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In 1972, Pam Del Duca wanted to quit teaching high school physical education and open a store. Then she opened 49 more and decided to keep teaching - this time training minorities with life skills they could apply to business.
Perhaps what is most remarkable about Pam is not her thorough celebration of the color purple - it is her desk, her doors, the ink she signs her name with, and it's faintly present in her hair highlights - but how with a little creativity, she combined her business and philanthropic goals into one.
Delstar Group began 31 years ago with one store on Scottsdale's Fifth Avenue. Today it includes concept stores such as " Awesome Atom's" galaxy-oriented gifts, "Way Out Best," a western-Holstein cow themed shop, and "Desert Gifts," which was designed to look like a blown-out mining shaft.
"That first year in business, I made $156,000 in revenue," Pam says. "Today we do three- to four-times that in a week."
In 1989, Pam started the Small Business Entrepreneur Academy. She...