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Lisa Hering |
A Renaissance
Woman in Sedona
By
Staff Writer |
Sedona.biz
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Only those
who know and love Sedona can understand how, on her first
vacation here as a child of six years of age slip sliding away
in Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona changed the course of Lisa Hering's
life.
What no
one could predict, however, is the important contribution Lisa
has made to this small Arizona community.
Lisa K.
Hering was born in Houston, TX in 1959, and it was witnessing
the majesty of Sedona firsthand as a child, and later as an
adult hiking its trails, that ignited her passion to study
geology and to become a park ranger at the Grand Canyon.
A hiring
freeze by the national parks, however, created a small detour
and her first permanent job was working in the oil industry at
the Exxon Production Research Lab in Houston. But the "call of
the canyon" was strong and Lisa knew that she would eventually
move here.
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Lisa in the
Grand Canyon (2000) |
In the
1990's she gathered up enough money to purchase a Victorian home
on Galveston Island fifty miles from Houston that she converted
into a bed and breakfast. Her dream was to make enough money to
move to Sedona. Where Lisa found the courage and will to make
this leap is hard to say. Perhaps the spirit of Sedona had a
little to do with it.
The bed
and breakfast was successful and, after a few years, she sold it
and moved to Sedona, putting a placard on the door of her inn
that simply read, "Gone to the Southwest."
Using her
real estate experience as a spring board, she purchased a home
here that she rented. The rest, as they say, is history. Today
Lisa owns and
rents a number of different properties in the greater Sedona
area. This was followed by a real estate license, and Lisa is
currently a real estate agent at
Real
Estate 101.
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Lisa Hering's
"Phoenician" |
As all
Sedonans know, however, this place brings out the most creative
aspects of a person, and this happened with Lisa. She became
interested in designing and producing beaded jewelry, taking
advantage of her knowledge of minerals from her geology studies,
and opened a bead shop "on the side."
When
working in the bead shop, a woman closing down her yarn shop
wanted to trade Lisa yarn for jewelry. It wasn't long before
Lisa was designing and producing beautiful crocheted and knitted
clothing.
But what
comes next is truly amazing.
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Alpaca Fiber |
One day
she was talking to one of her property renters who owned an
alpaca. An alpaca is a domesticated South American mammal that's
related to the llama. Alpacas are bread for their fine, long
fiber. Having worked with yarn, alpacas peaked her interest.
Who knows, maybe Lisa inadvertently walked through a spirtual
vortex, but she decided to invest. Today, like with her rental
properties, Lisa owns a number of alpaca.
Most
recently, she has combined all of her skills and interests into
a new venture. She has secured a 5,000 square foot historical
building on Main Street in old town Cottonwood. Lisa's dream is
to create a "Fiber
& Bead Center" that has a studio, a retail and educational
center, and a cafe. The studio will have work space for fashion
design, painting and printing fabrics, dyeing yarns, weaving,
sewing and jewelry making. The retail area will display yarn,
beads, jewelry, fabric, clothing, bedspreads, pillows and
accessories. The educational center will house classes,
seminars, workshops, and videos and may be available for private
rental. The central area, used for retail during the day, can
be rearranged for a large showroom and exhibit hall for social
events.
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One of Lisa's 20 Alpacas |

One of Lisa's Rental
Properties: Casa del Sol |
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Lisa Hering's "Spring Meadow
Pullover" |
One thing that we can
learn from Lisa is to follow our passions wherever they may
lead us and, in the end, everything will come together like
pieces of a large tapestry. Who knows what the next chapter
will bring for this amazing Renaissance woman, but we'd all
do well to keep an eye on her because Lisa is not only
Sedona's present, but also its future.
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