This spring the students in Anne Merkel's 7th and 8th grade writing class at Edgecomb's Center for Teaching and Learning went out into their communities to meet local working women and learn about their lives. They learned reportage, data-gathering, and interviewing techniques, and they experienced the process of making sense of data and crafting it as literature. Their goals were to learn how to conduct original, first-hand research and to make women's work and experiences more visible in their communities.

Customers bustle inside Rock Paper Scissors, a small gift store in Wiscasset. The shelves are covered in jewelry, decorative items, and other products. This reporter is greeted by a helpful employee, who ushers the owner, Erika Soule, out of her small office next to the counter. Soule is a professional-looking businesswoman, who immediately begins the interview. Her golden retriever, Lucy, jumps up from her sleep and ambles over to us. Even in the middle of the construction currently taking place on Route One, her business is thriving.

Soule has worked in retail nearly all her life. She’s managed an art gallery, an antique store, and done design work for many companies and customers throughout her career. Retail, art, and business have been her primary focuses. She graduated from Syracuse University with an art degree, and that kick-started her life as a designer. She’s worked many odd jobs over her career, but they all share a common thread: management and design. Soule has always been a leader in the myriad work that she’s done.

Eventually, Soule settled in Wiscasset and knew she had to find a job if she wanted to stay in the town that she loved. There wasn’t much work available, so she created her own job. In that sense, she founded Rock Paper Scissors out of necessity, but it became much more than that. Soule works seven days a week, and stays at the store nearly all day. Afterwards, she returns home to eat, sleep, pet her dog, and start the cycle all over again. She truly has a passion for work in general, and this job in particular. Soule is a perfect example of the spirit of small businesses in America: perseverance and patience above all else, and lasting commitment to work.

In this job, she is motivated by a drive to reach more people in the community and beyond, and to discover new creators of products. When asked about these motivations, she said, “I love finding new artists and lines for the store. That’s what motivates me.” Her store began with a focus on stationery, but has expanded into a general gift shop, through her motivation to find new artists, lines, and products. Even in this small store on Main Street in Wiscasset, she believes she can always find new ways to improve and reach out.

Speaking of improvement, she has quite a few goals and challenges looking forward. Soule aims to create more of an online presence for the store, in order to reach out to more possible customers and future providers of products. Other than these goals and challenges, she tries to live in the moment, and take each day at a time. It’s a turbulent time on Main Street in Wiscasset, and Soule is doing the best she can in this changing climate.

Soule has faced many obstacles during her career, chief among them recognition. Rock Paper Scissors has always been in a niche, and has had to work hard to reach out to customers. Eleven years ago, however, there was a much larger issue for her: the 2008 financial crisis. It damaged many careers across America, with small businesses being hit the hardest. And in these tumultuous economic times, Soule knows there will be challenges ahead, including the ever-present challenge of finding time for yourself.

Soule has the enterprising spirit necessary to grow a business from a requirement to stay in the place she loved, to the reason to stay there. She has faced many challenges throughout her long and illustrious career, but has faced them all with the requisite professionalism. In her small office, in a small business, in a small town, in a small state, she embodies the essence of an entrepreneur.