Sophia Collier
Sophia Collier is an American artist,[1] author and entrepreneur. In 1977, at 21, Sophia (pronounced "Soph-eye-ah") Collier developed Soho Natural Soda in her kitchen in Brooklyn, New York and co-founded the American Natural Beverage Corp to distribute the product. The company grew to $25 million in soft drink sales before the partners sold it to Seagram Beverage Company in 1989 for a reported US$15 million.[2][3] Written in 1976, and published in 1978, she also produced a book about her teen-aged life entitled Soul Rush in which she recounts her spiritual development, experimentation with recreational drug use and Eastern mysticism as a teenager.
In 1991 she established Citizens Advisers Inc., a mutual fund management company where Collier was the portfolio manager of Citizens Index Fund which achieved a five star rating by Morningstar, placing it in the top 10% of funds within its category.[3] At Citizens, Collier also managed the E-fund which achieved a #1 in its category shortly after it was established according to ranking service IBC/Donoghue and was called "among the more interesting products to emerge from the money fund arena in years."[4]
Citizens Funds was sold to Sentinel Investments in April 2008.[5]
After the sale, Collier became an artist and established a studio and gallery in Sausalito, CA making sculptural reliefs of water surfaces with properties analogous to the intentions of the Light and Space Movement. In her artist statement she describes her inspiration as "One day I was walking across a bridge and thought I wish I could just reach down into the water and pick up a piece of that shining surface and keep it forever."[6]
She drew a connection with her prior financial work stating that it allowed her " to know it was possible to develop software to model vast, turbulent, nonlinear data sets like money … and also, maybe, water in motion."
In 2009 - 2010 Collier studied precision milling technology with auto industry machinists and learned animation and 3D modeling arts with students from Pixar.[6]
Sophia Collier Gallery opened in 2011. In December 2012 she exhibited at the Scope Art Fair in Miami.[7]
Bibliography
- Collier, Sophia (1978). Soul Rush: the odyssey of a young woman of the '70s. New York: Morrow. ISBN 0-688-03276-1.
References
- ↑ http://www.sophiacolliergallery.com
- ↑ "The Reinvention(s) of Sophia Collier, Part 2". Fast Company. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Fund founder has success in many different ways - Oct. 29, 1999". CNN. 1999-10-29. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
- ↑ "Give Citizens Trust E-Fund an 'A' for Innovation". CNN. 1999-10-29. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
- ↑ "Sentinel Investments Completes Citizens Funds Acquisition". Retrieved 2009-07-25.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 http://sophiacolliergallery.com/home-3/about/artist-statement/
- ↑ http://www.sophiacolliergallery.com/Scope.html