Twenty Years In, Still Like Sisters

Lucy has worked with Carmen since before Fosetter had a storefront, back when they were filling orders out of a warehouse. "From the beginning, before we even opened the store, I was working with the owner," she says. "We had a warehouse back then, and I'd be in there buying things, ordering online, whatever we needed."

She's been with Carmen for over ten years, and she's known her for more than twenty. "We raised our kids together. We pushed each other forward," Lucy says. "Because we don't have a lot of family close by, it's like I gained a little sister, and she gained a big sister."

The hardest stretch was before the shop existed at all, when both of their kids were still small. "She didn't have time to take care of her kids, and sometimes I didn't have time to pick mine up either, so we'd go together, pick up the kids, drop them off at school," Lucy remembers. "Now our kids are in their twenties. They don't need us for that anymore, and we can just focus on the work."

Asked to describe Carmen in a couple of sentences to someone who's never met her, Lucy doesn't hesitate. "She's someone with a truly kind heart. I've known her for over twenty years, and I've never met anyone this kind. She's always quietly supporting things, elder-care homes, different community events, she's always there for it. But she doesn't like being on camera. She stays out of it. Her generosity still gets there either way."

Lucy also credits Carmen with something closer to home. "She helped me raise two kids who turned out really well, one is studying political science, the other occupational therapy. That's the thing I'm proudest of. Raising two kids and giving them that kind of education, that means a lot to me. It's real."