Debbie Lessin

Debbie Lessin is the owner of D J Lessin & Associates, Inc, a CPA firm that exclusively serves the tax and accounting needs of individuals and small business. She is also the owner of Balancing Act Productions, Inc., the creative business that she founded in 1997. Debbies created Life is a Balancing Act, an interactive workshop on life balance issues. The workshop provides practical advice on how to make balance a regular part of your busy day-to-day life. She is also the author of Life is a Balancing Act... a fun book. The book offers 66 simple and versatile ideas on how to juggle work and play, friends and family, heart and soul and mind and body in the balancing act we call life.

Debbie graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. She began her professional career in public accounting with Price Waterhouse & Co. in Chicago. A distinguished scholar, Debbie was the only women in Illinois to receive an Elijah Watts Sells Certificate of Honorable Mention in recognition of outstanding merit on the November, 1996 CPA examination. In 1979, Debbie moved to the corporate sector to work as Tax Manager at Heller Financial Corporation. While at Heller, Debbie had the opportunity to obtain a Master of Science in Taxation from DePaul University.

Debbie has been honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration as its 1995 Accountant Advocate of the Year for the State of Illinois and the entire six-state Midwest Region, recognizing her meritorious service not only as an industry professional but as an educator and a small business advocate. As an elected delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business, her leadership and advocacy in the areas of home office tax deductions and reforming the definition of independent contractor helped those issues become top priorities in the legislative agenda set at the conference. She served as the national issues chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners Public Policy Committee home office tax deduction legislation, testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee on this issue in January, 1995. Debbie also received the 1996 Entrepreneurial Achievement Award from the Network of Women Entrepreneurs and the 1991 Women Business Owner of the Year Award from the Chicago Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. Until July 2005, she served for 10 years as the both an entrepreneurial and the Illinois Governor's appointee to the Board of Directors of the Illinois Institute for Entrepreneurship Education, the last five years serving as board president.

The story behind Balancing Act Productions is rather unique. In 1994, Debbie celebrated two distinct milestones - her 40th birthday and the 10 year anniversary of D. J. Lessin & Associates, Inc. The 10 year business anniversary was both a cause for celebration and the catalyst for a lot of soul searching. While proud of her achievements, Debbie's passion in growing the CPA firm was long gone. She had learned that in terms of business, bigger wasn't necessarily better. Instead, Debbie found herself obsessed with finding more balance in her life. And she knew that the kind of balance she was looking for wasn't going to be found at the bottom of a column of numbers! So she set upon a journey to find her road to balance, rediscovering both her creativity and her passion along the way.

In 1997, Debbie admitted to herself that her entrepreneurial spirit was still quite alive. And Balancing Act Productions, Inc. was born. Intended to serve as the business outlet for her blooming creative endeavors, Balancing Act Productions was simply an idea waiting to happen until 2000 when Debbie downsized and reorganized D. J. Lessin & Associates with the blessings of her loyal clients. Still a full-time CPA during tax season, in the off-season Debbie now focuses her energy and passion on the many faces of Balancing Act Productions.

Debbie has designed Life is a Balancing Act, an interactive workshop on life balance issues which provides practical advice on how to make balance a regular part of your busy day-to-day life. This workshop is ideal as a break-out session for a conferences that wants to combine an education format with networking amongst the participants.

Debbie is also the author of Life is a Balancing Act. The book offers 66 simple and versatile ideas on how to juggle work and play, friends and family, heart and soul and mind and body in the balancing act we call life. And she has cultivated some Balancing Act Products for your mind and spirit that will complement and encourage your own personal balance.