Smart. Sassy. Modest. Jennifer Jensen’s contribution to the world of fashion meets each of these standards. Her business, Vintage Hem, offers women’s slips with a unique premise: they’re meant to be seen.

As a newly single mother, Jensen was pondering a career that would allow her to support her family and still be available for her three daughters. While an undergraduate management student at the Marriott School, she learned that the most profitable businesses are built with innovation and originality. The concept hit home, because when she was younger her father had taken her to see the home of George de Mestral, the inventor of Velcro fastening. “Vintage Hem is my Velcro,” she says. “It’s an original idea that fills a need in the market.”

Her passion for creativity, experience in the scrapbooking industry, and Marriott School education allowed Jensen to capitalize on her unique fashion idea. Vintage Hem slips are made of traditional lingerie fabric and worn under skirts and dresses, but they also include fashionable, fun hems that extend below the outer garment to add length and variety. “Our product helps women participate in trends without compromising their inner beauty,” says Jensen, who earned her degree in 2000. “It makes fashion more wearable.”

The business launched in April 2007 with a commercial in between broadcast sessions of the general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The enthusiastic response has included appearances on Utah morning shows and fashion layouts in Eliza, a modesty-driven, high-fashion magazine. The line recently began moving into the national wholesale market.

Running a business with three young girls at home might seem like a disadvantage, but Jensen says the arrangement has worked surprisingly well. Jensen and her business partner, Janine Hansen Ottley, regularly field phone calls while their children play in the background. Owning the business allows them to set that standard, Jensen says. “We’re moms, and we have a business, and people know that’s who we are.”

Her children love wearing Vintage Hem products and telling people about their mother’s business. They sometimes tag along to trunk shows and client meetings. “Being with them is important in making them feel included and preparing them to be successful, and I couldn’t do that if I was in an office all day long,” Jensen says. “I’m also doing something creative that I’m passionate about, which makes me happier and affects our whole family.”

Jensen’s passion is fueled by a firm belief in her product. “Women are by nature feminine, and there’s something beautiful about that to be celebrated,” she says. “Vintage Hem allows women to be both feminine and modest.”




Dana Tucker had everything lined up. He had almost completed his MBA at the Marriott School, he had a lucrative job offer, and after many moves he was finally ready to settle down. Then duty called. Major Tucker was told to prepare for deployment to Iraq.

“It wasn’t a convenient time, but there’s never a convenient time to have a war,” Tucker says. He packed up; said goodbye to his wife, Christine, and their four children; and left for training. He completed his MBA coursework through BYU Independent Study while stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas.

After a brief stay in Kuwait, he left for the hot sands of Iraq to direct the Numaniyah National Police Academy, one hundred miles southeast of Baghdad. Almost two thousand Iraqi National Police train at the academy each month. Civilian contractors train the Iraqi forces in police tactics, human rights, diversity, communication, the use of force, evidence gathering, and crime scene management, among other things.

The area is certainly dangerous—some contractors have been killed—but Tucker isn’t on the front lines, and he keeps a positive attitude. “Other than the fact that I’m in a war zone and away from my family, I enjoy the work I do,” Tucker says. “Most of the challenges we face are usually things beyond my control, so I don’t worry much about them.”

Tucker says the hardest part of his assignment is being away from his family for such a long time. Frequent emails, a blog account of his activities, and family prayers shared through phone calls help keep them connected.

In addition to his MBA from the Marriott School in 2008, Tucker earned a PhD in 2002, an MS in 1999 in medical psychology from the Uniformed Services University of Health Science, and a BS in psychology from BYU in 1994.

With his combination of degrees, Tucker is a well-rounded academic individual with a strong business background. That diverse experience helps him accomplish his military assignments in Iraq. “The MBA program was a good experience, because you never know when you’re going to need to apply something,” he says. “I’m finding some way to apply every part of the MBA program here.”




If you thought online profiles have reached their limit, Marriott School grad Sid Krommenhoek shows the rave is just beginning. His bright new web site gives high school students worldwide the chance to put a face—and in some cases, a video—with a name on their college admissions applications.

In October 2006, Krommenhoek, Brad Hagen, and Mick Hagen founded zinch.com, giving students the chance to show who they really are to college admission officers by using vibrant online profiles. With already 325,000 high school students involved and more than five hundred colleges affiliated with Zinch, the company has expanded to students and colleges in all fifty states and more than 160 countries.

Krommenhoek, a 2005 business management graduate, and his friend and former mission companion Brad Hagen, a BYU communications major, joined with Princeton sophomore Mick Hagen after Mick suggested the business when he faced challenges getting into Princeton.

The team spent about nine months contacting colleges throughout the country and working with high school students to find what would meet their needs.

Zinch offers high school students the chance to create detailed profiles outlining academic achievements, extracurricular activities, and personal and family backgrounds. Students can also post media, such as videos of themselves playing an instrument or a sport. There is even a section where students can list books, movies, music, and quotes they like.

Krommenhoek explains, “Zinch allows students to share with colleges a more complete picture of themselves; our mantra is ‘I am more than a test score.’”

College profiles also exist on Zinch so admissions officers can log on to search profiles of possible students.

Krommenhoek and Brad Hagen entered the business in the Marriott School Business Plan Competition when Krommenhoek was still attending college and won first place in the e-business category. The business also won the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge and a business competition at Princeton.

The two had started various businesses together during the years leading up to Zinch, the first just shortly after Krommenhoek married Rian Rane, a BYU lingustics graduate. The three of them moved to Detroit, Michigan, to get their first business off the ground. Krommenhoek remembers those early years saying, “We were all hungry for opportunity and adventure and had little to fall back on.”

Now, however, those beginning years seem to be paying off with the success of their business and happy family lives. Krommenhoek and his wife now live in Provo with their two small children, taking pleasure in spending time together doing what their kids enjoy. Krommenhoek says, “Our greatest challenges and joys rest solely with our family.”

Published by the Marriott School at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Copyright 2012 by Brigham Young University. All rights reserved. All communications should be sent to Marriott Alumni Magazine, 490 Tanner Building, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602. Email: marriottmag@byu.edu. Telephone: (801) 422-5083. Fax: (801) 422-0501. The views expressed are those of the various authors and not necessarily the Marriott School. Change your mailing address here.