While Carol Krysko is being honored as the Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year, her story is quite different from that of a typical woman-owned business. Her tale is of triumphant survival after losing her partner in business and in life.

An Iowa native, Krysko earned a degree in elementary education and taught school for several years before becoming the center director for the preschool Children's World in 1973. She married Ken Krysko in 1969 and they had two daughters.

In 1984, Children's World sent them to San Diego to start a new region. Three years later, Krysko resigned to consider a new career and in 1989, she and her husband started Early Explorations in Encinitas.

This child care facility, which promotes a play-based curriculum for children age 2 through second grade, grew so quickly that soon the couple opened another in Tierrasanta and then another in Orange County. Today, the three locations serve more than 600 families and employ 89 staff members. Child magazine ranked the Encinitas center one of its best day care centers in America in 1992.

Tragedy struck in 1996 when Ken passed away from cancer. This life-changing experience made Krysko realize she had to learn what she wanted from the business.

"I slowly realized that I was now the leader, the president of Early Explorations," she said in a letter to SBA. "It was important to continue the vision that Ken and I had."

To do this, she hired a consultant, paid off her business loans and purchased the leased building that houses the Encinitas location. She has added extensive benefits for her teachers and added her two now-grown daughters to the staff. As a result, the business has thrived under her capable guidance.

"I am very proud of Early Explorations," she said, "and what we, I, have achieved in nine short years."