Staying Connected

The Bethany Lutheran College Alumni Office is your connection to Bethany! We organize special alumni events, keep you informed about what's going on at Bethany, and help you to connect with your former classmates and friends.

Alumni Events

You are invited to join us for the Bethany Sports Classic on Monday, August 3.

Alumni reunions are held during Bethany's Fall Festival weekend. Many events for the entire family occur during Fall Festival weekend. Take in a soccer game, attend Theatre Physics or Arts on the Green, and enjoy the company of alumni and friends.

Printed Alumni Directory

The printed alumni directory project has been completed. Books will be mailed to homes by early summer.

Browse the Directory

Check the boxes of the years you want to browse. Then, click the "Go" button below:

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Add yourself to the directory

Not in the directory? If you're a Bethany alum, you can create an account and edit your profile for your classmates to see. Please be sure that you're not already in the directory before creating a new account.

Social Media

Become a fan of Bethany's page on Facebook .

News

A closet full of opportunity
Friday, June 11, 2010

By Sarah Harstad

Small businesses are notorious for having low success rates. Leading causes of failure include not enough capital, lack of realistic planning, and lack of business management skills.

So what motivated Shelley (Nelson ’95) Martini and sister, Chellsea Nelson (’09) to delve into the retail fashion business world?

It all started at a family gathering last Easter when the Nelson girls were talking with sisters, Brigette (’00) Ledell and Gretta (’03) Krier and parents, Harland (’69) and Cheryl. As usual when the girls got together, conversations were vibrant and fast paced. The conversation turned to jobs, fashion, and opportunities in Mankato.

Shelley, who continued at Rasmussen Business College after Bethany, holds degrees in marketing and management as well as retail specialty. Chellsea graduated from Bethany with a bachelor of arts in sociology, psychology and health communications. Both girls have extensive experience in retail stores and have held management positions with various chain stores.

With all of this interest in retail, experience in management, and a conservative savings background the sisters began to discuss the chain Plato’s Closet. According to their website, “Plato’s Closet buys and sells brand name, gently used clothing for teens and twentysomethings.” Living in Saint Cloud, Shelley could see the tremendous success the store experienced there and couldn’t imagine why Mankato, with a large base of teen and twenty-something consumers, wouldn’t have similar success. The girls longed to be their own boss and the more they discussed the idea, the more realistic it became.

After careful planning, the sisters sent in an application to be a franchisee of Plato’s Closet. WinMark, the Minnesota based parent company called them for an interview in Minneapolis to ensure they were capable and had a stable cash flow to open and operate the store.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Shelley as primary investor/owner, was off to a week of training in July 2009. By October, both girls were in training and hiring employees. They spent five more days training in South Carolina and returned to open their store for “buys” in January. By February, they were fully operational both buying and selling merchandise.

“We have exceeded the company’s expectations and are considered ‘SuperSellers’ before the first six months have passed! The company has been very supportive with great suggestions and are blown away by our early successes,” Chellsea explained.

With back-to-school shopping expected to be their peak of sales revenue, the girls are using the summer to prepare the already successful store and staff.

“We really believe in customer service and staying positive with our customers and employees. At Bethany, this behavior was modeled everywhere. You build relationship with your friends and professors,” Shelley commented.

Chellsea recalled encouragement from Professor William Kessel, “ ‘You’ll do it!’ he always told me. Bethany is such a positive environment where people genuinely cared for you and we want to give that to our customers and employees.”