Today, Nantucket's women are found in all sectors of the community representing their strength, intelligence, ability and foresight. This week we spoke with women who own their businesses and are thriving, including an attorney, a baker, a real estate broker, the proprietor of a liquor store, a guest house owner and an innovative retailer.

LIZ HOLLAND

Before Liz Holland took over Daily Breads on Lower Orange Street from its previous owners four years ago, she owned Off Centre Cafe, a popular restaurant she ran since 1988.

"My husband ended up being a breakfast and lunch cook for me, but though he did a good job basically it was me," she said.

She assumed operation of the bakery with high enthusiasm and built it to the successful shop it is, now offering a wide range of products. Holland's plan expanded on the standard pizzas and sandwiches to preparing more than a dozen types of salads for take-out as well as broadening her pastry menu and breakfast foods. In her view, women on the island have earned the respect they receive.

"We are a formidable front out here. There are so many women in business here because both [members of a couple] need to work, and the more hats you wear the better off you are," she said. "Everybody needs to figure how to eke out a living here. The bottom line is you either make it here or you don't. The smarty pants and strong willed are going to keep going and the pool is only so big - a woman may be able to do the job better."

DARCY CREECH

In the spring of 1996, Darcy Creech opened Peter Beaton Hats at 16 1/2 Federal Street, a building she bought and renovated, and began selling her signature straw hats from her original designs. Having lived in Europe, she was aware of the tradition of specialty shops and with Peter Beaton her focus was just on her hats.

"My whole philosophy was to specialize in something and specialize deep. That's the way to stand out in a crowd," she said.

As the vitality of her hat sales grew, Creech decided to add to her inventory by introducing handbags of the same straw as her hats, then shoes and other wares. This year she expanded again by opening Peter Beaton on the Wharf with a line of striped sailor shirts for infants, children and adults and her version of Wellington rubber boots among the inventory. She also launched Habit- Patch, a spoof on the nicotine patch that is intended to motivate people to break bad habits. The 21 patch versions are already sold on Nantucket and in the third week of November will go on sale at CVS pharmacies in California. Creech believes the island encourages women to be creative and successful and that they will remain at the forefront of most businesses.

"I think it's part of Nantucket's heritage. It's part of what Nantucket is and the history of it, and I think it inspires women. This is proven territory for women. Anyone who knows the history of Petticoat Row knows the women were the backbone here for decades during the whaling days. It really set a tone," she said. "And I think Nantucket attracts people who think out of the box, people who are independent. There is a strong entrepreneur spirit on Nantucket and to live here you have to figure out how to make it work. Angela Raynor (co-owner of The Boarding House) and I were talking about the prevalence of women in business here and she said we should have a group that meets called Chicks in Charge."

SARAH ALGER

Like many female attorneys on the island, Alger began her local law career working in a male-owned firm. Her first position after passing the Massachusetts Bar in 1983 was in Foley Vaughan's office, where she spent two years before being invited to become a junior partner with Arthur Reade. After staying with Reade for 13 years she started feeling as though she was attending to more managerial duties than legal issues.

In addition, Alger had been elected Town Meeting Moderator - she is among only four female moderators in 75 towns in the state with similar populations - and she did not feel it was right to ask other lawyers in Reade's office to forego client matters relating to Town Meeting articles that might pose a conflict of interest with her employment and meeting position.

"I felt I would have less conflict on my own, though I still have to recuse myself from time to time," said Alger, who opened her own law firm in 1998 on Union Street, subsequently moving to quarters over The Nobby Shop.

She began the office with former Town Clerk Rebecca Lohmann, who was stepping down to attend law school and helped Alger get organized and running. Then Alger increased her staff to three paralegals and hired Alison Zieff, another female attorney, and now also employs three paralegals in an office in Osterville she took over from her late father. She, too, cites island history regarding women in business.

"It's a really long history back to the Petticoat Row days. I think it's just a tradition," she said. "I think people are used to it and it's an unusual place. It's a small island. Is there a nurturing quality about a small town that draws women into business? I have no idea."

CYNTHIA LENHART

Cynthia Lenhart began her real estate career 25 years ago as a rental agent with The Maury People - which was founded by a woman. She left after a year to landscape with The Sconset Gardener but returned to real estate a few months later, working for Congdon & Coleman and focusing more on sales than rentals. After 13 years at Congdon & Coleman and with young children to care for, Lenhart decided she needed to be home more and opened her own office, Compass Rose, in 1996 in her guest bedroom with a couple of staffers to assist.

At about the same time her children were old enough not to need so much of her presence, her growing business required more space than a single room. Lenhart moved her firm into a unit in Glidden's Fish Market building on Pleasant Street and stayed there for eight years until she needed to expand again and hire more people. Last fall Lenhart's company relocated to her own building on Orange Street, designed and built by her husband.

"My husband is vice-president [of Compass Rose] but that's just because he's my husband," she laughed, saying it may be a combination of historical tradition and adventurous spirits that makes it so common for women to be a major part of the business community.

PHOTOS BY ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Top row, from left: Sarah Alger, Sara O'Reilly, Cynthia Lenhart. Bottom row, from left: Darcy Creech, Liz Holland, Paula Driscoll.

"Historically, Nantucket has been run by women and that might be part of the tradition. When you are 30 miles at sea you'd better be able to do everything, and I think Nantucket is a special place; forward thinking with liberal attitudes," she said. "A lot of women who have come here and ended up running their own businesses were risk-takers and adventurous anyways. Maybe that adventurous spirit becomes an entrepreneur's spirit. The town has been very welcoming to that and it may go back to the historic aspect when women took care of business."

PAULA DRISCOLL

In mainland America most liquor stores are run by men, but on Nantucket three of the five year-round liquor stores are owned by women. They have succeeded by following trends, providing the fairest prices possible and by offering wide and tasteful selections to their customers. Driscoll took over The Islander package store license from her father James Driscoll in 1992 when the store was already established on Polpis Road.

She set about building her wine varieties recognizing that wines were trending toward greater popularity among consumers. She also boosted the staff as business grew from her primarily operating the store alone to now employing three full-time and a half-dozen parttime people. She further joined the trend to open for business on Sundays, something she was reluctant to do at first, partly because it would increase her work hours, but now is glad she began the new schedule.

"I've been amazed at how much business we do on Sundays," she said, adding that her sales volume doubled between 1999 to 2006. She is not sure why women do so well in business here, but it has been good for her and she knows local women are respected.

"I did what I had to do and fortunately I was good at it," she said. "The men [sales] representatives are now used to and love dealing with women here. In the spring a lot of big companies want to come with other salesmen and many are taken aback by dealing with women owners because it is so unusual in the business. They would think 'It's a girl and I can schmooze her.' No, you can't."

SARA O'REILLY

Sara O'Reilly calls the 1972 purchase of The Periwinkle Guest House on North Water Street her "first baby." After obtaining a bed and breakfast license to run an inn at the location and getting it off the ground, she bought an adjacent building in 1975 and named it The Scallop Inn, which is run in a more European style. In 1996 she acquired a Willard Street cottage she named The Nantucket Basket to add to her lodging options. All three structures were empty when O'Reilly bought them, so she concentrated on bringing in new furnishings, linens, accessories and amenities, as well as adding bathrooms to make them welcoming and comfortable to visitors.

"I sort of did it by the seat of my pants," said O'Reilly. "I've been coming here summers since I was a kid and running other people's businesses, but I knew I wanted something of my own. I just kept working at it, making them places somebody would want to come to. For me, the women in my family have always been ahead of their times. I just did it and it's been a lot of fun. Many guests have turned into friends."

O'Reilly said she knows scores of women in business on the island and that they make it a point to network among themselves. She terms the situation "a sisterhood" where many women experienced in business willingly mentor those who are young and just entering commercial ventures. It is a long tradition of support in her opinion.

"Women have always run the show here. I think it's ingrained," she said. "I think women here have that spirit and it's the independence. We feel a draw here and I think ladies cultivate it themselves. It's in

the soil. It's history." I