Sheri Olson and Ruth Taillon. Photo credit: Vicki Skinner.

by Vicki Skinner

Five years ago, Sheri Olson had it all: a beautiful baby daughter Madeleine, a husband, a busy career in molecular biology, and two life-long girlfriends, Shelly Clayborn and Vicki Meier Oberleitner. She and Oberleitner had been high school drill team cheerleaders together and then roommates at Virginia Tech. Oberleitner became an architect; she was on the fast track in her field and had a wonderful husband and a darling 3-year-old. She was a little tired and run down, so she went to the doctor where she received iron pills for anemia. After six months, she received a blood transfusion; she slipped into a coma, which she never came out of. The doctors were stymied. Five days later, she died at age 35; the eventual diagnosis was a rare form of lymphoma.

Her friends and family were stunned and horrified. Olson said, “We said, ‘How does this happen?’  We needed to change priorities.” Questions arose about “how you spend your time and who you spend it with.”

So she and Clayborn, who lived on the East Coast, decided to take the sad fact of Oberleitner’s death and change it into something positive. Olson and Oberleitner had young children and Clayborn was going through endometriosis surgery in hopes of becoming pregnant. The two girlfriends decided to create a New Mommy Gift Basket. These baskets were designed to celebrate the mom, not the baby. Olson says, “It was based on the idea that life is short; new moms … need to stop and take time for themselves.”

With Oberleitner always as their inspiration, they created a Web site, savvyskirts.com, and began selling their expanded line of signature Girl Baskets that fit all occasions. Olson says, “Vicki died in November of 2003. As therapy, we took this devastatingly negative event and funneled our energy into starting our business in February of 2004. She [Vicki] was always the girly girl out of all of us. She could out-Martha-Stewart Martha Stewart. She was a beautiful perfectionist.” They give part of their Girl Basket proceeds to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Olson says, “The Web site opened so many doors for us. We got in touch with so many women’s organizations. There is this sub-culture of women taking the 25th hour of their busy days to do something that is their passion. That is what we did. Life is short, as we learned with the loss of Vicki. Our mission is to support women’s purposeful and passionate projects.”

At first, Olson and Clayborn ran the business from their homes. After a year or so, Olson moved to an office in Half Moon Bay at Main and Miramontes streets. And recently the local part of the business moved again — with the opening of its first store — to The Shoppes at Harbor Village, right next to the new Oceano Hotel and Spa, across from Princeton Harbor. The store opened the weekend of the 2008 Art & Pumpkin Festival. Ruth Taillon, the savvy sales manager, runs the shop.

At the new Savvy Skirts boutique, you can make gift purchases or order custom Girl Baskets — purses and totes that are customized with fun gifts to celebrate special interests, emotions, occasions or experiences in a woman’s life. Savvy Skirts also works closely with the hotel, providing support for wedding and bridal showers, as well as engagement parties and other party planning events, including spa days. Olson says, “We kind of want people to come in, have a little giggle, and leave inspired.” That is, in fact, exactly what I did.