Women in Business Feature: Laurie Kuzneski

By Taylor Jones

Miss Laurie’s Gourmet Kitchen started with a dream; a dream of a purse. That’s right.

While Laurie Kuzneski is known around Indiana as an amazing philanthropist, she’s also a down-to-earth, relatable woman looking to expand her purse collection. To start a business to buy a purse is, admittedly, unusual, but it exemplifies Laurie’s hard-working spirit. Laurie did get her purse, two years later, after reinvesting money into Miss Laurie’s Gourmet Kitchen for the first year or so. Now, that’s dedication.

Although she decided to step back from making brittle for Miss Laurie’s Gourmet Kitchen in 2012, she is still teaching cooking courses when she is not using her waking hours to campaign for the United Way Campaign. She also works with her husband Andy at Kuzneski Insurance Group to continue her goals of teaching healthy cooking and wellness to their staff and their firm clients. She uses the flexibility of owning this business with Andy to be a part of the board of directors and fundraising for the United Way, the International Myeloma Foundation, the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce, and the local YMCA.

As always, it was inspiring to sit down and speak with another woman in business. Keep reading after the jump to learn more about Laurie, her love of cooking, and her passion for helping the Indiana community.

Women in Business Feature: Interview with Laurie Kuzneski

Planful: Tell me about yourself, your background.

Laurie Kuzneski: I graduated from IUP with a degree in journalism and public relations. After graduating, I worked in banking and marketing for five years, until I had our first daughter. Once I had her, I decided to stay home to raise her and have another child, our second daughter. I decided after having her that I wanted to start my own business, Miss Laurie’s Gourmet Kitchen, in November 2002. I had a family recipe for peanut brittle, so I figured I could start this business out of my house. I started shipping 6,000 pounds of peanut brittle around Christmas time.

In 2003 I also started teaching adult cooking classes, but I didn’t start doing these regularly until 2004, and kids classes in 2005. I would get a lot of phone calls from friends asking me cooking questions, even phone calls from people I didn’t know! While I was growing up, family dinners were a big deal, so I wanted to teach people how to do that for their family. I found that teaching kids how to cook, because they’re really the drivers of what we have for dinner, helped kids and parents get to the table for dinner.

I have stopped making peanut brittle because it either needed to get really big, or I needed to shut it down. And I was teaching people how to eat healthy, yet making this candy. In 2013 my husband took over the family insurance business, Kuzneski Insurance Group. So I decided to come to work with my husband as the Director of Marketing and Wellness. When a client is trying to kick off a wellness program, I work to teach them how to cook and give them healthy recipes. I also do this for our staff and the Indiana community.

With Miss Laurie’s Gourmet Kitchen, it was always my goal to get back into the workforce. Knowing this, my husband used that as an incentive to come to work at our firm. With a bigger organization, there is more opportunity for me to help others.

P: What made you get into the business?

LK: Literally, I wanted to buy a purse [laughs]. And when I was working at the bank, I would have just bought it. But staying home, I didn’t feel right about not paying for it. I applied for my first job when I was ten, so I’ve always been hell-bent on independence. It was also because I wanted to keep my skills up, and I was able to do it at home and have my kids work with me.

P: What were your biggest challenges when starting Miss Laurie’s Gourmet Kitchen?

LK: People taking you seriously. I had a real business; I got insurance and became incorporated. When I called the health department to come inspect my kitchen, the inspector asked me why I even called him! I said because I want to be a real business. After realizing that people wanted to buy my peanut brittle, I made a glossy brochure. I remember handing it to a friend and them saying, “Oh! This is, like, a real business!” In that moment, I knew I made it.

P: What motivates you?

LK: The peanut brittle was a foray into a business. Now with Kuzneski Insurance, it pays the tuition and supports our family lifestyle. It gives us flexibility, and me the ability to give 110% to running the United Way Campaign and other fundraisers, while also giving me the flexibility to pursue my interests. Oh, and I do my job in between everything else! And I’ve hired two women who have wanted to get back into the workforce.

P: What would you like people to know about Kuzneski Insurance Group?

LK: We work with individuals and companies in the Indiana, western, and central PA markets. We manage employee benefits and health insurance. On the individual side, we help people get health insurance, Medicare, and life insurance. We help clients manage their human capital, so along with managing employee benefits, we help our clients with other HR things as well. Your employees are assets, too, so we like to keep the people who help them – HR – happy and well-supported.

P: What are your best time management tips?

LK: I set the timer on my phone and nail myself to a chair for ten minutes to do something. By then, I might be in a good flow so I’ll turn my alarm off and keep going. If I haven’t found a good flow by the time the alarm goes off, I move on to something else.

I’m also trying to schedule things earlier in the day and am becoming aware of when I’m most energetic for certain things. Years ago, I worked with a business coach and she gave me an Ideal Week chart. I use this now in my calendar and just color-code things and block off times for every specific thing. This way, I can move things around and ensure that every little thing is written down and gets done.

P: Any advice for other female business owners or any business for that matter?

LK: I read Lean In, and it got me to say, okay, I can do this. I joined the chamber board and the United Way board, and these were things that I previously thought I wouldn’t be able to join. I think it’s finding that balance of leaning in and being engaged.

I “Leaned In” pretty far this year and have taken on the role of United Way Campaign Chair. One of the most valuable lessons I have learned is that having someone’s “buy in” and having someone pick up your slack are two very different things. It’s the difference between the passive, “I support you taking this on,” and the active, “I will do the laundry because I know you’re busy.” It’s an important distinction, and a conversation I will have next time I take on a project like this.

Thank you, Laurie, for sitting down with us to chat about business, the community, and being a professional woman! Through Kuzneski Insurance Group, Laurie offers corporate wellness plans along with many other business growth and personal needs. To check out Kuzneski Insurance Group and see if you or your business can use their services, go to their website here. To learn more about the United Way Campaign, check out the campaign’s website here.