2018 has been called “the year of the woman,” but throughout the nation women live each year of their lives with purpose, vision, grit and determination. It may have taken until 2018 for them to be recognized with their own year, but women have been striving to advance themselves, their communities and this country before it was even founded.

 

The Business Journal has been profiling local women in business for decades, working to ensure that the stories and efforts of women leaders in our community are told. In this edition, we selected five women that we, and many others in the city, consider to be visionaries. These are individuals who started with unique ideas and seized upon opportunities to bring them to fruition for the betterment of the Long Beach community or their industries at large.

 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a visionary as “a person with original ideas about what the future will or could be like.” The five women highlighted within these pages were chosen because of the magnitude of impact their ideas are making on the community. Each of them works or lives within Long Beach.

 

From the creation of a unique effort that brought the city’s largest publications together for an award-winning series, to the early adoption of green business practices, to forward-thinking holistic cancer care, to the creation of an event that has brought in millions to help families in need, and even a program that brought massive works of art to city streets, the women’s visions have had far-reaching impacts. They are: Cheri Bazley, executive director of Long Beach Ronald McDonald House; Marcelle Epley, president and CEO of the Long Beach Community Foundation; Julia Huang, president and CEO of interTrend Communications; Kerstin Kansteiner, owner of Portfolio Coffeehouse, Berlin Bistro and Portfolio Fit; and Erin Sommerville, mind-body oncology coach at MemorialCare Todd Cancer Institute.

 

To read the profiles, click here.