![](media/image1.png){width="1.979861111111111in"
height="1.0083333333333333in"} ***News Release***

New York District Office

Release Date: January 31, 2006 Contact: John J. Miller (212) 264-7770

Release Number: NYDO-06-11 e-mail: john.miller@sba.gov

***Actress Channels Artistic Expression***

***Through Small Business***

*With a Little Help from SCORE*

**New York, NY---** When it occurred to actress Jane Labanz that she did
not want to spend countless hours at auditions or acting in productions
that kept her away from her Manhattan home for extended periods of time,
she turned her talent to entrepreneurship to give her the freedom\-\--
both artistically and time wise\-\-- she needed.

Labanz is the founder, owner and artistic director of The Delicate Pen,
which provides high-end calligraphy products for weddings and other
special events. The Delicate Pen's products have been showcased by
Barbara Walters on TV's "The View," displayed at the Smithsonian in
Washington, DC and featured in numerous bride and wedding magazines
including *Martha Stewart Living Wedding* and *New York Bride*.

A native of Cincinnati, Labanz spent her college years studying to
become a concert pianist, dancer and master conductor \-\-- skills she
soon thereafter brought back to the classroom as an instructor. But
after a brief stint as a singing waitress, wherein she dropped her very
first order consisting of eight crab dinners on the floor, Labanz was
bitten by the acting bug after doing 10 shows in a local theatre. So it
was off to New York City in 1984 to pursue her dream.

Once in New York, Labanz did the cruise ship shows for two years and
landed parts in "Anything Goes" at Lincoln Center, Broadway's "Cats,"
and did national and regional tours for 10 years in shows starring Tommy
Tune, Sandy Duncan and Ann Margaret among others.

To occupy her time while working as a "booth singer" off stage, Labanz
began doing calligraphy after admiring the beauty of the art while
leafing through a magazine. She soon found herself applying her own
expression to the calligraphy she was self-teaching. When production
cast members saw her work they implored her to do their wedding and
other one-off invitations.

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It then occurred to Labanz that she could perhaps turn her talent into a
business, giving her another artistic outlet, the income she needed and
the flexibility to choose acting gigs that fit her
stay-in-New-York-with-her-husband ambitions.

Labanz then traveled in 1998 to the New York City offices of SCORE, also
known as *Counselors to America's Small Business,* and a counseling arm
of the U.S. Small Business Administration, to learn the ins-and-outs of
entrepreneurship. SCORE counselors helped her create a product line of
fine stationery. Armed with a product portfolio and new entrepreneurial
skills, Labanz participated in her first trade show at New York's Jacob
Javits Center. It was there that well-known stationer, Kate's Paperie,
discovered The Delicate Pen's products, and now sells them. Labanz'
products can also now be found at Bloomingdale's and Michael C. Fina &
Co.

The Delicate Pen's sales reached \$150,000 in the first year and are now
sold in over 30 stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Italy. Even though
sales and marketing take up increasingly larger chunks of her time,
Labanz still manages to do all the product hand-lettering herself. But
she is now looking to hire a full-time marketer.

Her newly evolving lifestyle allows Labanz to devote more time to her
charitable passions such as participating in benefits for "Broadway
Cares" and working for the "Little Seeds" Program in South Africa.
"Little Seeds" provides holistic childcare instruction to teachers in
extremely needy areas where underprivileged children have little more
than papier-mâché desks and few, if any, books.

Of her business artistic outlet Labanz states, "I make music with
letters; I dance on paper." When it comes to advice for aspiring
entrepreneurs she emphatically states, "Go to SCORE!" She herself
continues to take advantage of SCORE's services as she grows her
business.

Labanz' other advice is, "Think big but start slow, and pick your
passion." It seems like that advice might apply equally well to both
successful small business owners and actors.

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*All of the SBA's programs and services are provided to the public on a
non-discriminatory basis.*

*For more information about the SBA please visit
[www.sba.gov/ny/ny](http://www.sba.gov/ny/ny).*