What can you do with an English degree from Bemidji State?

You can oversee the design, manufacture and licensing of international products. You can travel the world on business. You can start an online company, and you can manage a book launch.

The question ought to be, what can’t you do with an English degree from BSU? Just ask Jane (Van Den Heuvel) Berman ’85.

Born and raised 90 minutes from Bemidji in Grand Rapids, Berman decided to attend Bemidji State University because her mother, Doris Van Den Heuvel ’72, had a positive experience as a BSU student and one of her closest classmates, Patty (Synhorst) Miller already was enrolled. Berman remembers taking tough classes and making lifelong friends. “It felt like family,” she said.

Her personal interactions with advisors helped her select the right classes. Although she didn’t know what she wanted to do, she knew what she didn’t want to do, and they always kept her on the right track.

When Berman returned to the Bemidji State last October to serve on the Marketing Alumni Leaders in the Classroom panel during Homecoming Weekend, she found herself disoriented by growth and changes on campus. But other things hadn’t changed.

“The people were still as nice, friendly and welcoming as they were when I was a student,” she said.

Berman began her career doing promotional and fundraising work for the March of Dimes in Rochester but a contact she made while working as an East Coast nanny during summer break led to a job opportunity with Schmid Giftware in Boston.

“I’m always open to new experiences,” she said, “I didn’t have any money, but I thought I’d take a chance.”

That spirit of adventure and sense of confidence have proven inspiring for a niece, Lauren Van Den Heuvel, who graduated from Bemidji State in May with a degree in marketing and communications.

“She showed me that you can go to BSU, move anywhere and do great things,” said the newest alumna in the Van Den Heuvel family.

As a product manager, Berman quickly learned the ins and outs of licensing, contracts and negotiations while she was responsible for the success of collectibles such as Madame Alexander Dolls, Disney merchandise and Hummel figurines. Timelines and travel shaped her life for the years she worked for Schmid. Regular trips to the Far East for six weeks at a time went from being exciting to exhausting, so Berman decided to launch her own design and marketing firm in New York City.

Her start-up, Acel Inc., specialized in licensed children’s products. She worked with major toy manufacturing companies, becoming a trusted licensing expert for companies such as Coleman Outdoor Products, Marvel Comics, Nickelodeon, Magna Bikes and Hasbro.

Berman attributes her firm’s success to her mother’s artistic talent and influence, as well as her own ability to hire talented designers and be an effective negotiator.

Berman added giftware design and stationery to the company’s offerings, and as Internet business opportunities emerged, she transitioned it into J. Berman Design and janestyle.com. She said she made the shift because she was curious about online business. She learned a great deal, but called it a “baptism by fire.”

Berman says studying Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot at Bemidji State prepared her for such adventures.

“I had to write lively, clear copy to drive searches to the site,” she said, “I also had to know how to collect and organize information.”

When Berman first ventured to New York searching for the next step in her career, she also met her future husband, Jerry Berman. How they met is a charming tale of a time before handheld technology.

She boarded a bus from the airport into the New York City and promptly realized she was lost. In a fateful decision, she asked Berman for directions. He was a Milwaukee native doing business in New York. He said he could tell she was a naïve young woman from the Midwest. He gave her directions. They went to lunch and have been together ever since. Jerry’s business was based in Boston, so they eventually settled there, where they raised daughters, Brigitte and Margot.

Berman’s next venture and adventure combined family and business. In 2007, she launched a publishing company, Jade LLC, and published “Dorie Witt’s Guide to Surviving Bullies,” authored by Brigitte. The book became an instant success and is used within school districts across the United States to begin discussions about how children can discourage bullying.

She believes her analysis, writing, speaking and negotiating abilities all developed from the education she received at Bemidji State. The challenges she overcame as a student taught her to persevere and always move forward.

“An English degree was the best degree to have,” Berman said, “That’s what set me apart.”

Written by Maryhelen Chadwick