Laci Mease’s entrepreneurial roots grow deep. Her parents are entrepreneurs and so are her grandparents, who started the Fruita Super Service in the 1950s. She always grew up knowing she wanted to be her own boss one day. When she started taking business courses at Mesa State College, she knew she was on the right path.
“When I went to CMU, I thought about teaching but I just fell into the business program and I loved it,” Mease said. “It just fit who I wanted to be and my goals.”
After graduating with a bachelor’s in business management in 2001, she and her husband, Jesse, who are high school sweethearts, started Monument Powder Coating. After more than 20 years their business is thriving and they just recently built a new 10,000-square-foot facility in Fruita, Colorado.
Mease’s entrepreneurial appetite wasn’t satisfied with one successful business. A few years ago, she and Jesse bought Maxi-Sweep, a swimming pool vacuum cleaner company that manufactures big commercial vacuums.
“Having our own businesses allows flexibility and lets me stay home and raise my kids, which is a core value of our family,” said Mease, who homeschooled all three of their children, Izzy, 20, Orrin, 17, and Roland, 13.
Mease also stayed busy being the 4-H swine superintendents with her husband for the last decade. Not only running the entire pig program for Mesa County but raising 25 sows and 400 piglets a year on their pig farm in Loma.
Now that her children are getting older, she has been brought full circle back to CMU. Izzy is taking online courses through CMU while living in Syracuse, New York, with her husband, who is in the Army. Roland is a competitive swimmer, so Mease spends many evenings and weekends on CMU’s campus at the Olympic-sized natatorium.
“I’m really grateful and glad to be back at the college. I didn’t know how much I missed this place,” said Mease.