In what now seems like an earlier incarnation, Mona Betz was once a registered nurse working in operating rooms and later a psychotherapist in a mental health clinic. However, she found the “perfect fit” in her current life as a gypsy merchant. “I love the open road,” Mona proclaims. “Just show me a highway.”

Beginning her merchant life selling sterling silver jewelry, Mona soon found silk velvet shawls from China which she  realized could be sewn into a ruana, the current centerpiece of The Frozen Light Collection. She now travels to festivals and conventions all over the United States, delighting in meeting customers in person.                      “My whole life is a festival now.”

Her mission is finding clothes that are beautiful, affordable and comfortable, on women of all sizes and ages, and that don’t advertise every gained or lost pound. She delights in serving the needs of plus-size women who are overlooked by the fashion industry. Recently traveling to Bali, she had jackets  and tops produced by Balinese tailors from silk or rayon sarongs that will allow us to enjoy the fabulous textiles of Bali.

Nick Betz is Mona’s 27-year-old son and favorite traveling companion. He is sometimes available to travel with her to festivals and conventions in addition to his work for the State of Oklahoma as a videographer.  He has been an adept movie critic since he was 5 years old and now aspires to make his own films.

 

Mona's sister, Mary Lundie, lives in Santa Clarita and runs the office at a large elementary school there. She is sometimes able to join Mona for favorite events (she especially likes Storytellers) or to represent Frozen Light at California festivals together with her husband, Dennis.  Best of all, they are both gracious and welcoming when Mona comes to "visit" for as long as two months at a time (that's actually called a "home invasion"). 

 

Deedee Cox and Mona are sidekicks in Tulsa.  In her "day job" Deedee directs a staff of 22 at a Community Crisis Center serving families affected by domestic violence.  She is passionate about the vengeful and uncoordinated state of Oklahoma's prison system and, as a trained systems engineer, has a multi-point plan to reform it.  And in her spare time she sometimes travels with Mona to festivals and conventions.

 

Yuda Sastrawan is Frozen Light's "man in Bali". He knows the ins and outs of doing business in Bali and is the perfect cultural interpreter when Mona travels there.  Plus, he and his wife Kadek are willing to share their beautiful son, Ngurah, by calling Mona his "third grandmother".

 

 

Ayu is the sweet warm-hearted Balinese businesswoman who shared her extensive knowledge of the island's textile industry. Through her, Mona was offered gorgeous fabrics in shops and warehouses so tiny and specialized that only a native could find them.  Then she introduced meticulous women tailors who can produce any design using foot treadle sewing machines and working on open-air porches.

 

 

Though most of you have not yet met her, Kim Gosline is the key to the big adventure of designing our own shawls and importing them directly from the many small factories in China that manufacture silk. Born in Manchuria, Kim now lives in Pennsylvania with her American husband, an archaeologist she met when he was teaching in China. Kim and Mona have traveled to China together to organize their shawl manufacturing. A professional Chinese-English interpreter and a savvy entrepreneur, Kim’s whirlwind energy is a marvel to behold. She can be awakened from a deep sleep at 3:00 a.m. by a transoceanic phone call, conduct business in either language with no grouchiness, make coherent notes for the morning and go right back to sleep. Mona  remembers the day she met Kim as a high point of serendipity in her life

How great to be able to work with such talented people!