From almonds to Arbonne: Carolyn Pendergrass has spent a lifetime finding ways to help
Carolyn Pendergrass worked her first paying job at 8 years old.
A neighbor was harvesting almonds — or ammons, as we all know is the proper way to say it around here — knocking them out of the trees. The kids from the neighborhood followed behind, picking up what was left. The pay was a nickel a pound. Carolyn’s father matched it, so she made a dime a pound. She did it for four summers.
That was the beginning of an incredibly varied working life. As a kid, Carolyn cleaned motel rooms and worked in the kitchen at the old Cottage Cafe, and she learned bookkeeping at her parents' trucking company, hand-ruling trip envelopes with a red pencil.
She worked for five years in the Glenn County court system, and ran her own bookkeeping and shipping storefront, which she later sold to Julie Champagne-Meredyk at Champs Bookkeeping. Carolyn still does some bookkeeping, plus notary work, loan signings and fingerprinting.
For the last six years she has also been an independent consultant for Arbonne, selling plant-based skincare and nutrition products directly to customers.
Carolyn calls herself a "Jill of all trades," and her connections to Orland run deep. She has been a member of the Orland Area Chamber of Commerce for more than 20 years, including more than a decade as a director — making her a fitting choice as the subject of this inaugural Orland Business Spotlight, a monthly profile of a Chamber member business.
We sat down with Carolyn recently to learn more about her story.
Tell us a little bit about what you do.
I am a proud Arbonne independent consultant. I've done bookkeeping my entire life, and for the last six years I've fallen into health and wellness. Now the bookkeeping is the sideline — clients I held onto when I sold my business.
The notary work encompasses more than just notary. It's a lot of loan signings and things like that. And I worked with the California Department of Justice to get my live scan machine for electronic fingerprinting. I'm trying to get that off the ground so people don't have to go to the Glenn County Jail or drive to Chico. All of it is by appointment.
You were using the Arbonne products long before you started selling them.
Our daughters were consultants first. Katie started in college and got me kind of interested in the skincare. Then her sister Rebecca did it for a little bit. When they were finishing their degrees they decided they couldn't do it anymore. And I said, well, how am I supposed to get my skincare? They said, "Mom, you be the consultant and we'll be your customers." So we kind of flipped, and I started building my customer base.
I was a swim mom — on the pool deck for the Otters for 15 years — and my skin was in really bad shape. When I started using the skincare, that's when I really noticed a big difference.
What keeps you doing it?
Somebody will call up and say, "Carolyn, you're right, my skin is starting to look better." Or they've got more energy. It's helping one person at a time.
What I really learned is that it's not what I gain, it's what I help others gain.
I made 179 individual goodie bags for the OHS sober grad seniors. She always tries to put together raffle baskets for local fundraisers and community events. There's a grandma down in Willows who ordered makeup — not for herself, for her granddaughters, so they'd have something she felt comfortable letting them play with. Who can I help next? That's my goal.
Is there a moment from all those years you'll never forget?
My favorite times were working at the Cottage Cafe. I was 16. I started out cleaning the motel rooms. Every teenager should have that job — you learn a lot about life cleaning other people's rooms. After six or eight months I got into the kitchen, and that was totally by mistake.
Somebody hadn't shown up and somebody had to start peeling potatoes, so the owner told Evelyn, the cook, "Call what's her name and get her here to help you." Evelyn thought he meant me. A couple of hours later I rode my bike to town and walked into that kitchen, and he looked at me and said, "What are you doing here?" I said, "I'm here because you guys called." And he said, "It was the other one." I worked in that kitchen for about six months.
That's also where I met my husband. Jack walked into the Cottage Cafe way back in the day — he knew my dad long before he ever knew me.
When we moved back to Orland in '97, he was so excited: "I get to be a Cottage Cafe guy." We'd take the kids down for an order of bacon or a little scoop of ice cream. And then the restaurant shut down about a year later. We were so bummed. I miss it.
What's the best thing about being a business owner in a small town?
I love the community. That's because I'm a talker. And I've always thought Orland is a little different from our other communities.
I did a little college back in the day and thought I was going to be a criminology major, and the professor had been a police officer. He explained how the way a town is laid out — where the train tracks run, where the industrial part sits — shapes what that town becomes. I still look for that when I go into a small town. Orland's got a really nice little setup.
What other local businesses do you recommend?
I can't individually call on anyone, because I would hurt the feelings of those I didn't mention. We have a lot of really good community people — people that really want good things for this community. I have faith in the human condition.
That said, I will recommend Champs Bookkeeping. I want to see Julie be successful. Where I can help, I always try to help.
I think Farwood's amazing. I remember early on when I was a Chamber director and LeighAnn came in and spoke about getting a grip on her own business. She'd let somebody else do the bookkeeping, and then she realized she had to have a handle on it herself. That was a really impressive conversation. No matter who you have doing your books, you still have to stay on top of everything. Personally, too.
One piece of advice for someone thinking about opening a business in Orland?
To be an overnight success, make sure you do years and years of hard work first. You have to give it your all, and you have to be prepared to go two years with nothing, or longer.
James Barnes came to me before he opened his sign shop and asked what I thought. I told him if you're going to do it, you have to be all in. He named it All In Vinyl. I didn't even remember saying it, but he picked up on that.
And take care of your people. When my family was in trucking, my dad kept an extra pickup in the lot with a key in it, so a driver coming in at midnight didn't have to wake his wife to come get him. You take care of the people, because they're taking care of you.
If you weren't doing this, what would you be doing?
Something to help people. I can't imagine just sitting. Just come shop in Orland. I love Orland. I love everything about Orland. I really do.
To learn more about the Orland Chamber and join as a member, visit orlandchamber.org.
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