Like Mother, Like Daughter In Business

Journal Gazette:

Kate Sorgenfrei says she can’t remember a time when she wasn’t involved in her mother’s business.

And, to prove the point, her mom, Marta Pequignot, takes off for the back room and pulls a framed picture off a wall.

It’s of little blonde-haired Kate, still in diapers and dressed in navy-blue coveralls, standing in front of a playpen.

The wall behind her is lined with samples of picture frames.

Today, Sorgenfrei, 24, sits behind the counter at Frame Art & Design. She is a graduate of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne’s interior design program and the poised co-owner of the business with Pequignot, a certified picture framer with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts.

The pair are part of an apparently growing, if not-often-recognized group – female entrepreneurs who are bringing their daughters into their business enterprises.

While father-son businesses are seen as not at all unusual, mother-daughter business pairings remain something of a novelty and a mystery, according to Kathryn Campbell, associate professor of business administration at Trent University in Ontario.