he pandemic prevented Junior Achievement (JA) of Alaska from celebrating the Alaska Business Hall of Fame in 2021. Instead of choosing a new cohort of laureates for 2022, JA of Alaska chose to postpone its event so that it could give the same honor, time, and attention to this fantastic and well-deserving group of inspirational business leaders.
In order to support JA of Alaska, we chose to run the laureates’ profiles (easily accessible in our January 2021 digital edition, available on our website) in our January 2021 issue. One year later, we’re highlighting the JA Alaska Business Hall of Fame Laureates in a different way. We hope you enjoy these brief accounts of some of their earliest introductions to business.
Owner, Tastee Freez
It soon came to his attention that there was no demand for his frogs as the other kids in the neighborhood had the exact same access to free frogs in the pond. While his fledgling frog business didn’t make it, he did learn a lesson that’s stuck with him: “If you go into business, start with the market study. Don’t get the frogs first,” Owens laughs.
Junior Achievement of Alaska
Owners, Bagoy’s
Chanda’s parents owned the shop from 1980 to 1991, and she worked there as a kid. “I think my dad fired me at least a dozen times for different reasons,” she laughs. “As girls, we were kind of self-raising because [our parents] were so busy with so much work. My dad was working two jobs to be able to pay for it, and it was hard.”
Junior Achievement of Alaska
President & CEO, ASRC
He continues, “I’ve always told people, if you ever want to learn about business, run the only store in your community… and have one of your best friends or family members come in and say they want to go over [their charge limit], whether it’s for food or something they really need, and you have to say no because you know that you’ve got to bring in the bottom line to be able to purchase the next order for the store… Those were pretty educational times for me, and I was called quite a few different names,” he laughs. “But you learn that you have to make tough decisions.”
Junior Achievement of Alaska
Owner, Alaska Dream Cruises and Allen Marine Tours

Junior Achievement of Alaska