Staff
Meet the TwistedSage family!
The Bosses
Shirley Besco
Or as we like to call her, Queen Gma of the Shipping Department!
Not only Queen Gma, but mother to Brian, Billie, and Brenda. Grandmother to Lucas, Amber, and Brady and best friend to all that come through our door! She keeps everyone in line under her benevolent rule and cooks AMAZING food for us all too! She’s been the head of shipping since Twistedsage began in 2017 and gets to enjoy “retirement” from being in the education field for many decades!
Brian Besco
Brenda Besco
Billie Besco
Billie is the office manager and when things don't go right, she gets them going again! She does all of the behind the scenes work that leads to your products being shipped out. She also works hard to make every customer twice as happy and satisfied and makes sure they want to order again! We'd be lost without her guidance and leadership!!
The Twisters
Jennifer Tecklenburg
Jennifer met Brian at a booth he had set up at an event in Hill City and the rest is history! She dove head first into our business and is willing and eager to get everything done as soon as we ask! We call her the Magical Tool Fairy because oftentimes, if we think we’re out of an item, she has one tucked away which can be quite the lifesaver sometimes! She makes the wands along with polishing and rounding, but she also helps Brian with the t-shirt press and makes the cell phone tabs and discs as well! Jennifer often assists customers in finding a tool that will best suit their needs. She says that the best thing about our tools is physically feeling the energy they give off and watching people’s lives transform after encountering our tools!
Shirley Schumacher
Fun fact: Shirley used to be a bartender but after breaking her knee, Billie offered her a job where she could finally sit down! She rounds out generators and tells stories while we all work! A liver of a very interesting life, Shirley worked as a sign painter for 12 years and worked all around the U.S. creating signs with fine art incorporated into them! She has been an artist all her life and working with our tools is another artistic outlet for her. She is also a published author and storyteller (Find her book here: https://www.amazon.com/Yonder-Wild-Wood-Shirley-Schumacher/dp/1717084613/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=out+yonder+in+the+wild+wood&qid=1567021457&s=gateway&sr=8-2 ) She feels that she’s found her place and that working with us was meant to be and we agree!
Mary Molloy
Mary is such a sweet spirit to be around and everyone just loves her! She became involved with Twistedsage after befriending Brian and he convinced her to make some heddekas for us and has stuck around since! She has always worked with her hands and enjoys tasks like woodworking and twisting all of our elemental tools and creates beautiful art with them! Mary loves this work as it is challenging while being comforting and how our business, along with our own personal selves, are always evolving!
Isaac Taylor
Isaac came to us after applying for a job with us on Facebook and has gotten sucked in like the rest of us crazy folks! Isaac does a little bit of everything, but he is an expert at rounding out generators! He’s so good he can even do it with his eyes closed!! He’s dedicated as well but says he loves it so much he actually enjoys coming in on the weekends too! He describes our workspace as more than a job, and that it feels like a sanctuary to him. Isaac brings so much camaraderie and teamwork to our space and we so enjoy all of the effort he puts in.
The Makers
Lucas Matsamas
Originally Lucas had been helping on and off for a few years and then came on officially after we started making Galactic rings (what evolved into our Regeneration rings) in 2014. He's the shop foreman and goes where we need as he helps us get things made for you guys! Although the Torus tools are his main focus, he can take any product and work on it from the beginning in the twisting stage all the way to the finished product. He likes the variety of his work and how everything always comes together!
Amber Matsamas
Mike Edwards
Mike "the polishing guy" Edwards, joined the Twistedsage family in February of 2019. Before moving to the Black Hills to build his retirement home, he was a certified Manufacturing Process Engineer, repairing jet engine airfoils! As for retirement? Not after feeling the pull to join such a great group of people working together for a greater cause!
Matt Campbell
Jason Bochmann
The Girls
Kayla McCraw
Kayla is the social media guru at Twistedsage and helped all summer placing orders, packaging, and organizing! She is in school for education and is almost done! She loves to do new things that keep her on her toes so this has been a great job for her!
Eliza & Alexis
The two oldest nieces spend their summers helping Billie do the administrative work as they learn the ins and outs of our business! They also get to help babysit the littlest niece of the Besco clan which saves us all some sanity. The girls are self-proclaimed "very hardworking teens" and they've more than earned that description!!
The Littles
The youngest crew of kids gets to run around the shop and they are always bringing joy and energy with them. We love having them around to remind us how lucky we are as they teach us to relax...and how nice naps are.
The Handymen
Donny & Colton
These guys are the demolition duo! They've built (from scratch) and redone an an entire side of Billie's house and created a backyard where there were just piles of dirt. They work from sunup to sundown and are always willing to help us out.
Brady Besco
Billie's son is our resident craftsman. He builds whatever we need and helped us re-do the layout of our main shop this summer! When he's not teaching, he's working super hard in the hot sun! He also helped Donny create a new backyard for Billie! Rumor has it he and the social media guru are getting married in 2020 too!