Tracey Lamm
For The Burlington Beacon
Jordan Dalziel remembers the way her mother, Deb Dalziel, applied her lipstick.
“She didn’t do it like anyone else. She put it on in the middle, and it made her lips curve up. I still do that now. And it was always bold,” Jordan said.
Deb Dalziel died at the age of 44 due to melanoma. She was the director of America’s Small Business Development Center at Southeastern Community College, a position she held from 1987 until her passing in 1999.
After her death, the SBDC established an award in her honor, the Deb Dalziel Woman Entrepreneur Achievement Award. This award is given annually to a woman who has significantly improved or changed her own personal situation while also having an impact on those around her.
This year, Jordan was nominated for the award which was named for her mother.
Jordan Dalziel was 13 when her mother passed. The memories of her mother’s interest in makeup and the suffering caused by skin cancer inspired Jordan to pursue a career in makeup and skincare.
Jordan has owned Spray by J for several years, offering mobile and on-site spray tanning services. Spray tanning offers an alternative to damaging UV rays from sun and tanning bed exposure. She also provides color consulting, makeup lessons, and makeup products.
In 2022, she moved her business to the next level by locating in a retail space at the Sade Suites, 914 Broadway, West Burlington. Before she took this next step, she visited the Small Business Development Center at SCC and received consultation from the current director, Janine Clover. This meeting led to her nomination.
Jordan’s profession has had a positive impact on her clientele who receive access to quality products and valuable lessons in application, but she has also had an impact on their health, too.
“I’m not a doctor, but I do know when I see something that needs to be checked out. There have been three women I have spray tanned that I have seen suspicious moles on that they had checked out and then needed treatment for melanoma,” Dalziel said.
For the past two years, Jordan has traveled to Des Moines to hand out the award. The purpose of the Deb Dalziel Award is not only to honor Dalziel, a long-time advocate of women entrepreneurs but also to ensure that the groundwork is in place to assure women equal advantages in the business world.
“It is an amazing experience to be with all of the women and hear their stories. It amazes me also that this award is still around,” Dalziel said.
And this year, she may be the recipient.