Sunshine brings lighting expert to Boulder and eventually to open business

Cheryl Gaiser loves light – inside and out.

It’s Colorado’s 300 days of the sunlight a year that brought her to Boulder from one of the rainiest states in the union 14 years ago. And it was her love of creating light indoors – a family tradition – that led her to open a lighting studio.

Cheryl, Jack Rietveld and Rhonda Wade established Inlighten Studios 10 years ago in October on the west end of Pearl Street. After Jack passed away a few years back, Rhonda took over as president to oversee operations, allowing Gaiser to remain vice president and handle the sales end of business.

“My family has been in lighting for over 60 years, and I’ve been doing it for more than 30,” she says. “I really do like being in front. I used to sell to people just like me. It keeps me in an industry I’ve grown up in and I really do enjoy it.”

Just three years ago, Cheryl and Rhonda moved the business to its current location at 5345 Arapahoe Road, Unit 4. They’ve also diversified, expanding their services and products into commercial work, as the residential lighting business began slumping with the housing market and economy.

“During the housing crunch we went after more commercial business and landed that, and that has kept us afloat,” Cheryl says.

Inlighten Studios works with designers, architects and contractors to fulfill the homeowners' lighting needs, she says.

“When you walk in, our first question is, ‘What is the application? Where do you plan on using this?’” Cheryl says, noting any employee can then help customers determine the right lighting. “Every employee who has worked here has had to go through the American Lighting Association course and passed it.”

For Cheryl, who has spent much of her life in the South, Boulder has been an adjustment, especially to the cold. But it offers plenty of outdoor activities in which she participates wholeheartedly. And between her business and the sun, she never lacks for light.

“It’s worth it for the sun for me,” she says. “I love it here.”

For more information about Inlighten Studios, call (303) 449-9899 or visit www.inlightenstudios.com.