EXQUISITE TRAVEL
Lily Coe (www.etoursandtravel.com) came to America from Taiwan to study at Syracuse University. While in school, she became the first Chinese female to successfully complete the Audio Production major. After a successful journalism career in Taipei, Lily came back to the United States and became a liaison for the Mexican government to attract Asian tourists to Mexico. Her experience prompted her to open EXQUISITE TRAVEL, a full service travel agency with a focus on the Asian market.

Coming from a family in the travel business, Lily had once believed that the travel industry would be easy. Despite warnings from her family that this was not so, Lily struck out into the world of travel, learning the struggles firsthand. After 9/11, people were not willing to travel, so Lily’s company suffered. And with internet travel companies such as Expedia.com, Lily was determined to stay ahead of the game and focus on which direction to take the company. She eventually found her niche in creating focused and unique tours such as South American Glacier and Nile River tours. Today, Lily’s company is recovering quite well and is seeing a positive future.

LULA WASHINGTON DANCE THEATRE
Lula Washington (www.lulawashington.com) started her dance studio/company LULA WASHINGTON DANCE THEATRE while she was a student at UCLA. Inspired by Alvin Ailey’s dance company, Lula wanted to take her company to the same heights. Financing has always been a struggle, but the dancers’ passion for the art kept the company going. In 1994, the Northridge earthquake destroyed Lula’s studio and she was forced to locate to a smaller studio.

Not only did she struggle to get funds to rebuild, but the City of Los Angeles decided that it wanted to build a shopping mall where her studio had been. Despite these hardships, her company is still thriving. Many of the original members of the company aren’t there anymore, but they still help out. Perhaps the biggest accomplishment is that Lula and her company are moving to a much larger facility – a 12,000 square foot arts complex on Crenshaw. Lula plans to continue her work as a way to reach out to the community through educating them about performing arts.