Ellen…A Good Investment!

Occupation: Small Business Owner

Ellen left a promising career in the fashion industry to start a small agency.  Together, with her husband, they provided small businesses in the Tri-State area with services relating to visual merchandising, advertising and promotions.  Just when her life was planned out .

“A car accident! It left me with so many broken parts that if I were the car I would have been scrapped. In one day, in one moment, I was reduced to a mass of pain and confusion. Dealing with the physical limitations was frustrating, but I had also sustained a brain injury which was not as easily detected or diagnosed.  So, while many medications and much therapy made the rehabilitation somewhat bearable, the devastation from the head injury was quite a different matter. I couldn’t find my way home from the grocery store; couldn’t organize my thoughts to design an ad campaign let alone relate to what the most recent style was; couldn’t write a check; couldn’t remember phone numbers; couldn’t remember names or dates; couldn’t, couldn’t, couldn’t.  After a year of seeing doctors at least three times a week, the neurologist said THAT WORD to me. “You are DISABLED.”

After VESID provided assessment/evaluation, Ellen was trained at TRI, a vocational rehabilitation program in Nassau County.  She did so well that she was hired as an instructor for the graphics training program.  In time, she decided to give the entrepreneurship one more chance.  Ellen started eh! greetings inc., selling custom stationary, greeting cards, event announcement, and more. 

“I am now a single parent supporting my daughter, paying my own mortgage and taxes and have started my own business. Big Guts you say…No I was a good investment, and from a business standpoint what could be better than that! It’s just good business…Invest in people because Disabled does not mean UNABLE.”

Ella Craanen, Regional Marketing Coordinator
Queens District Office