And Here's Lilly "In the Press"

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Simi Valley Enterprise Entrepreneur

By Steve Silkin

These are tough times for some, says Liliana Wilkerson, but those who persevere may reap their just rewards.

Like her, for example.  After college training in hotel and restaurant management, the longtime Simi Valley resident went to work for a series of companies as banquet manager, finally landing at ARCO in Downtown Los Angeles.  There, management urged her to start her own business and contract to them.

Which she did.  Now, her two banquet service companies do about $500,000 a year in annual sales.  And she’s just been nominated as “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Inc. magazine, Merrill Lynch and Ernst & Young.

“Don’t be afraid to make the move like I did,” she urges other businesspeople.  “Because it pays in the long run.  It pays to be your own boss.”

As banquet manager for ARCO, Wilkerson has created menus and service for the company’s top executives, including Lodwrick Cook and his guests, including former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former British leader Margaret Thatcher.  The menu for “Iron Lady” included one of Wilkerson’s specialties, free range chicken.

ARCO’s banquets are reserved for political and community events, Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson also supervised the catering arrangements for the four-day opening ceremonies of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley in 1991.

After finishing her hotel and restaurant management courses, Wilkerson worked first for service conglomerates ARA and the Marriott Corp.  Marriott first sent her under contract to ARCO, but seven years ago the oil company convinced her to strike out on her own.

Her first company, now called “And Here’s Lilly One,” was created to contract exclusively with ARCO.  But four years ago, as demand elsewhere formed, her daughter Charmaign helped her launch an offshoot, “And Here’s Lilly Two,” to service the other companies.

Lilly Two is managed by Charmaine Wilkerson, who heads another large staff, Lilly Wilkerson said.  Charmaign Wilkerson is a graduate of Simi Valley High School and California State University, Northridge.

Charmaine Wilkerson supervised catering arrangements for President Clinton’s inaugural earlier this year in Washington, heading banquet services for the 3,000-person sit-down dinner at the Arkansas Ball, the largest inauguration party.

Liliana Wilkerson did not start out headed toward a career as a food service entrepreneur, however.

She was born in Guatemala City and earned a master’s degree in education before coming to the United States as a result of her marriage to James Wilkerson, a business luminary in his own right.  James and Liliana met in the days when he was Caribbean manger for the Singer Corp.  He later moved up to be the sewing machine company’s general manager and is now a regional director for Consolidated Sewing Machines, supervising its Western U.S. and Latin America operations.

They have lived in Simi Valley for 17 years, and also have a son, Carlos, who has graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in organic chemistry.  He is now working as a Philadelphia physician.

Liliana Wilkerson points out she owes her success to both her husband’s patience and ARCO’s support.

“Without the help of ARCO and the executives in ARCO, I would never have my own company,” she said.  “All the things that are happening to me are because of ARCO.  And my husband who has been so patient…a loyal supporter.”

She said the family plans to start a third company, “Lilly Three” by the end of 1994.