MEMBER SPOTLIGHT | SPRING 2003

Lisa Bowser: A Kansas City Woman
Who Has Gone the Distance

Lisa Bowser is as Kansas City as they come.

Lisa grew up at 8 East 55th Street, and now resides down the road at 41st and McGee.

“I haven’t gone very far,” she said.

However, after spending some time with Lisa, it doesn’t take long to realize just how far she's come.

Since 1999 Lisa has owned a graphic design firm, “point of departure.” Lisa decided to start her own business after working for six years as an art director and team leader of marketing for Andrews McMeel Universal. Growing tired of the corporate limits and inability to be creative in her mid-management position, Lisa decided it was time for a change. Prior to working at AMU, Lisa was art director for APS Technologies, a computer storage manufacturer; art director for Kansas City Live! magazine; designer for Unity (a publishing company); and a freelance consultant.

Her client base for “point of departure” began with her former employer, AMU. She also started calling friends and going through the phonebook to make cold calls.

“It’s the hardest thing to do, but it’s the easiest because the people don’t know you,” Lisa said.

At first, Lisa focused on catalogs, which had been her expertise, but soon found that the more diverse she became, the more projects she attracted.

Currently she is working on developing four logos, designing an advertising campaign, developing a marketing proposal and working for the Fine Arts Chorale and the aha! dance theater of Kansas City. She has found the latter two projects provide the coveted creative freedom she has wanted. She prefers being “there at the beginning” of a project rather than coming in and retooling it.

Lisa’s favorite aspect of owning a business is being able to do what she enjoys most—design. She didn’t attend college after high school, but instead worked clerical jobs that in time proved unsatisfactory. She said the experience helped her realize her dream of wanting to do something she really enjoyed.

Lisa’s least favorite aspect of owning a business is doing the accounting. To her, chores are completing timesheets, taxes and paying bills. However, it balances out because of the creative outlet her business has become for her.

Often when people think of working at home and owning a business, they think it must be hard to stay focused. But for Lisa it was easy. Both of Lisa’s parents worked out of the home, so it seemed a normal move for her.

“One drawback of being self-employed is that you can become isolated,” said Bowser. “That’s why it’s important for me to get involved in outside professional activities (like the Association for Women in Communications) and to maintain a network of people. Oftentimes people can give you ideas.”

But when people are not available or when Lisa gets in a creative slump, she resorts to good old Webster. She opens the dictionary and gets ideas from what she reads. “I use wordplay to get the brain moving again,” she said.

Lisa has received several awards for her work, including several Omnis, an Ozzie and awards from the Kansas City Art Directors Club and the Kansas City Press Club. She also won a Clarion award from AWC for a newsletter improvement project for Honeywell. Through all of these accomplishments, however, Lisa says there isn’t one that is her best accomplishment—that is yet to come. “I’m always thinking of the next one,” she said.

Lisa always knew she wanted to be involved in graphic design.

“Both my parents started out wanting to make their mark as fine artists,” Lisa said. Her father, Larry Bowser, graduated from KU with a painting degree and her mother, Carolyn Ewing, went to the Art Institute, but motherhood sidetracked her from a degree. “I finished for her,” Lisa said. Lisa graduated from Southwest High School and received a bachelor of fine arts from the Kansas City Art Institute, with a specialty in graphic design.

Even though Lisa has resided in Kansas City her whole life, she has traveled extensively. Lisa and her husband, Craig Travitz, an account executive at American Express, have been to Panama, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Turkey and Belize. One of her favorite hobbies during her travels is her self-proclaimed “obsession” with snorkeling. Her husband is a certified diver, and they explore the reefs during their travels. Lisa describes the perfect day as being spent snorkeling on a good reef.

Lisa is also a music fan and enjoys going to Frondizi’s and sitting on the deck for a drink and dinner. Another hobby of Lisa’s is photography. She takes a lot of photographs when traveling and often uses her photos in her work for clients.

Lisa and her husband have been married nearly 20 years. They met while she was designing a CD cover for friends in a band. He was the band’s manager. They have no children, but they do have two cats, Eddy and Flush. Eddy is fittingly named after Eddy Haskell of "Leave it to Beaver."

Lisa describes herself as creative, tenacious, full of stamina and someone who likes to stimulate people intellectually.

Lisa has matured in her experiences as an entrepreneur and has advice to those thinking of starting a business.

“You have to have persistence and patience,” said Bowser. “Finally, you have to take a risk, make the call and stick to it. People think in this economy that there are no jobs. But there are! There is always work to go around. It’s just finding it.”

“Also, don’t take things personally, and learn that you don’t have to do it all. Don’t be afraid to delegate responsibilities—even things like cleaning house.”

If Lisa could have chosen a different career, she would have been a fine artist—if she could have made a living at it. Her college senior project involved designing an illustration with pastels. “That was fun!”

In the future, Lisa might like to teach. She will probably move to a warmer climate, by the ocean near a good reef. “That’s my ultimate goal,” she said.

But for now, Lisa is true to her Kansas City roots. Seeing the distance she’s come, you can bet Lisa will go far in her accomplishments.