Once upon a time, I was a married college student with two small kiddos working a part-time job in Bismarck, ND. Along came an angel in the form of a lighting showroom owner named Matt Thesing. He offered me a job, promised to work around my class schedule and pay me more than I was currently making. What? Is this real? I am going to school to be a TV reporter and I know nothing about lighting! But daycare is super expensive, so how could I say no.

So, I started the next week in the warehouse. Unloading semi-trucks with freight, checking in product, putting product away, and delivering orders. Soon I decided I wanted to more hours, so I began working on the weekends on the sales floor. It wasn’t long after that when I fell in love with lighting.

I was fortunate to continue working there until my last semester of college when I had to do an internship. I became a Reporter Intern at KFYR-TV and was quickly reminded of why I was going to college in the first place. I loved it. Everything about it.

That spring, my husband Kenn and I graduated college together. Both of us graduating as SOTA’s (Students Over Traditional Age), and both of us with high marks. We had made the decision to move home to Billings so that we could raise our kids around their grandparents and other family.

I interviewed at both TV stations here and was offered a job at one. However, the minimum wage they were offering would not be enough for mortgage, daycare, raising two kids, etc. So, with a sad heart, I declined.

I went to work at Home Depot in the lighting/electrical department. Still loving the industry, I was able to get myself established quickly as a leader. A month or so later, that same angel Matt came to Billings for his kids’ soccer tournament. We went out for dinner and he posed a question.

“If I put a lighting store here, will you run it?”

“Say what?” I don’t know anything about running a business! 

“Sure!” I was quite naïve back then. And didn’t really think things through…often.

Three months later, One Source Lighting – Billings was born. Over the next ten years, I went from being a 10% owner, to a 50% owner. Although Matt never lived in Billings, he was always a phone call away and would often make trips here to help me on projects.

Fast forward to 2017. Matt had since closed his Bismarck location and opened his Grand Junction, CO showroom. We decided it was time I take on Billings on my own. In April of that year, I became the sole owner of this beautiful showroom. Scary? Absolutely. Exciting? 100%.

In this year of perfect vision, I am focused. I am focused on our clients, our service and most of all our relationships with our community. It has been a wild ride over the past 20 years, and I can’t wait for what new adventures await.

 

-Lauri