Janet Webster is the Business Manager at Jean Elton and has become an invaluable partner in the company. Her ideas and insight are important in all the business's decision-making.
Janet first became involved with Jean Elton after meeting Bill Barker (co-founder and owner) to discuss the purchase of another franchise. Though she did not go ahead with that purchase, she did decide she'd like to work with Bill on another project. "I have worked in finance, product management, consulting, and sales, and as we spoke about the different things he was involved in, the Jean Elton business (accompanied by iPhone pictures) sounded and looked compelling," says Janet. After meeting Lois Barker and becoming more involved in the business, she began to research and evaluate the new target market of customized dinnerware for brides. "I looked at primary and secondary market research. Lois and Bill liked the work, and offered me a role as Lois’ Business Manager. After working with Jean Elton’s senior management team over a six month period, we completed a strategic and operational audit, and selected a couple of organizational and infrastructure challenges to work on which we felt would impact our ability to grow. Shortly thereafter, we organized the mission statement workshop. Now Lois and I are reworking the wholesale distribution strategy, and have begun to explore new strategic alliances in the southern Connecticut and New York Metropolitan area.”
So what appealed to Janet about Jean Elton over some of the other projects that were presented to her? She fell in love with the dishes and home decor pieces! "I enjoy them both for their beauty and for their utility. I have often curled up with a mug of tea on a chilly day." She uses the hand-painted dinnerware and over time has added mugs, bowls, vases, and even a lamp to match! Janet just added the new teapot to her collection, and is “over the moon” about the design!
"The Jean Elton team are a great company asset; I am in awe of Lois' creative drive and the way she consistently moves product design forward! On a personal level, having worked in services businesses for most of my life, I appreciate the opportunity to get involved with a manufacturing entity.”
Adriana Valenzuela is a jack-of-all-trades in our pottery studio! For the past four years, she has worked with 
Lois Barker is a founder and Managing Director of Jean Elton Studio & Gallery, LLC. A mostly self-taught artist that has been working with clay for the past 30 years. Ms. Barker studied ceramics briefly at the University of Hartford, CT."I enjoy making new designs of tableware and decorating them by hand. I use the dishes in my own home for color, variety and the basis of table decorations that are just fun. I also like working in slabs so that I can press simple but tasteful designs into my work."I make every single piece we sell in Fairfield County, Connecticut. We use time-honored forms and techniques to achieve our widely-admired beauty and functionality, using my own designs entirely--we do not have a factory in China! Our products are stoneware: this means they are more durable, safe and creative than what one sees in the "big box" stores. Although we're proud of our products here and feel that they're better quality than the imports, please don't buy our products for these reasons alone! Buy our products because you love the way they look and feel. That's why we love them!"