Viki Lareau has been in the jewelry making business for more than 20 years. She majored in fashion marketing, and worked in jewelry sales at Nordstrom for several years. She left Nordstrom to help expand a chain of bead stores across the U.S. and Canada. It was there she met and married Mark Lareau. Shortly after, they opened their own bead store, The Bead Factory, in Tacoma, Washington. Both Viki and Mark teach nationally and also are founders and directors of the Puget Sound Bead Festival, now in its tenth year. Viki also writes the Bead Biz column in Beadwork magazine.