so tasteful that they crossed over into the mainstream. I threw myself into these greeting cards and the back of the card says it all for me: “Dedicated to help promote a better understanding between people.” I did the greeting cards for several years until my husband and I moved out of the country to Guam. When I came back I went back to college and got a degree in communications and public relations, and I started doing freelance public relations. I was doing very well at it because I love to write. Then 9/11 happened and everything changed. Around 2002, I started selling cars at a dealership to pay my college loans. I began to pay attention to the stories of the people who were buying cars, and I wrote down what the dealership could do differently to communicate so that people would enjoy buying their car there. When I approached car dealerships with what I wrote I found that it was a good ol’ boys network and they didn’t want anything to do with me.
My parents had five-and-ten-cent stores when I was growing up and I started working with the public when I was nine. I love working with the public, so when I got laid off from the car dealership I started doing talks about customer service and then went into other areas of communication, and I found that I really loved it. I’ve co-authored a book, Wise Women Speak, Changes Along the Path, which includes the story about my journey out of domestic violence. Years ago I did seminars for women on what to do after your relationship has ended, getting it all together again, and they were very successful.

Laurie: When did you open your company?
Tamara: Tamara J. Whole Communicationtm opened around 2004. The greeting card company, TJ Originals, started in 1994 and it has evolved into this company. It evolved because I realized that there was so much more than just greeting cards as a way to reach people.
Laurie: What is the most important thing you want people to know about your business?
Tamara: I am on a mission to bring back manners, kindness and respect. I want to get people talking to each other again. I want them to communicate face to face. Bring back human contact.

Laurie: What makes your products and services unique?
Tamara: What you see is what you get. There are no airs about me. I’m completely honest. I will also work within anybody’s budget. I’ve spoken at annual conferences about creating harmony in the workplace, avoiding conflict, praising your employees, looking for gold in your employees. I spoke at a patient care conference for Shriner’s Hospital and essentially showed them what it’s like to be a patient in their hospital to uncover things that they might not be aware of. I have a speaking engagement in July at a law firm for new interns and associates about how to approach people and feel comfortable talking to people. I do a lot of talks about diversity, which I really enjoy because a lot of times people use stereotypes to try and make sense of a fast-moving, complex world. We have to try and make sense of it and make it logical and orderly, but categorizing is also very destructive because we close ourselves off to all different kinds of thinking and opportunities. Maybe I’m an idealist but I love doing talks about diversity because it gets people thinking and finding the best in each other.

Laurie: Do you teach classes primarily?
Tamara: I do keynotes, seminars and interactive classes. I use a lot of humor and stories because people will remember a story and what they gleaned from it. A favorite talk that I’ve been asked to do is How I Found Dignity in a Bean Burrito. That’s a story about a homeless man in Los Angeles and the huge lesson he taught me because I judged him so harshly and I had no right to do that. It was a very humbling experience. I used to speak with larger groups, up to 700 people, and what I found is that I really prefer smaller to medium sized groups so I can really connect with people and answer their questions.
Laurie: Let’s shift gears a bit. What do you perceive as the benefits you receive from chamber membership?
Tamara: The benefit of chamber membership is that I have found a lot of wonderful people to be friends with. It’s opened up a whole arena of possibilities, new ways of thinking, services that I didn’t know were available, businesses that I didn’t know existed, and I think primarily it is just a really wonderful group of people to know.

Laurie: What advice would you give to a new business owner or someone who is considering starting a business of their own?
Tamara: Follow your gut instinct. Forget about the naysayers and the people saying we’ve always done it this way, you can’t do it like that, that’s impossible, that’s never been done before. Just forget about what everybody else is saying and follow your gut instinct. Your intuition is there to guide you. Once you really start to go deep into yourself you find that you have more resources and tools than you ever thought you had. Also, if you need help, ask. A lot people hesitate, but I’ve always found that people are flattered when you ask them for help.

Laurie: How do you see your business evolving over the next ten years?
Tamara: I see myself going from a sole proprietor to having three or four employees by year ten. I’ve got some new things on the horizon, a new website that I’m going to be putting up within the next year which will also have a product line that I’m really excited about. I’m going to collaborate with some of my friends because so many people have so many different gifts. I really see my business taking off and it will still center on communication and getting people talking to each other.

 
Laurie: On a personal note, what are your hobbies?
Tamara: I am a certified book junkie. I buy so many books. I prefer to buy a book over using the library because I like to write in it, bend the pages, and highlight things. I subscribe to over 15 magazines. I just love to read. I love movies. A couple of my favorite movies are Secretariat and Casablanca. I really love musicals. I just saw Joyful Noise and I sat there and smiled and cheered. I also love going out to eat and I discovered martinis about three years ago. You get the most punch for the least amount of calories!
Laurie: Along the same lines, how do you recharge?
Tamara: My favorite thing in the world is going camping along the Metolius River. The gurgling sound of the river does amazing things for my psyche. I love being by the water. The ocean is amazing, however I grew up around rivers, and I write a lot there and that really recharges me.

Laurie Fredsall,  Life Story Consultant

Capella Memoirs, LLC Phone: 503.577.7269 www.capellamemoirs.com 

“Capturing life stories in fun and innovative ways.”