After 15 years of selling semi-conductors to Cisco Lisa Ligon felt the work had become monotonous and knew that a change was in order. Lisa 
decided to leave sales and spent 6 months volunteering with children at the Bayview Hunters Point YMCA. During her time there, Lisa noticed that the children she worked with enjoyed cooking but that the YMCA did not have high quality tools for them to use.
This experience stuck with Lisa and she decided to move forward and address this market need by starting her own company. In fall of 2005 Lisa and a girlfriend enrolled in Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center’s Start Your Own Business Course. After completing the Start Your Own Business course Lisa decided to continue to the Business Planning class to gain a more comprehensive entrepreneurial skillset. After completing the Business Planning class Lisa had the framework for Playful Chef, a company specializing in hands-on educational tools and activities for kids and parents alike. Playful chef’s goal was to use cooking to create opportunities for parents to help their kids build confidence, connect with family and accomplish a tangible goal.
Lisa saw the value in continuing her small business education so she enrolled in a number of workshops offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) on subjects like QuickBooks, Employment, Business Taxes, Legal Entities and Financing through Factoring. These turned out to be wonderful networking opportunities as well. Lisa’s instructor for Financing through Factoring put her in touch with a sourcing expert who Lisa still uses today! Lisa says of her experiences with Renaissance and the SBA that “The classes helped me to crystallize what different options I had and how to move forward with my business”.
Owning and operating Playful Chef was a completely new experience for Lisa, but she used the opportunity to create a positive and exciting work environment. Flash forward to today where Lisa’s business, now called Playful Life is fast becoming a household name, selling 40,000 units to Martha Stewart’s private line in 2010, co-branding a line with Pottery Barn Kids, and appearing on its own QVC special. Playful Life has appeared in Life and Style magazine, and can now be found in educational toy catalogs, boutique retailers, the Culinary Institute of America, and more!
A friend of Lisa’s suggested she participate in Make Mine a Million, an event for women owned businesses striving to make a million dollars in profits to compete for a package that includes one-on-one consulting, and American Express Open account, membership to Sam’s club and Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), and discounts on Fed Ex shipping and printing. When Lisa was also contacted by a consultant from Renaissance’s Financing Resource Center she knew she had to apply. Lisa took her friend’s and Renaissance’s advice and applied and was named one of the winners of the competition, immediately giving Playful Life national exposure!
In 2010 alone Playful Life quadrupled its sales, Lisa hired her first employee, and is already conducting interviews for her next hire. Lisa continues to strive to improve her business, increase profits and sales, and continue to make better products. She isn’t giving up and dear reader you should keep your eye out because you will be seeing more from Playful Life!