FEATURES | By Jesse Phelps

Queen Bees of Ojai

Three girlhood friends left town, then came back to open new businesses that define its spirit. They found a new compadre along the way. You can take the girl out of Ojai, but you can’t take Ojai out of the girl. And, eventually, as it seems to do with those who belong to it, Ojai might just call you back home to create new and special things.

For Lachelle Bouvier, Amara Bessa and Kodi Berg, that calling meant continuing the respected Ojai tradition of opening woman-owned businesses that expand the town’s dynamics while respecting its roots.

Bessa, Bouvier and Berg (can we call them the Queen Bees?) all grew up in Ojai, attending Nordhoff together before going away into the great, big world to learn their crafts, expand their families, and grow to become the boss trio they now are. Eventually, their business visions coalesced, all three returned to the valley to open shop. 

Bouvier brought her home and lifestyle design firm, Lachelle Bouvier Designs. And Bessa housed her boutique, Kariella, in the Arcade — just two doors down from Berg, who, with husband Jonathan, took over Ojai Ice Cream from its original owners. Ready to build their businesses, they met a fourth member of the crew, Jody Chapman, who helped them tell their stories and amplify their reach.

The nature of their friendship — and the way the various personalities reflect their work, blending and uplifting one another — is evident from the moment they sit down together. Rather than conducting separate sessions, they’ve invited a rogue reporter to a get-together on the veranda of the Bouviers’ enchanting property adjacent to the Ojai Valley Inn, with views of Chief Peak and the Topa Topas.

With everyone gathered in one place, they can share reminiscences and finish one another’s sentences. Well, everybody but Berg, anyway. (She’s a little late. Eventually there’s a laughing entrance across the back lawn. Clad in green silk with bare feet, she, like everyone here, is so perfectly Ojai at a glance.) 

Also in attendance at this joyful gathering are two other long-time friends and successful businesswomen: local photography whiz Brandi Crockett and Sarah Eckersley, who keeps the vibe fun and helpfully assists moving furniture, grabbing drinks, and snapping extra photos to get Crockett into some shots.

It’s an impressive crew and a great conversation. Three related themes infuse much of the talk. Ojai’s sometimes tenuous relationship to the tourism industry that largely supports it is one. It’s essential to simultaneously cater well to visitors and also provide the people that live here with high-quality, affordable goods and services. The need to respect the local business, cultural and natural landscapes is a second theme. And, of course, some discussion of family, kids and Ojai living, generation to generation, is mandatory. 

They open up about their visions — what it means to have been raised in Ojai and how the town’s traditions inform their processes — and about the friendship, about watching one another become the powerhouse people they are today. Later, there will be more togetherness, a dinner where some of the group find additional time to laugh and trade advice over tasty late night eats and a brilliant chardonnay at Jimmy’s Tavern.

Part of what makes them good together is the diversity of life experience, which, of course, informs their individual communication styles, their aesthetics, and their business choices.

Bouvier for instance, has a vibe that’s cosmopolitan and very Type A, but simultaneously comfortable and welcoming. Through her business, Lachelle Bouvier Design (online at lachellebouvier.com), she focuses on bringing homes and spaces an artistic aesthetic inspired by nature and her Ojai upbringing, though she’d been designing for 10 years, mainly in Barbados and Montreal, before opening her business here in 2017. 

She said she works with a wide spectrum of clients, and she urges those who engage with her to choose quality over the simple fix for homes they’ll love to live in. “I say, put in the good stuff,” she says. “I don’t like to see people paint it white and flip it. I would rather see people put in things that have historic value, that are going to elevate the property.”

Her aesthetic is informed by her degree in painting and printmaking. At one point, she thought she’d go into textiles, but had an epiphany around an experience putting rare tile — her inspiration came from Hearst Castle — in a pool at a house down south, near Encinitas. When the house sold at a record price, she knew she was onto something.

She says style is often best when it’s adapted to make use of readily available resources. In Ojai, people might literally find inspiration in the earth. “All you have to do is blow on the dirt a little bit, and you’ll get beautiful rocks,” she says. So, rather than spending money to remove them from your property, you build a beautiful rock wall.

“You use what’s there. I think, now that I’m in Ojai, I tend toward early California, Mission Revival, historic Ojai,” she says. “There are a lot of different styles coming through, and they’re nice, but I like to see people embrace how this town was founded.”

Her home, for instance, has beautiful, classy things everywhere, wood furniture working harmoniously with the structure designed by Montecito architect Bob Easton. The house is built completely of Durisol block. It’s “a living greenhouse material. So if you see the stucco, it’s all cracked. You can never repair it,” she says. “The house breathes, and it’s sustainable.”

That same desire to translate Ojai’s past into pretty things of the present can be found at Kariella (kariella.com), the arcade women’s clothing, jewelry and accessories boutique Bessa named after her daughter. Bessa says she left Ojai when her child was two years old for Bend, Oregon. A year later, she started a shop in her garage. 

“Bend, much like Ojai, is a place of community, so I was very lucky to have a huge community of support there — especially since I didn’t know a single person when I moved up there,” she says. 

Seven years later, a visit to Ojai inspired her. While many locals seem to take pleasure in lamenting the changing face of Ojai, Bessa had a different take. “It had finally blossomed into a town I felt would embrace my talents,” she says. “I also missed family and friends, and so did my kids. So we packed up and made the move back!”

She already had stores in Bend and Ventura, and soon opened her Ojai location. These days, she’s back to a pair, downtown Ventura on Main St. and her roomy Ojai shop — which she took the bold step of expanding during the height of the pandemic.

She describes her selection as “bohemian, classic Ojai,” and she would know since you could say she’s got Arcade retail in herv eins. Bessa grew up running around in another landmark of our downtown’s beautiful walking mall, where her mother worked — the Kindred Spirit.

“People always come in and say, ‘Your store is so Ojai!’” she says. “But I grew up here, so it makes sense. Ojai has been known as a little hippie town, and that bohemian aesthetic has already been here for a very long time.”

Take note: If you’re enjoying a hot, sunny Ojai summer or autumn day and need a pool or beach break, Kariella’s got you covered. According to Bessa, it’s the place in town for women to grab a swimsuit — and maybe even a stylish wrap, too.

Or, perhaps you just need to cool off with an ice cream cone? That’s where Berg comes in. Walk a few steps from Kariella and you come upon a tried and true Ojai classic. Ojai Ice Cream (ojaiicecream.com) is located toward the western end of the arcade. Open for nearly 30 years and run until this one by original owners, it’s been a frequent stop for generations of locals and tourists on Ojai’s hot summer days and a tasty treat year-round. (They’re even open pretty late, especially for a shop in sleepy Ojai, famous for shutting down seemingly before dinner time.)

Berg, now mother to three, remembers enjoying scoops at Ojai Ice Cream growing up and working for three years there in high school. Now, she owns the place, and she says she loves training up a new generation of kids in one of Ojai’s famous first jobs — including her two eldest. But don’t be confused. This is not free labor.

“They’re like, you still owe me $30,” she says with a laugh. “My 13-year-old’s like, ‘I saw something at Kariella, so I need my money.”

Berg’s Ojai roots are the real deal; in the course of conversation, we even realize my dad worked for her dad for many years at Island Packers, the Ventura tour boat company that ferries joyful nature lovers to greet whales and experience the islands in the Santa Barbara Channel. (I give my condolences to Berg regarding this year’s passing of Lil Connally, her Lakers-loving grandmother and an indomitable, joyful spirit who was matriarch to generations of salty sea captains.)

While Berg still has another business selling exercise equipment — the others present interject to laud her for starting that one — she’s often focused on making sure Ojai’s people of today always have the same access to tasty sweet treats that she loved so much when she was younger. “My kids actually came up with this: We’re serving scoops and smiles,” she said.

All three of the Queen Bees have worked with Chapman to build their brands online. Chapman’s business, Niche Design Consulting (nichedesignconsulting.com) was founded in 2019 and is described by Chapman as a full service design consulting agency specializing in branding, brand strategy, graphic and website design, marketing and social media. Bessa was her very first client, and the rest is history. 

She’s had an interesting journey to where she is now. While Chapman may not have grown up in town, she was raised in Ventura and married an Ojai boy. “I’m not Ojai, Ojai,” she laughs, “I snuck in.” 

Years ago, she moved to Los Angeles, where she launched a successful career designing apparel collections for retailers like Forever 21, Target, Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, and Macy’s. Eventually, feeling burned out, she decided to quit her job and travel for a year through Southeast Asia and South America.

“Leaving my job was the best thing I ever did because I was able to re-evaluate everything and put my life back together the way I wanted to,” she said.

Upon returning to the states Jody and her husband moved to Ojai and bought a house in Meiners Oaks, just before Covid hit. “I remember telling my husband I was so nervous about moving from LA, because I had no idea what I would do in Ojai. After doing some soul searching, I came up with the idea to start a design consulting agency to help local businesses in town and Niche Design Consulting was born.”

Unsurprisingly, uplifting local business in one way or another is something everyone gathered together at Bouvier’s house feels strongly about. Bouvier says, for instance, that if you’re remodeling your home, you should hire a local designer, contractor, landscaper, etc. Even if you’re a weekender, hiring and shopping local is one essential way to integrate into the fabric of the town. “At the end of the day, I really want to see more people support local,” she says.

And when Ojai’s local women are supported, they create amazing things. On that note, for the next generation coming into their own in the valley, Bessa has a message. “I think it’s important the young women growing up in Ojai know that with drive, passion, community support and perseverance, they can accomplish anything they set their mind to — even if they’re told otherwise, like I was,” she says. But now? “I feel so grateful to be living out my dreams!”