Monday, November 13 2006
She may now be better known as the "'No To Prop. 86' T-shirt girl," but since California's Prop. 86 tobacco tax proposal was defeated on November 7th, Heather Waibel is ready to move on with her life. Ms. Waibel, a graduate student at the Fisher School of International Business in Monterey, California, made headlines when she announced she was going to wear the same "Vote NO on Prop. 86" T-Shirt for 40 days straight up to election day. How much of an impact she actually had on California voters is uncertain, but her efforts certainly paid-off.
After the election last week I sent Heather a congratulatory email and asked what her plans were for the future, including what she did with the now infamous T-shirt:
"Well, the shirt immediately got tossed in the laundry basket, where it has remained. But, I plan on eventually framing it and keeping it as a memento. The future for me is that I am finalizing my business plan to open up a cigar lounge. I will spend my last semester of my MBA working on getting the financing needed for the business and then I plan on opening August of 2007. In the meantime, I will continue to develop my fumeeworld.com website, and will be featured on a few upcoming issues of the Dogwatch Social Club podcast."
Heather Waibel is originally from Hesperia, California, but she spent much of her formative years in Tucson, Arizona. A graduate from the University of Arizona, she went on to get her MBA from the Fisher School of International Business at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Heather discovered her love of cigars when she was eighteen. Too young to go out, and too old to stay in, she often found herself on Tucson's Mt. Lemmon smoking cigars with her friends. While in the beginning only the biggest, cheapest cigars would do, she quickly became a connoisseur, and began a quest to inform herself about all things cigar related.
Along the way Heather discovered another passion: entrepreneurship. Thus, the two passions have naturally collided, resulting in the company, Fumée. (Fumée is the feminine French word for "smoke" chosen to reflect the feminine ownership of the company.) Soon to launch in its full scope, Heather hopes that other lovers of the leaf will continue the journey with her, in her quest to bring beauty to the art of cigar smoking.
~ Gary Korb
