More about the Author, Lisa Kivirist

AUTHOR & SPEAKER, KISS OFF CORPORATE AMERICA: A YOUNG PROFESSIONAL'S GUIDE TO INDEPENDENCE (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1998 ISBN: 0-8362-3590-8)

Kivirist is a seasoned post-boomer entrepreneur and a leading resource to young professionals taking the self-employment plunge. Featured in various publications (Newsweek, The Capital Times) and on radio, Kivirist is an innovative speaker and workshop facilitator, leading interactive seminars on this growing "entrepreneurial renaissance," inspiring participants to re-define traditional career success and perspectives. Kivirist speaks from a "been there, done that" perspective, having left a prestigious but constraining job in advertising to create her own self-employed life. She now is involved with a diverse range of entrepreneurial endeavors, which she runs from her home office, sometimes in her pajamas, from a farm in Southern Wisconsin.

CO-OWNER, INN SERENDIPITY

Lisa Kivirist, with her husband, writer/photographer, John Ivanko, have created an innovative retreat amidst the green hills of rural Wisconsin. Inn Serendipity is a unique bed and breakfast, providing guests with an inspiring, relaxed environment in which they can play, reflect, learn and reconnect with their creative side. Art supplies, inviting hammocks, an eclectic library and screening room, organic perennial gardens and a whimsical life-sized outdoor chess set, are some of the discoveries at Inn Serendipity, sparking a reconnection with the simpler side of life and a renewal of the soul. The Inn is a "demonstration home" for Real Goods, serving as a showplace for energy conservation and more socially responsible living, and is a member of the Co-Op America Business Network. Kivirist has her art studio and craft store in the old milking parlor, specializing in dried flowers and herbs.

CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NORTH AMERICAN BLUEBIRD SOCIETY (NABS)

In partnership with her husband, John Ivanko, Lisa is the Co-Executive Director for the North American Bluebird Society (NABS), an international non-profit conservation organization focusing on the protection of bluebirds and other native cavity-nesting species. In this role, Lisa fosters bluebird educational and nest box building programs, as well as managing the administrative, mail order/catalog and fund-raising aspects of the organization. She also gives various workshops and presentations on birding and environmental conservation.