I've always been a work-minded person.  When I was a little girl, I loved to sit at my grandpa's desk, pretend to take important phone calls, and stamp documents with his signature stamp.  When I was five, I received a little cash register as a gift and I enjoyed ringing up "purchases."  At seven, I was selling lemonade in front of the house with a change-maker that attached to my belt.  I baby-sat from age 10 to 15 and couldn't wait to get my work permit so I could begin working at my first real job, Shoe-Town in Morton Grove.  At about this time, my mother developed her own business, making wired ribbon barrettes to sell at craft fairs and to stores.  I helped her by making braided skinny ribbon barrettes and huge bow barrettes made of fabric (remember those from the '80s?)

After high school, it was off to college at Marquette University in Milwaukee.  I wasn't sure what to study, I knew it would be business but what specialty?  My dad said you can't go wrong with Finance so that's the specialty I took.  I didn't love the Finance courses but luckily at Marquette they require a well-rounded education which means a year of a foreign language, 3 philosophy and 3 theology courses among others.  I actually got a "C" in Accounting, I didn't quite understand how it all worked.  During the college years I took summer courses at Oakton Community College and worked every chance I could, Christmas/spring breaks and summers as an office temp which eventually lead to an accounting internship at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.

Upon graduation, I landed a job as a Staff Accountant at a computer leasing company in Deerfield.  My first project was to work with the IT department to convert the data from a new acquisition to the company's system.  Once I actually started working in accounting it all made sense and I did enjoy it but I was really drawn to the computer work.  Before long I was known as the "super user" in the company, meaning the non-IT person with the most computer knowledge.  The IT director asked me to join their department two years later.  At about the same time I decided to begin work on an M.B.A. at Keller Graduate School of Management.  I transferred to the IT department and served as a liaison between the IT and accounting departments, learning computer programming along the way.  On the side I continued to work with my mother, having graduated to making hair scrunchies.

Two years later, I joined a liability insurance company in Evanston as a Business Consultant.  My job was to develop and maintain the systems needed by the reinsurance accounting department.  I spent nearly 10 years at this company, through their move to Deerfield and eventually worked my way to the senior level, managing software development projects.  In 1995 I left hair accessories behind to start my handcrafted jewelry business, Windy City Jewelry.  In 1999 I started selling household items for clients on eBay.  I left the insurance company in 2002 to work on my own.  My mother joined me in developing our jewelry business, selling at local art shows and to stores.  I began selling full-time on eBay, namely customer-returned clothing items from the #1 TV shopping network (not HSN but the other guys!)  In 2005 I met a wonderful artist who makes jewelry and beaded flowers, and another terrific artist who makes polymer clay pens.  We joined forces to form an artists' group named Flower Girls Gifts.

Currently I co-own Brie's Gift Gallery in Mount Prospect with my mother.  We decided to combine our love of handcrafted items with that of antiques and opened the store in 2006.  The store features one-of-a-kind handcrafted gifts by our Flower Girls Gifts group in addition to other local artists and features our Windy City jewelry line.  Peppered throughout the store are vintage items such as pottery, glass, wood, silver and small furniture pieces.  I continue to occasionally sell jewelry or antiques for clients, either in the store or on eBay.  I am phasing out of selling the #1 TV shopping network clothing in order to concentrate on web and graphic design full-time.

Education

• B.S. - Business Administration/Finance, Marquette University

• M.B.A. - Keller Graduate School of Management

Time Line

• 1984 to 1988 - Earned undergraduate degree

• 1988 to 1990 - Accountant for computer leasing firm

• 1990 to 1992 - Information Technology Liaison for computer leasing firm

• 1990 to 1994 - Earned M.B.A. while working full-time

• 1992 to 2002 - Computer Consultant for insurance company

• 1995 to Present - Co-Owner of jewelry design business

• 1999 to Present - eBay PowerSeller

• 2006 to Present - Co-Owner of gift gallery

Feel free to browse through this site.  If you have any questions, contact me via e-mail at brigidmcalpin@comcast.net or by telephone at 847-253-3986.  Thank you for visiting and I look forward to serving you!