Giving Back to Valdez Junior Achievement Volunteer of the Year: Jenna Compehos.

• Author: Rhode, Scott

"I come from a family of entrepreneurs," says Jenna Compehos, the compliance and documentation specialist at the Valdez Marine Terminal for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.

Her great-grandparents came to Valdez by steamship during the gold rush and started the Gilson Mercantile bank. Her grandfather, George H. Gilson, owned a restaurant and grocery store in Valdez. "So I've always carried that around," Compehos says. "Just like, 'What could I do? I wanna do something. I want to own my own business."

Since being named Junior Achievement (JA) Alaska Volunteer of the Year, Compehos has done exactly that. In 2021, she opened Salty Lupine, a gift shop specializing in Alaska-made art. "It is something that Valdez needed," she says. "I've also had a dream to own my own little boutique, and that's kind of how it sparked the idea."

At first, she managed the inventory out of her living room, selling via a website. On July 3, Salty Lupine opened a storefront stocked with locally crafted jewelry, pottery, and Valdez-branded apparel. The brand is based on a town landmark, she says: "All the locals look to Sugarloaf Mountain, and if it snows and it sticks on Sugarloaf, we know the snow is gonna stick. So I'm like, 'Hmm.' I got my pen and paper out and sketched out a logo of Sugarloaf Mountain and I branded Sugarloaf Clothing Company."

Compehos acknowledges that owning a small business in addition to a full-time job and raising three daughters has been a challenge to balance. However, she was going "stir crazy" at home because of COVID-19 and felt the urge to try something new. "I feel like people are sort of going out of their element and comfort zone and doing things they normally wouldn't have," she explains.

Oh, and another demand on her time is volunteering as JA community chair. That experience, as much as her hereditary hustle, contributed to the birth of Sugarloaf Clothing and Salty Lupine. "I feel like Junior Achievement played a role in that by, you know, I teach about becoming an entrepreneur," Compehos says,

Teaching Lessons

Alyeska has chaired the JA branch in Valdez for practically as long as the Trans Alaska Pipeline System operator has been in town. The company's looming presence is something Compehos has felt since she was a child growing up across the Port of Valdez from the terminal. She recalls, "You kind of look over from the dock and see this giant city with these huge lights and you're like, 'It's so cool! I wanna be over there!'"

...