Growing up in chilly Anchorage, Alaska, d’Alene Meardon developed a keen appreciation for indoor activities such as cooking, eating, and entertaining. d’Alene continued to hone these interests as her sorority’s social chairman at college in Arizona, and later, settling down into her first home in Denver, Colorado.
Her professional career began with a six-year stint planning public and private events for the Denver Mayor’s Office of Art, Culture and Film. In this position, she was involved in the Opening Celebration of Denver International Airport; the annual Colorado Performing Arts Festival; countless parades, conferences, festivals, and rallies; and a trip to Brest, France as a delegate of The Mask Project. Moving into the private sector in 1997, she took a position with VoiceStream Wireless (now T-Mobile), where she was the Divisional Marketing Manager for two years before taking on the position of Regional Merchandising Manager. It was in this position, traveling across the U.S. to launch new markets and open retail stores, that d’Alene sharpened her retailing skills and began to consider her future.
Sensing a need for something bigger, and looking for a suitable creative outlet, d’Alene naturally considered the tabletop arena, as a flair for cooking and entertaining with style had long been a passion for her. Countless shopping trips conducted in the spirit of “research” left her frustrated at the design options of dinnerware, dessert plates, and accessories; a natural curiosity and an “I can do it better” attitude led her to begin in earnest the steps towards creating her own unique designs in custom china.
In the planning stages for more than four years, What a Dish! was born on January 1, 2000, when d’Alene filed the articles of incorporation and began researching what it would take to offer custom china and tabletop accessories at a competitive price point. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2002 though, that things really took off: d’Alene left her corporate job and focused full time on building What a Dish! Since that time, the line has grown steadily thanks to word of mouth and an excess of new ideas; she saw the successful launch of her website, www.what-a-dish.com in January 2003. A partnership with a local Denver artist has also kept things hopping - their alliance was the basis for a new line of dinnerware and dessert plates, as well as a feature story in the Denver Rocky Mountain News in May 2003.
Life at the helm of What a Dish! isn’t all work though: d’Alene stays busy in the Denver community through her involvement with the Junior League of Denver, the Denver International Film Festival, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, and the Denver Art Museum Corporate Partners Committee. In her free time, she continues to enjoy cooking for her friends and family (served on fabulous dishes, of course!), working out, reading, snowboarding, and cavorting with her four year old Lhasa Apso, Puff Daddy and six month old Shih Tzu, Bean.
Puff Daddy
