Several of Cloverdale and Geyserville’s business leaders are pursuing successful careers that are quite different from their original careers.
Stephanie Reitzel, owner of Tranquility Massage and Spa, who enjoyed fashion shows, event modeling, and appearing in Hot Boat Magazine, dreamed of a modeling career until her priorities changed.
Callie Kelder, owner of Dahlia & Sage Community Market in Cloverdale since 2019, worked as a sheet metal worker for 30 years.
Three years ago, Ashlyn McLean left behind a budding career in real estate to open Encore Dance Theater.
Daniel Frankston was a civil litigation attorney for 35 years before opening Cloverdale Wellness Pharmacy in 2021. His wife and co-owner Eleanor is a former Los Angeles Rams cheerleader and has worked as a wellness practitioner for over 30 years.
Tim MacDonald completed his studies in theology and clergy after a career in human resources leadership at top national and international companies, including Paramount Pictures. Since 2019, he has served as parish priest at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Cloverdale.
Four other local business owners who have taken the leap into entirely new careers are Nikki Backes, Jim Rickards, Diana Schraner and Mary Louise Butcher.
Punk drummer becomes rancher
Many of Ms. Bakshees’ horseback riding trail customers don’t know that she was a drummer in an all-female punk rock band before co-owning a Lake Sonoma ranch with her husband.
As a child, she loved listening to her brother play the drums and wanted to be like him. At age 5, she started putting pots and pans on the floor and banging them with a wooden spoon.
Although she played piano and flute in her school band, she was still drawn to percussion. a
When she was about 17 years old and playing drums in a punk band at the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma, she was scouted by a singer in an all-girl band called Chicks Pack. She ended up touring with the group for the next ten years.
“We went on the Vans Warped Tour, so we opened it up for the Real Mackenzies and Joan Jett,” she said. “We also played at Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas and numerous skateboarding events at places like Skate Lab in Los Angeles and Thrasher Warehouse in San Francisco. I went to state to play roller derby.”
After becoming a mother in 2007, she stopped playing full time.
“When I became a mother, I realized that the lifestyle of being away from home late at night and for days on end was not working for me,” she said, adding: ”
Baxes often performs with his father’s band, the Railroad Express, and recently shared a song with Solorio when they performed at Lake Sonoma’s Sunset Music Series.
From critical care nurse to winery owner
Rickards grew up wanting to be a farmer and applied for a Homestead Act land grant at age 11. This law allows citizens to own 160 acres of public land for living and farming. Her application was rejected and she was told to reapply when she turned 18.
Rickards, 79, spent the first three years after graduating from high school helping with autopsies in a hospital laboratory before heading to Vietnam.
“I volunteered for the hospital unit and then for combat training before going on a two-year tour of duty as a Marine in Vietnam,” he said.
After returning stateside in 1969, Rickards began a 50-year career as a critical care nurse in Sonoma County, and her farming dreams began to take shape. He bought cattle, moved to Petaluma, and began renting property to raise cattle, but the 1976 drought forced him to sell.
That same year, he found a 60-acre ranch with old vineyards on Chianti Street in Cloverdale.
When asked how he was able to afford the property at the time, Rickards said: It was a distressed property, probably because there was no water. It wasn’t until water was found and wells were dug that farming became possible, and then grapes could be grown. ”
For many years starting in 1908, he tended the Zinfandel vines on the property and planted new vines himself.
He also built a family home on the property.
Already established as one of the region’s leading grape growers, Rickards and his wife Eliza opened J. Rickards Winery in 2005.
Today, the family-owned winery produces 16 red and six white wines ranging from $30 to $64 and has won numerous awards, including seven at this year’s Sonoma County Harvest Fair. I’m doing it.
Painter turned cannabis business owner
Schraner, 57, moved to Switzerland from California with her parents in 1980.
When it came time to think about college, she didn’t want anything to do with it.
“I learned three languages, graduated from high school in Switzerland, and made a lot of great friends. When I was 17, I just wanted to be a painter,” she said.
