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June was born a middle child with four siblings,
two older sisters and two younger brothers. She was born
in Portland, Maine on June 19, 1945, and was raised mostly
in Manchester, New Hampshire. She lived "on the road"
traveling throughout half the United States with her parents,
who were well known in the Country Western Music industry
as "Lucky Smith and The Melody Rangers" and performed
with all the late greats in Country Music for 33 years.
Being born into an entertainment background gave June a
jumpstart into an entertainment career. At six years of
age, June already played several musical instruments, sang
and danced on stage, and performed with their parents at
western family shows off and on for several years.
When June was ten years old, her mother
taught her how to design and sew their stage clothes, apply
their stage makeup and fix their hair before each performance
while June continued with her singing and dance lessons.
Although very busy with the life her mother fashioned for
her, June had a keen business mind and had her own aspirations.
June secretly set her sights on a career in modeling and
business, since in those times, it was unacceptable for
a young lady from a prominent Catholic family to be a model.
June married Norman Beland on May 9, 1964
at the age of 19 and she finally got the opportunity she
had waited so long for. Norman financed her modeling training
at the Barbizon School of Modeling in Boston, Massachusetts,
during his career as a supervisor for Foster Grant Sunglasses.
But June wasn't happy being just another pretty face. Shortly
after completing her studies, June became an instructor
at the Barbizon Modeling School and Agency where she assisted
other young women in achieving their personal and professional
goals. A few years later, she managed to juggle a modeling
career while attending school full time and graduated from
Hesser Business College with a degree in Business Administration
and Management in 1970. In 1977, after accumulating thirteen
years of modeling experience and obtaining a teaching license
from the Post Secondary Education Board of the State of
California, June opened the Beland's Modeling School &
Agency, Inc. in Northern California.
Managing her business required a lot of
knowledge, so she obtained continuing education in business,
management, business administration, tax law, and human
resources. In addition, while living in Beverly Hills, she
attended a special study program every fall in Consumer/Business
Law sponsored by the Beverly Hills Bar Association.
June's entertainment background extends
59 years and includes a twenty-year modeling career during
which time she learned how to produce her own television
commercials, develop ad and print layouts, and how to purchase
advertising. She managed advertising and marketing campaigns
and bought radio, television and print ads for her Modeling
School and Agency.
June sold her Modeling School after five
years to return to her singing career to performed at Air
Force Bases all throughout Northern California. During this
time she helped a friend with his talent agency and entertainment
newspaper while booking 50's and 60's groups under her talent
agency license.
In 1982, an editor friend talked her into
starting her own country music magazine and she entered
into her publishing career and her second business venture,
the "Country Music Forum Magazine". The magazine
started out as a bi-monthly tabloid magazine, building up
to a monthly, professional four-color gloss magazine with
distribution on a national level, available on newsstands
and through subscriptions.
In 1988, June was honored with the "Appreciation Award"
from the California Country Music Association for exceptional
achievement and outstanding contribution to the Country
Music industry for her "Country Music Forum Magazine".
June wishes to acknowledge her son's hard work and dedication
to the magazine as a significant contributing factor to
the magazine's success.
During June's business ventures and careers,
she managed to juggle the job of homemaker, wife and mother
of two children, amazingly accomplishing all of her goals
for family and career. Without the unconditional love and
emotional support from her husband and children, June knows
it would have been much more difficult to achieve her goals.
She says, "My family made it easier for me to achieve
all my goals, because of their love, support and belief
in me that I could do it."
Currently, June is happily married to her
husband of 40 years, has two grown children, and one granddaughter.
She belongs to several organizations in the entertainment,
business and charitable arenas. Some of her favorite charities
are: The Children's Miracle Network Telethon (her son was
in hospitals much of his first eleven years); the MS Foundation
(her mother was stricken with MS in 1951); the Cancer Society
(both June and Norman lost many family members to cancer);
and she worked with and supported L.I.F.E. (Life Is Feeding
Everyone) with co-founders Dennis Weaver and Valerie Harper
and currently serves on the Board of Advisers for "Variety"
The Children's Charity of Southern Nevada.
June has held positions on numerous committees
throughout the years such as the Membership Board member
of the Academy of Country Music, Communications Committee
member of the Permanent Charities Committee of the Entertainment
Industry, Committee Chairperson in charge of world-wide
media coverage for The Hollywood Women's Press Club for
the Golden Apple Awards and the Burt Reynolds Awards, Treasurer
of The Hollywood Women's Press Club, and Communications
and Award Committee member for Women In Film, while she
found the time to judge numerous talent contests and pageants
throughout her career.
A partial list of organizations June is
currently affiliated with is as follows: Academy of Country
Music, The American Film Institute, The American Institute
of Consumer Credit, National Association of Female Executives,
National Publishers Association, National Writers Association,
National Advertising Association, several Chambers of Commerce,
Country Music Association, Permanent Charities Committee
of the Entertainment Industry, The Entrepreneur Club (founder),
Women In Film, "Variety" Children's Charity of
Southern Nevada and Women In Power (division of WCCNV).
June will always will be a woman entrepreneur,
her business ventures include: ABC Publishing. owner; Woman's
Chamber of Commerce of Nevada, Founder; Pre-Paid Legal Services,
Inc. and of course book author of the "Who's Who in
the World of Business-Las Vegas" and the "Celebrity
Contact and Research Journal" and Celebrity Contact
Service (now in it's 13th year).
June attributes her publishing success to
her own woman mentor, Ms. Tichi Wilkerson-Kassel, former
owner of the "Hollywood Reporter" for 65 years
and founder of "Women In Film". She gave June
the support and guidance she needed to forge ahead with
her goals in the business and publishing world. June made
a promise to Tichi that when she reached a place in her
career where she was able to give back to the businesswomen
in her community that she would do so. Today that is exactly
what June is doing, helping other women achieve their career
goals in business, The Arts, and entertainment industries.
Presently, she is the Founder, President
and CEO of the Women's Chamber of Commerce of Nevada, the
first Women's Chamber in Nevada History, established May
8, 2002. Since 2001, she is also serving as Director of
the Nevada Association for Female Executives & Entrepreneurs
(Nafee) for Southern Nevada.
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