E 22: Maine Island Living: Community, Family, and the Beauty of Chebeague Part II with Erika Gabrielsen Neumann

In this second half of my conversation with my dear friend and client Erika Gabrielsen Neumann, we continue exploring the unique beauty of life on Chebeague Island. Erika shares more about the close-knit community that defines island living and the extraordinary sense of belonging that comes with it.

We also dive into The Log House—a truly iconic waterfront property on Chebeague that I am proud to co-list with my colleague Alexa Oestreicher of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty.

Built with massive Canadian white pine timbers, this Adirondack-inspired lodge was carefully designed and executed with world-class craftsmanship. The logs were first assembled in Canada, then disassembled, transported by barges, and reassembled on Chebeague—an event that long-time islanders still vividly remember.

What makes The Log House so special?

• Signature architecture & design: Elegant timber-frame construction with eyebrow windows, soaring ceilings, and a two-story stone fireplace.
• Light & lifestyle: Golden timbers create a warm, soft glow throughout the home, with water views framed from nearly every room.
• Rare amenities: A deep-water dock, sandy beach, and unmatched views across Casco Bay’s fabled Calendar Islands.
• Porches & gathering spaces: Wide wraparound porches that invite relaxation, conversation, and community.

As Erika describes so beautifully, this home is more than a residence—it’s an experience of light, nature, and community that will shape the life of its next steward.

🎧 In this episode we also talk about:

• Raising a family on an island, from lobster boats to big-city adventures.
• The importance of stewardship—honoring the craftsmanship and spirit behind The Log House.
• The role of community in celebrating milestones, including a touching story about Erika’s daughter being accepted to college.
• Erika’s passion for Conscious Capitalism and benefit corporations, and how her consulting work ties into her values.

Explore The Log House

📍 9 Central Landing Road, Chebeague Island, ME
Co-listed by Elise Kiely & Alexa Oestreicher, Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty

👉 View the full listing here

👉 Digital Brochure

Connect with Elise

🌐 Website & Listings: Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty
📸 Follow Elise on Social Media:

• Instagram: @elisekielyrealestate
• Facebook: Elise Kiely Real Estate
• LinkedIn: Elise Kiely

Have Questions or Topic Suggestions, e-mail Elise at

• Elise@EliseKiely.com
  
  

Subscribe, share with a friend, and join Elise every other week to discover what makes Maine not just beautiful—but beautifully lived.

Please remember this podcast is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not create an attorney client or real estate advisor client relationship. Please reach out to me directly if I can assist you in your real estate journey.

Transcript

Elise Kiely: [00:00:00] welcome back to Elegant Maine Living. I'm Elise Kiely, your host real estate advisor with Legacy Properties Sotheby's International Realty. I'm so excited to have my friend and client, Erika Gabrielson Newman back in the studio for our second half of our conversation about her life on Chebeague. And as I promised in the first episode, the first half of our discussion, we're now going to talk about this amazing house that you have called home for the last.

Many years for, since 2000 and, what was it, 2000 and 2009 nine. It's such a signature property that even if you're not from the island, if you're sailing on Casco Bay, you probably know this house as the Log House. And then Erika. I want to talk about your career and next chapters and some of the work that you're really involved in.

because I think that is so interesting. But let's talk about the, let's talk about the Log House. Can you tell us a little history of how the House came to be? Again, we're [00:01:00] going to have links to the photos and all the descriptions and the show notes, but tell us how the Log House got built and started and how you came to live there.

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: Yes, it's I felt like I've been a steward of something very beautiful that is the culmination of so many hands and skills and craftsmen, my stepfather and his second wife had been living he had been, he was a summer native, as I had mentioned earlier, which long long time summer person had been in different homes across his childhood and then his adult life.

And they decided they had been, they were skiers and they loved architecture and art, and they decided that they wanted to build this log home that was inspired by the great camps of the Adirondacks and. Basically what you could find them out west, like a giant ski lodge. And then they met with Joe Waltman, who's a well-known [00:02:00] architect in southern Maine.

And they put together this Adirondack camp log home, Western Lodge Bill Walman touches of the eyebrow windows. On an island with 300 feet of Sandy beach, also on a ledge with looking out on the side that you see many of the calendar islands, as listeners may know, they call them the calendar islands because there's give or take, 365 islands in Casco Bay.

So they got this idea and they worked on it, and they built this log home, which was assembled with in 1991, between 1990, I guess eight. They finished it in 91, so it was a couple of years, and they designed it. Their Canadian white pines that they assembled the entire house up there and then disassembled it, and then planes, trains, and automobiles and barges.

Got all of those materials down to this little island in Casco Bay. 

Elise Kiely: I [00:03:00] remember talking to somebody on the island about the Log House, and they remember the long time resident, they remember the barges coming in. When and when we say Log House, it's really a timber frame. Elegant. Talk about elegant.

It is an elegant timber frame, home built solid as a rock. And they remember these barges coming over with these big timbers. And it was an event that people remembered to watch the assembly of this. 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: Yeah. And. Being buying it in 2009, I really felt that I've said it again and again, that I was just a steward of this incredible thing.

Some of the logs are so big, they're one, each of them are a ton. So over it, it's actually sounds like you're not doing it justice if you called it the log cabin. because people will call it a log cabin, but it's like a log mansion. It's the it, the logs are. In and of themself, whether you believe in feng shui or how you feel about living in a home that's made of the [00:04:00] colors, the size, the girth, the smell, it's a whole thing when you walk in the door to that home.

So the thing that made me feel at home was then I, when I really appreciated all the hands and hearts that built it, because it was, I didn't grow up that way. I grew up in a really modest. Home. And to buy this, my parents lived next door and it was a big decision. We lived in a summer cottage and then it was an opportunity among the blended families to buy the Log House.

And I thought it might be a family LLC and you'd get your two week. But that didn't happen. And we decided let's go for. We wanted to be here anyway. We still didn't know how our careers were going to work. I was in consulting, my husband was in consulting. We not afraid of airplanes and transportation.

We weren't afraid that it was an island. We already knew we wanted to live there. But the wifi wasn't really good enough and our careers weren't really us there, but we bought it Anyway. 

Elise Kiely: That's such a common story, I [00:05:00] have to say, of people moving to Maine. It is usually for the lifestyle or they fell in love.

Or they fell in love with the, with Maine and the beauty of Maine. And they will figure out their careers. Yeah. And do whatever it takes so that they can live here. And then they often find out really interesting things to do. Because one of the surprising things about Maine, and we're going to talk about this in a little bit too, is the dynamic interesting community doing really exciting things in the greater Portland area. And the really interesting people you referenced the person that was the executive director of the museum in Jordan. Those are some, that's a really, I want to sit next to that person at a dinner party. Awesome. There's so many people. Understated. You would never know their backgrounds because they come to Maine to relax and to breathe a bit. But we're so fortunate to have that diverse set of experiences. And so I want to go back to the Log House for a second because it is such a signature home. If you're out sailing or [00:06:00] motor boating or lobstering on Casco Bay, you will know this home because it's such a signature presence on the west coast of Chebeague Island.

And when we first met each other and we were talking about the Log House, I went back to the Architectural Digest article that was written about the property and about This Maine Home, which also featured the property and the photography was just stunning and really showed the elegance. And I'll include those links to those articles in the show notes.

It is, it's unlike a property I've ever seen. I've had the pleasure of seeing lots of really stunning properties, but the way that the porch invites both the front and the back, water facing in the driveway porch invites you in, and the views that you get from that magnificent, great room with that wonderful stoned, two story stone fireplace and the beautiful beams that you see coming in.

It's really. It's quite unique. It is. I've never seen a home like that in, [00:07:00] in Maine. Definitely not on the coast of Maine. It's a signature piece. And so when you decide, you and your husband decided to make Maine your year round home, you bought the property from your mother and stepfather?

And how old were your children at the time? 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: I was pregnant with my son. So he came from Maine Med to the Log House. So he's lived there his whole life? Whole life. My daughter was. Two and a half, and it took a while for us to be full-time residents because of careers. We did a lot. Again, the island life is not for everyone.

If you want something secure or easy or convenient it's a whole other mindset of logistics and, but I always felt like I lived in a big two or three hour circumference. Wherever I was. I live, I grew up in, as I mentioned, Princeton, New Jersey, but we could go to field at one point, Princeton, New Jersey.

When you live on the island, you can be in the Log House, feel so far away. Some people say culturally feel 50 years back. Because there are no conveniences and no [00:08:00] street signs and everybody waves. And it's very kind of old fashioned in a sense of community, but you also could be. You could be at the jet port.

You can be at the jet port in one hour. 

Elise Kiely: That's amazing. 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: With direct flights or easy connections. We got fiber to the island in the last couple years because a incredible group committee that just fought for it and fought for it and taken it off. Yeah, your wifi is 

Elise Kiely: really good on the island. It 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: was terrible when we got there and I was consulting in San Francisco and pregnant.

Standing on one foot trying to get a connection. But we just got by. My husband just got by with the internet when we got there. So it's those types of things where are you, how far are you going to push this thing? Yeah. In the end.

Elise Kiely: Erika, you were saying it's not necessarily easy.

Sometimes it's not convenient. Sometimes it's logistically challenging. But if you want something really special in life, rarely is it easy or without its challenges. Otherwise it doesn't make it special, no, 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: I think so. I just love the combination of, again, going back to your, the title of this [00:09:00] podcast the, this definition of elegance of having symmetry because I really love super rural, quiet, watching the the 11 foot tide rise and fall. And I love being right in the middle of New York City or a big city with the energy and the innovation and the, just things that blow your mind. Yeah. Crazy ter terrible things and really kind things. Just the juxtaposition of city life and then the island, which couldn't be more different.

But it's a, it's just part of one of those people who likes both. Both of them. Yeah. I'd obviously gravitate more towards the natural beauty and the quietness of the island because. That's home now. When I'm never leaving.

Elise Kiely: And you're staying on the island? 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: I'm staying on the island.

We're all staying on the island that, I, my daughter, I have imagined this will be home base. I won't, I will be, it'll be very interesting to see. She's going to be studying urban studies in New York City and interested in journalism and travel and music and storytelling. And collecting stories and making stories.

While my son wants to be on the island, be a lobsterman, be on the water, [00:10:00] listen to tunes from the seventies and. Drive cars from the seventies 

Elise Kiely: I want, and there's nothing wrong with that, having come of age in the seventies and eighties. I know. It's fine. I know. I love it. Let's circle back to your daughter for a second because we were talking in between the two episodes about, and I think this speaks to the community about when she found out she got into Barnard in New York, which is such an extraordinary school.

And then we'll circle back to the Log House again. But I think this is a story worth telling because of the sense of community. Would you mind sharing about when she found out she was accepted? 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: She surprised me with decision that she was going to apply early decision, a binding early decision to Barnard College in New York.

And I thought, fantastic. So she applied early. It was December. I had found out from a friend that this, you know. The decision's dropping, the lingo like this, the decision's dropping tonight and we'd been invited to a Christmas party and it's very multi-generational on the island, and as I, I think I mentioned my daughter's pretty shy, everyone on the island has [00:11:00] a certain level of introvertedness because you live on an island, but we're all connected. So I said, oh, please come. These are all the people you love on the island. It's not a big Christmas party, it's two doors down. So we walked, it was really cold out. She had her pajamas on because you can wear anything.

I was all dressed up. She had her pajamas on, so we walked a couple doors down. But she did 

Elise Kiely: dress for the chicken funeral, 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: she did dress for, anything goes, you have, it depends, everyone has their own flair. And you're accepted on an island. Yeah, there's a lot of tolerance. So we get to the party and she didn't, it was not her vibe.

She said she wants to go. And so we got ready to walk. I said, that's no problem. But then she came upon a circle of the young women who really like her in their twenties and thirties and so think the vibe changed and she was chatting and then she turned to me and said, mom, where's ?

You know, where's the restroom? And I was like, around there. I did not put together that she was going to find out. She goes in and I come back and it suddenly dawns on me. Oh my gosh. Sh She went in there to find out if she's getting into Barnard [00:12:00] right now at this Christmas party. So I tell the women, they look at my face and I'm like, what's going on?

I said, I think she's finding out right now. She's going to go check. And they got like tears in their eyes. I have tears in my eyes. I'm like, this is. Whoa, this is big. This is big. What if she doesn't get in? All I kept eating, how's this going to go? And then honestly, I thought, this is what a better place.

Yeah. And I, if she got in, didn't really go there. So I see her look, poke her head out, and I go and it's around the corner and she's crying and we start jumping up and down. She got in. So I go to the coat, we go and I'm like, what do you want to do? I, and we're just jumping up and down like little, Mexican jumping beans.

And I said. Do. Do you want to tell everyone or do you want to keep it private? How do you want to do it? I know they'd love to know, but you call the shot honey and she's all tears. She's let's let 'em know. So I turned the corner and the women that I was talking with. Look at me and I've just got tears in my eyes and I just give 'em the thumbs up and they [00:13:00] screech.

Oh, Erika, what a, 

Elise Kiely: oh, that's wonderful. And 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: the rest of the party turns and says, what happens? And this is the part, I don't know if I'm embellishing or they said it, but I'm pretty sure one of them said, we got into Barnard. As if the island got into Barnard and everyone's cheering and my daughter got to see this like wave of appreciation and love and support and it was more an attention than she likes to get, but it was just the right kind.

I 

Elise Kiely: love that story, Erika, for so many reasons. One, the support of everybody at the party and how they got the joy, they felt like they had been accepted into Barnard too. And the fact that your daughter, who maybe more on the introverted side knew that she needed to let the community help her celebrate that she needed to invite them in.

And that's such a, when we talk about symmetry, that she knew that symmetry had to be there. And yeah, there's 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: always this balance between their very island, Maine private life. [00:14:00] And community. Yeah. And everyone has to navigate how much you want to be engaged or, and you're probably going to be accepted for how far you lean in and how far you lean out.

And that's one of my favorite parts of the island. 

Elise Kiely: Let's circle back. I want to close the loop on the Log House for a second because your stewardship of the Log House is nearing the twilight. Of your stewardship at the house. And we're going to be listing the house, it will be on the market around the 11th, 12th of August, which is in about a week from now.

Been very busy getting it ready, painting and cleaning and so forth and it's a lot that goes into preparing a house for the market. And, we've had some private showings and I get superstitious. We won't talk about the interest that we've got, but we've got some people who are circling.

And this has got to be a, a signature moment that another owner will own the, will, own the Log House. I'm going to put all the links to the listing, but it is such a special and unique property to have that Sandy Beach down [00:15:00] on Chebeague is and with a deep water dock. Which I took a boat out there this morning and I think I left Yarmouth, Royal River Marina, and I was at the Chebeague dock at your dock in about 30 minutes. Very easy to do. And I taken a boat from Falmouth, ForSight about the same distance. And if you take a boat, if you take the ferry from Portland, it's going to be longer, but a private boat, whether it's a taxi or your own boat, you can be there very quickly.

Back and forth and to the, the ferry on Littlejohn island is I think a 15 minute ferry ride. It's and a beautiful ferry ride. Wow. The bird life that you see, the seals, all of that. All the lobster pots. Of course. It's extraordinary. And so I want to thank you for inviting me in and letting me it be a part of the process because it is, it's such an extraordinary home to see and to photograph and I'm looking forward to this journey, and you've been so gracious and worked so hard in getting it ready and it's a very special [00:16:00] property. 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: You've been, I could never have done it without you and your team has been so professional and kind and thoughtful and patient.

It's been, it has been because there were family links and stories and memories and the transition, any move, it's, there's a lot of pieces to it, but it is a really special house. And I think that what I would want to say to the future owner is just, I hope they'll honor the spirit behind it because, so there's a giant log that goes down to the basement.

And all of the people who worked on the island carved their names into it. And that alone made me feel really connected that I was taking care of something that was really special. I'll tell one story. My mom had a visiting nurse coming out. She'd had a health a very successful surgery that she was recovering from, and bless their angels, the visiting nurses who will get on a boat and come out and give bedside care.

And she was asking the nurse had, [00:17:00] are you familiar with Chebeague? And as you had mentioned, many Mainers and even people who live very have heard of it. Not heard of it or definitely haven't been out there. It just, it's a mystery of the island. So that's fun to live in a place that has a sense of mystery.

So the nurse said, no, I've never been out there, but I've heard of it. My husband had been out there, sure enough, she gets there and she's re-engaging, getting to know my mom, saying, my mom said, now tell me again, now you haven't been here, but has your husband? She said, yes, actually, he's a carpenter and he worked on a log home and it's his most proud project he ever worked on.

And my mom said, oh my goodness, look out the window. That's 

Elise Kiely: the house because she was living in the stone house next door. She was living in the stone 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: house, which is up my, 88 steps from the Log House up the hill and say they both get big eye, tears in their eyes and she's my, it's the proudest project.

And as an owner meeting people over the last, 15 years who worked on it again and again, including Joe Waltman. He said if one of, if [00:18:00] not the proudest projects he's ever worked on, the mathematics, the architecture, the design. The logistics, all of it just pressed everyone to their best work.

We have, there's a railing that goes up the staircase, which is a single tree that this incredible artist and craftsman, Kim Tick, decided that railing was going to be one tree he could have designed it in. So the thought and the love and the craftsmanship that went into the house, you just felt living there.

And then the old other thing is the smell. There's the scent. The scent of the house absolutely. Is so beautiful. And the coloring. The other thing I'll just say is when I love contemporary design too. And white, and, skylights and everything. But when I go to those places and I look in the mirror.

I see too much because the lighting in the Log House, the golden the logs are golden. It's soft. There's a softness to it. There's a yellowing soft, it's so cozy and all of the bathrooms are, it's all the logs [00:19:00] throughout. They're so gentle. I'll just say the light in that house is very favorable, so we all need gentle 

Elise Kiely: light.

For sure. I remember when you were showing Alexa Oestreicher who's co-listing the house with me. Yes. From Legacy Properties who's extraordinary and amazing. She has such a good eye for photography and for positioning things, and, you are 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: the dream team. Oh, thank you. There's no question. 

Elise Kiely: Thank you.

But we were just so impressed with the substance of the house and the light. In the house is extraordinary and the way it reflects off the water and the view of the deep water dock and the beach and it you imagine lifestyles when you see properties, and this is a lifestyle, whether it's a summer native or a year round family that ends up buying it you just know that the life they're going to have is going to be rich, active, and healthy. That's what I think of. 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: And you're just very tied to nature. I can just say that, living a very hectic life until we lived there. A city person type a juggling a lot [00:20:00] living where there's 11 foot tide and in a home like that is on the water seeing it and the way that the light and the windows are designed directly facing east, the sun rises are so extraordinary.

And then there's Little Mark Island out. And that has an obelisk on it that we could watch the alpine and glow kind of the sun set would reflect on off of it so that when the kids were little, there's a moment at sunset where the obelisk would turn bright red, depending on the sunset. So it'd be pink.

And then bright red. Red. And we would all, I'd like, come on guys, let's go look for the red. Yeah, it's about to flash. It's like when the sun's setting, but we couldn't see the sunset. We would see Little Mark island turn red or watching the sun. I have pictures on my phone that look definitely photoshopped.

The sunrises I have seen in every color of the rainbow. Maybe not green, but. Unbelievable. Purple and pinks on hosizons. I bet. And so facing east also was [00:21:00] really a gift. And then being on a working waterfront, I haven't had a alarm clock or shades all the time lately. Just No, there are no window 

Elise Kiely: treatments.

Yeah. No, 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: because I wanted to wake up with the sun. And in the summer, wake up with the sound of lobster boat engines revving up my, whether it's my son's or someone else's. So the sounds and the smells, it's a full sensory experience living in that house. 

Elise Kiely: Erika, thank you for sharing all that. Let's turn briefly to.

What is, I think compliments the lifestyle of being living on an island and compliments your appreciation and need to be part of nature with also the need to be involved in community, not only on the island, but off the island. And I'm really interested in, and would love for you to share your business philosophy.

I know you're very involved in conscious capitalism here in Maine, which is a national organization and benefit corporations, B Corps, and your work as a consultant, [00:22:00] and you've been an advocate on LD 8 46 the legislature supporting Benefit Corps in Maine and promoting best practices for. Corporations here in Maine.

Can you share a little bit about how you got into that and your philosophy on that and where you see taking that in the next chapter? 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: Wow. Thanks for asking about that. It's so fun to talk about home and family and the island. So my background's been in all sectors. And how I came to Conscious Capitalism was basically weaving my time on Capitol Hill and government working with many nonprofits over the course of my career.

Teeny, teeny tiny ones to huge nonprofits and well-known philanthropies like the Hewlett Packard Foundation and the, and then my interest in the pri private sector and working with entrepreneurs I've worked with all sizes. And all sectors. My background and skills are, is mostly in communications.

My passion is in kind of the power of words and storytelling. [00:23:00] So when I got to Maine. I had worked on the hill, I had worked at a think tank, I worked in Silicon Valley, ending up I was the executive director of a corporate foundation. I helped them with their, what was then called corporate social responsibility.

And really the philosophy is, it's usually stems from the culture, but the top, the leadership. Do you believe, what's the role of your company in the community? 

What's your responsibility and what is your, what are your values? And what I really found when I came to Maine again and again is that it's this, whether you're in business or at a church or at a nonprofit, it's living a life of value with your values or creating values with values and I felt like it was touch and go in New York and DC and San Francisco and Silicon Valley, where you would find purpose-driven companies that felt, we owe it to our employees, to our customers, and to our community. The same level of engagement. Whether it's. Through hands-on [00:24:00] giving or financial or just considering that you're part of the community, not above the community, not taking from the community.

So when I moved to Maine and I had taken a break I was consulting and as I mentioned, there was just enough internet to have some clients remotely. But when I cycled back in, what was happening in Maine was these B Corps. It was a little bit like I was Rip Van Winkle and I'd gone to sleep and I was like, what happened in my field of corporate social responsibility and community engagement from the private sector. And more and more companies were taking positions on public policy issues. They were redefining what it meant to be a company. And this, business owners out of Philadelphia had decided we should do this thing called the B Corp. And so I was finding out all about these benefit corporations, which basically balance environmental, social governance and governance, ESG environment of social and governance. What are all the things that make a company a good citizen? And doing this whole notion of doing well by doing [00:25:00] good. And people at that point knew about Ben and Jerry's. And Ben and Jerry's were the poster child for companies that, and 

Elise Kiely: Patagonia

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: and Patagonia had done were commercial successes.

And in, by and large did not sell their values down the river for profit. 

Elise Kiely: And Erika, if I can interrupt you there, because I know we have, we share a mutual good friend in Margot Walsh who I interviewed in episodes of 15 and 16. And she is, I believe, am I right about this? Is she the first B Corp?

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: She is, 

Elise Kiely: yeah. Or MainWorks her company. 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: Yes. So I Mary Ellen Lindeman has a connection to Chebeagueg. And I. Kind of woke up from the mommying and getting to the island, it was like how can I be of service and integrate into the main economy? Everyone said, you have to look up Mary Ellen Lindeman.

She and Mary 

Elise Kiely: Ellen Lindeman is the 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: founder of Coffee by Design, and at that point had started Maine Business for Social Responsibility, and I was involved with San Francisco's the ground. Ground zero for business, for social [00:26:00] responsibility, BSR. And I knew that there was a New Hampshire business for social responsibility.

So Mary Allen Lindeman kept coming up, but then soon after everyone said, have you met Margot Walsh? Have you met Margot Walsh? So I, it's, as when you meet Margot Walsh, it's an event. Like it's, something happens to you. Your life changes. So true. It's like a force of nature moves through you. And we met in testifying for the Benefit Corporation legislation, oh, which basically a B Corp is a third party certification, a very rigorous process that a company goes through that assesses you against your your sector and your peers of how you are with your stewardship of the community and the environment, governance and social issues, and then you can register as a benefit corporation, which is on top of whatever your legal structure is. An S corporation. Or an LLC. And it says that you will protect the right to shareholder value and stakeholder [00:27:00] value, that all stakeholders have a voice and your basically by law don't have to maximize profits if you see that there's a balance between all your stakeholders. So it protects all of the officers and it locks into the mission. No. Regardless of whether you sell the company that you are a registered benefit corporation with a state, it's through the Attorney General's office. So that seemed like it was really locking in the, not just an idea passing whimsy, it wasn't branding, it wasn't just putting a pink ribbon on a piece of soap. Which is fine. I'm all for cause branding. But this is a real systemic change in capitalism to say you can do well by doing good and we will lock it in legally.

Elise Kiely: And by it you mean the legislation to authorize public benefit corporations.

Yes. And B Corps. And do you, in the past, and do you see yourself leaning into this? Part of the ecosystem. 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: I would love to, I've it changed us a lot. When I first got here, I think there were nine B Corps, and now there might be three times as many and your husband being a [00:28:00] big leader for the bank?

Yeah. Oh, my husband being a leader. Yes. A leader and Androscoggin Bank. I've been very focused on family in the last year and. Change is on the island. I haven't been as involved, but I also think that there's a lot of ways to give back. It's not the B Corp isn't for everyone. That there's so many ways for companies and organizations to have voice.

Elise Kiely: Yeah. Which is, and if I can, just looking back and your experiences and your life history and what you've brought to the different communities you have formed community wherever you go. You have obviously shown strong leadership skills in adding value to whatever community you're a part of. I know you're very active and the choir on the island and different organizations on the island and I hope that you lean into that in this next chapter for you to find other ways to express those interest and those passions and those beliefs, because you are are such a force and I can [00:29:00] tell once you start with something, you're going to follow it through and you're going with awareness and openness to other opinions and attitudes.

But I can just tell you are driven towards a goal of making the community that you're in a better place.

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: That's very kind of you to say that. 

Elise Kiely: Erika, as we wind up, I do a signature questions for everybody. So if you don't mind, I'd love to ask you some specific sort of real quick questions. Where do you find elegance in Maine?

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: I think it's the balance part of the elegance. It's the the absolute natural beauty that you see everywhere you turn. It's such a beautiful state. And I also think the people are really beautiful too. I love. Again and again, I just get encouraged by, there's a bumper sticker, random acts of kindness.

Like they, it absolutely happens here. And I think that's the part of elegance too, is the understated ness. It's very understated and you, if you can listen. And lean [00:30:00] in. You'll be so surprised at the stories and the kindness and the creativity you find in this big state with not that 1.3 million people.

Elise Kiely: Said in this 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: big, beautiful 

Elise Kiely: state. Said. How about a place on Chebeague that holds personal meaning other than the Log House? 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: Oh, I just love, for me I, it, it's. Because it's an island, it's the tides. 

So there isn't one place. It's the idea that I have 11 foot tide and it's constantly changing.

And that the natural life, that's going to be where you're looking, or the fact that you're looking at a place that's going to look 11 foot, sometimes the beach has rockweed and sometimes it's just beautiful ripples. So it's the water and the tides. That's my special place. 

Elise Kiely: How about, this is one I'm really curious about.

What about a favorite book, podcast, or quote that guides you and a favorite is, that's too much pressure. A really important, let's say that, 

Erika Grabielsen Neumann: let's see, podcast, my number one is, they're [00:31:00] linked is On Being with Krista Tippett. And then her buddy, Padre GoTo has a poetry podcast called Poetry Unbound.

Elise Kiely: Erika, thank you. Thank you for your time coming in. I know you have a lot going on, sharing your story, sharing your advice, and your insights. I have loved this conversation about community and is just a highlight for the next episode that will, that I will release will be my interview with John MacArthur, who is one of the owners of The Studio where Erika and I are now recording this episode and we talk about creating community in the creative space in Portland and how rich and diverse and vibrant that creative community is in Portland. And he has a really interesting story about what brought him to The Studio, living in all different parts of the country and how the like-minded, creative entrepreneurs, visionaries, hobbyists, [00:32:00] come together to support one another and the really interesting things they're doing here in The Studio with singer songwriter night and competitions and that kind of thing.

So I invite you all to listen to that episode. And I invite you to subscribe and share Elegant Maine Living living with your friends, your family, your coworker, your neighbor. If you've enjoyed this e, this episode, please give it a I would appreciate any comments or feedback you have. My goal is to make this podcast interesting and helpful and to add value to anybody who currently lives in Maine or is interested in making Maine more of their life.

So thank you for today listening to today's episode. Please remember, this podcast is for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered real estate investment or legal advice, and we welcome you to come and enjoy Maine, where elegance is not just an aesthetic, it is a way of life. Until next time, keep living with [00:33:00] elegance.