LIVE MAGAZINE VOL 8, Issue #211 June 19th THRU July 3rd, 2015

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24 Smart Drive!
25 by Levvy Carriker Smart Drive! The Coachella Valley has so many smart entrepenuers but Charissa Farley has Drive! Charissa Farley is a shining beacon of beauty, causing a stir of admiration wherever she goes. Her brilliant smile and charisma light up every space she enters. Lucky for all of us, her love is literally spread all throughout the Coachella Valley. Charissa is Southern California’s trusted concrete paving stone contractor and designer serving Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, Santa Barbara and the Coachella Valley cities of Palm Springs, Palm Desert, La Quinta, Indio, Indian Wells, and Rancho Mirage since the 1970’s. It is fitting that the gifts of her advocation shall be traversed by us all. L: Charissa, where and how did you first get into a business like construction or paving? Can you tell me about that? C: We all end up where we end up, right? I had a plan. I thought that there would be opportunities found in fields where there were less women. So I was interested in investigating politics, the military, police officers, or construction. I didn’t think I was smart enough to be an engineer. I just thought there would be more opportunity in a field where there were less women. I regretted it later in life. Maybe I should have been a Playboy Bunny or something! (Laughter) That is the “why”. There were a lot of uphill struggles. At this point, twenty something years later, it’s not so bad. L: Yah, you conquered paving. C: I think that the favor has swung in my direction. There are the occasional stumbling blocks for being a female. They are far out-weighed by the advantages of being a female- but a qualified female. You know, I have worked very, very hard. And I always say , when training my own daughters, that we have to work a lot harder. We bring different things to the table. You can’t be a guy. Every woman has different skill sets and abilities. I’m not saying that there aren’t women in the field. There is still a void for women in the field. The reality is, usually for most women, it is not our highest and best calling. Our highest and best calling, whether we are men or women, shouldn’t be a gender based conversation. It should be for any of us, finding our own highest and best calling. L: Yes, that is how we get the best in everything; finding the best people. C: Right! It is what can you bring to the table? What can I bring to the table? And it became clear in the pavement industry that basically there was something I could bring to the table. The niche that I found was that I still have to surround myself with qualified men in the field. I am only as good as my men that I work with. Like a man is only as good as the wife he has behind him. I am only as good as the men behind me. What I bring to the table is technical confidence. I am the only woman in Southern California who is ICPI Certified as an Authorized Contractor Instructor for Advanced Residential Paver Technician. That is an inspiration. And my company, I think, is the only accredited company in Southern California. We are one of the larger firms in Southern California that specializes in interlocking pavers. L: Do ever do any design? Like designing the shape of the driveway? C: Oh yeah, that just goes with the territory. But we design and build for ourselves. I have designed hundreds for many manufacturers and I usually work with architects, engineers, municipal engineers, contractors--all of the above. L: I love how you match the color of the pavers so well with the house and the surroundings. It looks really natural. C: Well the challenge of the work is creating pavers that look indigenous; they are supposed to be there and that work with our region and our architecture. I have been known to take rocks off mountains behind Palm Springs near Smoke Tree Stables. I have taken rocks off of mountains of HWY 74. I have matched pavers to our local mountains. I have gone to the base of the Tram and picked color schemes that match the mountains there. I have taken color palettes and matched palm trees for housing communities. I try to make our product feel what it really is. There isn’t a stone set where the concrete is in some way artificial. People don’t know is that our products are made within 300 miles using local dirt, local aggregate, we grind to match our natural features. It is much like they did in Old World Europe. The French took the rock dirt from the region and the clays from the region to build roads. We have been doing the same thing, using local dirt. We even now grind or shot blast to expose the natural aggregate in the pavers. So the result is a beautiful crafted driveway that is really the furthest thing from artificial. Now you will be seeing a change in our company. Everyone locally knows our brand. We are specialized in interlocking pavers, but we now are working Santa Barbara, San Diego, Irvine companies, Lego Land, track builders and commercial builders. We are WBE [WBE certification for women business owners]. We do governmental municipal work. Now what you see is after all these years and all my friends in Palm Springs, we have now changed the look of pavers to a more modern contemporary. And that has disseminated into our entire industry in California. The look of what I call Coachella meets Palm Springs contemporary, Palm Springs modern, Trina Turk....My vibe of living in the Desert has now become my favorite design style. I carry that with me to Santa Barbara, to Las Olas. We are known as being an eclectic mix of who we are; of Modernism, of Contemporary, of Mediterranean, of Spanish Revival, of Coachella! You know, that has all seamlessly blended into a vibe that is definitely representative of Farley Pavers. You know, you do what you love, and we love that. And we carry that vibe out. I have a Mediterranean house that I started remodeling recently and my girlfriend came into the house, she looked at my sofa and said, “Has your inner Gay man come out?” (mutual laughter) L: Do you have any interest in architecture or home design? C: Yes of course. I wanted to be an urban planner at one time. L: That’s what I was doing in college for a short while. C: But I ended up here. I wanted to design an entire city! But in a way, I get to now. I am working with the design team of downtown Palm Springs, and I’m sitting here looking at four by four mock ups of the parking lot. And what else could have a bigger impact on downtown? The palms, the flavor... If the design team likes my suggestions, I could be the star of downtown. Thousands of people may enjoy! It could be reflective of my tastes, my love, my joy! It’s real fun. I only hope that Charissa continues to grace us with her love. Carry on, dear Charissa! You and other talented people are making our Village thrive! -Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute (ICPI) -Certified Contractor Instructor -ICPI Certified Installer -Certified ICPI Pavers Sales to Specifiers -Five-Time National Concrete Pavement Award Winner -ICPI Advanced Pavement Technologies Certification -Certified ICPI Permeable Installer -Certified Women’s Business Enterprise -Desert Valley Builders Association Member -Building Industry Association Member
Page 1 and 2: Vol 8 Issue 211 June 19 to July 3,
Page 4 and 5: SWANK Y DINNER & DANCING DELICIOUS
Page 6 and 7: 6 There’s always a parTy aT Super
Page 8 and 9: 8 Three Exhibits on display in Palm
Page 10 and 11: 10 The Palm Springs International S
Page 13 and 14: 13 New summer hours: Wang’s will
Page 15 and 16: The best way to find a condo in Pal
Page 17 and 18: I am part of a mosaic that makes up
Page 19: 19 MIXERS Wednesday July 1 Hunters
Page 22: 22 Bill McCloud, 85 year-old to rec
Page 27: 27 Everything”... Curb Appeal Par
Page 31 and 32: IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom McDonou
Page 33: 32 33 on ESTD 2014 SaN DIEGO HIDDEN
Page 36 and 37: 36 LET THE SECRETS BEGIN LAGER SEDU
Page 38 and 39: 38 NEW YORK CITY DRONE FILM FESTIVA
Page 40 and 41: 40 Calendar
Page 48: 4848 Calendar

LIVE MAGAZINE VOL 8, Issue #211 June 19th THRU July 3rd, 2015

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