LISA DAHL
EXECUTIVE CHEF & OWNER OF DAHL RESTAURANT GROUP
Lisa Dahl owns a total of six Sedona restaurants and is one of the area’s most celebrated chefs. Like many who cook professionally, her passion for food started at home. “My grandmother, my mother and our nanny all shaped what I now call my version of soul food. They did not formally teach me, but they molded my palate by embracing very fresh, non-processed foods as their ethos. That philosophy became my own,” she says. She started cooking as a teen, but she never dreamed it would become a career. She started in fashion because her mother owned clothing stores. “I grew up in service. From the moment I was born, helping others find their sense of style and shaping their image by choosing clothing that made them feel beautiful and confident,” she says. But she ultimately felt called back to cooking. Today, her approach to cooking is influenced by the time she spent in Northern California. “I continued in that industry for many years while living in Marin County in the Bay Area of San Francisco, where I fell in love with natural California-style Italian and Mediterranean influences,” she says. “That became my culinary style because it reflects how I have always loved to eat. My approach focuses on the quality of ingredients and the mastery of simple methods.”
Lisa Dahl, executive chef & owner of Dahl Restaurant Group.
Her list of accomplishments is long. Lisa’s first Sedona restaurant, Dahl & Di Luca, opened in 1995, and her empire grew from there. Her second restaurant, Cucina Rustica, opened in 2003. Pisa Lisa opened in 2013. In 2015, Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill opened. Butterfly Burger opened in 2019. In 2022, a second location of Pisa Lisa opened. In 2023, the Sedona Chamber of Commerce gave her a “Women’s Lifetime Achievement Leadership Award.” She is currently working on her next cookbook. In March of 2025, she debuted the documentary “Lisa Dahl — Blessed by Grace” at the Sedona International Film Festival.
Lisa Dahl, executive chef & owner of Dahl Restaurant Group.
One of her newer ventures? A nonprofit. The Lisa Dahl Foundation launched in 2024. The cornerstone of the Foundation is Lisa Dahl’s Soup Hope, a plant-based, gluten-free Minestra blending 27 heirloom beans and legumes with vegetables, fresh herbs and spices. “Our nonprofit is focused on helping Indigenous communities living in food deserts in Arizona, beginning specifically with the Navajo and Hopi communities. Our goal is to help preserve dignity through the fundamental human right of having food on the table,” she says. “There has never been a more important time than now. We worked through many steps to obtain nonprofit status and sought guidance from leaders in both our local and greater community. We operate restaurants with more than 300 employees and survived the Covid pandemic, which could have ended our business. Having climbed that hurdle, and with continued growth and recognition in Sedona, we feel ready,” says Lisa. As one of the most successful restaurateurs in Arizona, we just had to ask what she feels are the keys to her success. Here’s what she had to say: “Passion, perseverance, love of people, dedication to quality and an unwavering commitment to hospitality.”
Shannon Walters, director of sales & marketing at Enchantment Resort.
SHANNON WALTERS
DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING AT ENCHANTMENT RESORT
Shannon Walters has spent her entire career in the hospitality industry. She currently serves as the director of sales and marketing at Enchantment Resort. What does she love about the industry she’s been a part of for over 25 years? “It’s always changing. It’s never something that’s rinse and repeat over and over. You get something new every single day, just by guests that you encounter, to groups that we book to the marketing side of things. Nothing is the same. It’s always changing, and that’s what’s great,” she says. Her day to day on the job is always changing.
Mii Amo.
One key component is how she markets both Enchantment Resort and the destination spa property Mii amo. She also gets to share the resort and tell others in the industry all about Enchantment. “Getting to share what we do here and what sets us apart from any other hotel,” she says, of what she enjoys about her job. “Being an independent hotel, it’s a pretty wonderful place to be because it’s not the same thing over and over.” Mii amo was recently named a Five-Star Hotel in Forbes Travel Guide’s 2026 Star Awards — making it the only property in North America to hold the distinction. “It’s pretty amazing,” she says. “Wellness is starting to really take hold, and it’s great to see, because we’re not your same wellness resort that you’d find anywhere else. It’s not prescriptive. It’s very individual and based on the individual’s needs.” She feels that Mii amo’s programming, which is tailored to the individual above all, is ultimately what earned the property this prestigious award. “They only have 23 guest rooms. They have the opportunity to really get their arms around every single guest at the resort,” she says. She strives to make an impact on guests and give them a great experience when they’re at the hotel.
Enchantment Resort.
Prior to joining the team at Enchantment about five years ago, she worked at The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside, California, as the vice president of sales and marketing. She says she now has a better work life balance. “I can step outside of the office, look at the red rocks and just take it all in. It’s absolutely calming. And it’s such a stunning place to be,” she says. “I still can’t get over the views, the beauty, the scenery, everything. It’s stunning.” Being our women’s issue, we had to ask her about what it’s like to be a woman in the hospitality industry. “When I started, 28 years ago, it was predominantly male. There were male dominated leaders in the industry,” she says. “I’ve had a few women that I worked under that really mentored me and really helped me grow.
Enchantment Resort.
One of the things I like to do is mentor other women in the industry coming up too, and if they’re interested in it, I want them to be as excited about it as I get and share all of my experiences and maybe help them grow more.” She’s helped mentor employee Liz Smithson, who is interested in hospitality as a career and is part of a mentorship program that Enchantment offers for up and coming leaders. “I just want to continue her growth. So I’m constantly working with her and helping her work with other various departments so she can really get the entire resort knowledge under her belt,” she says, of Liz. In her spare time, Shannon enjoys hiking and spending time with her husband and two adult daughters.
Hollace Davids, president of The Board of The Sedona Women.
HOLLACE DAVIDS
PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF THE SEDONA WOMEN
Not long after moving to Sedona in 2021, Hollace Davids was encouraged by a neighbor to join The Sedona Women. The Sedona Women is an organization of local women who have banded together to make positive changes. “Our vision is to be forces of good in our community and make a difference,” says Hollace Davids, president of the board of The Sedona Women. The official mission statement of The Sedona Women is “dedicated to making a positive and lasting impact on the community, by providing opportunities for women, to build relationships, to learn about the community, to support community needs and to enhance the natural beauty and distinctive character of Sedona.”
The Sedona Women.
One great example of how the group does this? A program like the Helen Wolfe Scholarship Fund. This helps local women who are returning to school fund their educations. Becky Griffin heads the scholarship committee. The group also plans social events like cocktail parties. Trips are optional. Every month, the Sedona Women has community programs. One of the more recent offerings was about Alzheimer’s and dementia. Another was about fire preparedness. The group also does many charity events. They host diaper drives, pet drives, coat drives and food drives. They clean up Oak Creek. Hollace had quite the career in Hollywood. She worked at Universal Pictures as the senior vice president of special projects on films like “Seabiscuit.” She did publicity for movies like “Ghostbusters,” “The Big Chill,” “Gandhi” and “The Karate Kid.” Hollace curated the premieres for films like “Notting Hill,” “Love Actually,” “Jurassic Park” and “The Bourne Identity.” Hollace is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the marketing and publicity branch. She gets to vote in the Academy Awards. She’s also a member of the Producers Guild. Hollace sent us a photo of herself backstage at the Academy Awards, looking ever so chic wearing a gown and long white gloves. Hollace and her husband have produced independent films, documentaries and features. “I got to work with some of the most talented and wonderful filmmakers and make movies that people loved and get them out there,” she says of her storied career, which helps her thrive today. “I think it’s been a good fit because of my background in knowing how to produce and plan events, and I’ve been on many boards. I was the president of an organization called Women in Film in Los Angeles for several years,” she says.
The Sedona Women.
Hollace has always been a natural leader. When she attended one of her high school reunions, she was reminded that she was the prom chair for the junior prom. Her career as a leader has helped her lead The Sedona Women. “I find it rewarding to be able to work on the board with so many committed, terrific women who really use their resources,” she says. “We have a terrific treasurer.” “I’m using the skills that I honed with my job to be able to do this, and I’m glad to be giving it back to the community and making it better for people,” she says. “I’ve been very lucky to be exposed to a lot of different things,” says Hollace. “I’m happy to be able to bring my skill set to make a difference in my community. I think in so many ways, that’s what’s been instilled in me. When you reflect on where you are and what you’ve done and where you’re going, you want to feel like you’ve done something worthwhile and that you’re proud of what you do and that you make a difference.”
Amanda Bosh, Ph.D., executive director of Lowell Observatory.
AMANDA BOSH, Ph.D.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF LOWELL OBSERVATORY
Amanda Bosh, Ph.D., the executive director of Lowell Observatory, has a very long history with the storied Flagstaff institution. Back in 1985, she was thinking she would pursue engineering as a career path and was even working on an engineering degree. A visit to Lowell changed all that. “I came here and got to meet all the wonderful astronomers and use the telescopes. And I thought, ‘Wow, this is really cool.’ I want to do more of this. And that’s sort of the beginning of the end, as they say,” she says. “Right at that point, that’s when I decided I’m going to give this a try and see if this will work. Being able to come back to the observatory, in the operations roles that I did, and then as the executive director, to help move Lowell into its future, is really very exciting for me.” She earned her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994.
Lowell Observatory.
Her first postdoctoral position was at Lowell Observatory. She returned to Lowell in 2020 as the operations manager and then as chief operating officer. In 2024, she became executive director. She started a mere eight days before Lowell’s Marley Foundation Astronomy Discovery Center opened. “It’s a new era in Lowell Observatory’s outreach, and at the same time, being able to share the science that we do here with a broader public, which has been very exciting for us and for the public as well,” she says. As executive director, she has public facing and inward facing roles. “My role as the executive director has a lot of different components, and one of those is we’re facing to speak to stakeholders who might be the public or our partners outside the observatory, or public officials or developing new partnerships, being out in the astronomy community. Those kinds of connections are what part of what I do,” she says.
Amanda Bosh, Ph.D., looks through a telescope at Lowell Observatory.
Internally, she works with an executive leadership team to answer the following questions: How are we approaching the mission? What are our new initiatives for the next year? How are we going to achieve this? She’s also in charge of business development and coming up with ways to diversify revenue. Being our women’s issue, we wanted to ask her about holding a top position at a scientific institution. Very few women have jobs like that. Around the world, just 29.3% of research scientists are women, according to UNESCO. “I’m glad to see that in my field, in planetary science, for whatever reason, and I don’t know why, but even when I was going through grad school, it had a higher percentage of women than maybe some other sciences. I found that to be very supportive,” she says. She also credits her thesis advisor for helping her along in her career. “He was very supportive of students coming up in the next generation. And I was really lucky to be able to be one of his mentees. That made a big difference for me. When I was working in his group, there was no male female, it didn’t matter. It was, ‘We’re all in this together. We’re trying to achieve the same goal,’” she says.
Lowell Observatory.
Her professional path has never been linear. “My career path has never been obvious to me,” she says. “My approach to my career has just always been to say ‘yes.’” Even when she’s felt overwhelmed, she also managed to thrive over time. “More often than not, I’ve learned that I could just learn as I go and be successful. I think that, for me, anyway, that is a method that has worked out really well,” she says. Whenever she’s feeling stressed, she often soothes herself by looking at the sky. “I can look up and say, ‘Look at the vastness of the universe.’ Isn’t an amazing thing that I exist, and it gives me a sense of calm and awe,” she says. “It’s an amazing feeling that I wish everybody would have the opportunity to have, and we can provide it.”
Martha Aaron, owner of Mountain High Flowers.
MARTHA AARON
OWNER OF MOUNTAIN HIGH FLOWERS
Martha Aaron originally thought she was going to be a meteorologist. “Then I took a floral design class and just fell in love, and that’s all she wrote,” says Martha. She took floral design classes in high school and then got a job at a flower shop right after graduating. She later attended a floral design school in her native Texas, where she learned the ins and outs of what can be a very difficult industry. “I heard the statistic that most flower shops — about 80% of flower shops — fail within their first five years, because they either know design, don’t know business, or they know business and don’t know design. And I was like, ‘I’m not going to be that statistic,’” she says. “I’ve always been very goal-oriented and driven and knew that if I wanted to be successful in this, I needed to own my own flower shop. I kind of just set up from there and went and got my business degree, got accredited through the American Institute of Floral Designers and just always kind of had my eye on the target.”
Mountain High Flowers floral arrangement.
Martha is the third owner of Mountain High Flowers. The shop originally opened in Flagstaff. The first owner opened a second location in Sedona sometime in the late ‘90s. Martha purchased the Sedona location in 2017. The Flagstaff location closed in 2019 after the owner retired. “I just love that I’m a woman-owned business. I love that I get to employ a lot of women in my job, and that I can work with them. I have a great team,” she says. She’s a working mom of two and would advise moms to jump back into the workforce. “It’s super rewarding. It has its moments, for sure. It’s very difficult sometimes, but I won’t have it any other way,” she says. Above all, Martha considers herself to be a service provider. “I love floral art, but I also love serving the community. I love that. I always joke that if I won the lottery, I probably still wouldn’t even just close the store, because I love the opportunity to get to serve the whole Verde Valley,” she says. “We need a good flower shop.” Flowers are often given to others during life’s big moments, a part of her job that she takes seriously. “As a florist, we are there for everybody’s special moments, special occasions, whether it’s a birthday, anniversary, unfortunately, sympathy or a wedding or prom,” she says. “We get to be there enhancing these special life moments. And I think that’s always such a cool part of our job.”
Martha Aaron, owner of Mountain High Flowers.
We had to ask about her a few important memories on the job. Here’s what she said: “Well, you can’t beat the moment when you hand a bride her bouquet, and she starts tearing up with tears of joy that you’ve brought her vision to life for her wedding day,” she says. As a business owner, she focuses on good customer service and quality. If customers are not happy with their arrangements, she will offer a full refund. She’s also always innovating and connecting with others as a way to further her career. She’s a three time Arizona florist of the year. She’s also the past president of the Arizona State Florist Association and a member of the American Institute of Floral Designers. Her future plans include potentially opening up a floral design school and doing more workshops. She highly values continuing education. “As cliche as it sounds, I’ve always felt knowledge is power. My mom was a professor. Growing up, the more you can dive into your passion and your education, the stronger you become as a person and as a professional,” she says. “If you want to grow in your dreams and in your profession and grow professionally, then connecting and continually educating yourself is valuable.”
