SISTERS, OR, March 18, 2009
/24-7PressRelease/ -- The US Small Business Administration announced last Monday that Tara O'Keeffe, President and Founder of the Sisters, Oregon-based O'Keeffe's Company, manufacturer of the Working Hands, Healthy Feet and Life Out There crèmes, has been selected as the 2009 Oregon State Small Business Person of the Year. Tara O'Keeffe is the first individual from Central Oregon ever to win the Oregon Small Business Person of the Year award.
The Small Business Person of the Year program identifies outstanding small business people in each of the 50 states who have distinguished themselves through their hard work, innovation and dedication with significant contributions to their State's economy. This award has been presented to outstanding small business owners since 1963. According to the SBA, such business persons provide 60-80% of the net new jobs and generate a majority of American innovations.
Tara's dedication to the O'Keeffe's line of skin care solutions that truly work has resulted in a business that has grown organically through the support of fiercely loyal customers rather than paid advertising and hype. Tara has created and made available a line of skin repair products that now provide relief to hundreds of thousands of longtime sufferers with severe cracked skin problems when nothing else would help them. Tara has built her business conservatively in the belief that "products must provide honest value and do what they claim", contrary to the "quick profit, slash and burn" business model so fashionable today. Tara treats customers like she would like to be treated, and stands behind every jar sold.
O'Keeffe's Company has demonstrated its commitment to global corporate responsibility by supporting advancements in community development, youth education, employee benefits and equal opportunity, disaster relief, underserved nations, and environmental conservation. The company has donated its products and services to organization such as Doctors Without Borders, HELPS International, Habitat for Humanity, the United State Armed Forces, and several groups of public servants such as fire fighters and postal workers. In various ways Tara has personally had a positive impact on her local community, her employees, and those in need. She clearly believes in an obligation to help others and has volunteered her time and resources to various relief groups.
The SBA Small Business Person of the Year regional winners will be honored at the 2009 Small Business Week Gala at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland on May 28th.
About O'Keeffe's Company
O'Keeffe's Company, located in Sisters, Oregon, was founded 15 years ago by pharmacist Tara O'Keeffe when Tara's father, a rancher and diabetic, asked Tara to "find a solution for the severe splits and cracks on his hands and feet". What started as a quest to find relief for a father resulted in the development of such an effective skincare formulation that it launched the company we know today. This woman-owned, family business develops, manufactures and sells three innovative skin care solutions: Working Hands, Healthy Feet and Life Out There. For additional information: http://www.okeeffescompany.com.
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