Page 31 - BusinessWest April 1, 2024

“If we have the opportunity
to have more focused donations that have a bigger impact on the organizations that we’re helping, that’s the direction we’ve decided to take.”
Balise company for many years.
She also carries on another of Mike’s traditions — buying winter
coats for students at the school — and takes it to another level with some serious shopping for deals, stretching the allotted dollars and using the savings to buy hats and other accessories.
“Costco will have these deals — ‘spend this much and get this much off,’” she explained. “So I’ll buy them in buckets so that we get the most of the discount, and then I’ll use what we saved with the discount to buy the extra things, like hats and gloves. There are definitely some things that Mike started that we’re happy to continue.”
And while doing all that, she’s also raising two young children, son Connor, 5, and daughter Emma, 3. It’s a complicated and deli- cate balancing act, one that she discussed, along with many other topics, in a wide-ranging interview with BusinessWest for this issue and its focus on women in business.
Drive Time
One of the better perks for those in the auto-sales business — even those in charge of marketing and, now, corporate strategy — is being able to drive a demo.
And for Balise, the car of choice — and there is a lot to choose from in an auto group that sells several different makes — is the Toyota Crown, a sporty hybrid sedan. Yes, a sedan. Even with two young children, she’ll leave the SUVs for others to drive.
Although this sedan doesn’t look much like anything else on the road.
“I’ve never had more people ask me, ‘what is that you’re driv- ing?’” she said. “Because it is a little different.”
Balise spends a considerable amount of time in whichever Crown she’s driving at the moment — she doesn’t keep them past 5,000 miles — splitting her days between the 413, Rhode Island, and the Cape. While driving, she’s usually listening to audiobooks (she likes both fiction and nonfiction and is currently ‘rereading’ the Harry Potter books) and thinking about all the many balls she’s keeping in the air at present.
Alex Balise meets some residents of the Zoo in Forest Park after the company wrapped a vehicle and donated it to the zoo for its educational programs.
All this wasn’t exactly where she pictured herself at this stage of her life and career, but there have been some, well, unexpected turns.
Like most who grew up around the car business, Balise spent summers and school breaks working in various jobs at dealerships. She recalls working in the parts department, calling customers to tell them their appointments were coming up, and even handling
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