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This week, Elizabeth (Liz) Badami joins the podcast with Executive Editor Denise Greer and Senior Editor Kate Lavin. Liz has overcome trials and tragedy to reopen her pizzeria, Mary Jane’s Stone Baked Pizza in Chester, West Virginia in December 2024. 

Liz and her husband Chris often told Liz’s mom Mary Jane that they would open a pizzeria and sell her signature treats. After Mary Jane was killed in a car crash in 2015, Chris started to make that idea a reality. The Badamis incrementally started acquiring everything they would need and opened the pizzeria in 2017. Liz began learning the pizza business and handled the ops side while Chris tackled the pizza. 

In 2018, Chris suffered a fatal heart attack. Liz was left to either close the pizzeria or figure out how to manage the entire business on her own with two children. She leaned into learning pizza making and continued on. 

Maneuvering through the COVID-19 Pandemic became another hurdle. Then she lost her location when the landlord sold the building. But Liz wasn’t giving up. She knew she wanted to reopen. But this time, she wanted to own the building. 

Listen to Liz share her powerful story of perseverance and grit to reopen in a new town.  

Read a great local newspaper article on Liz: https://www.reviewonline.com/news/local-news/2024/12/pizzeria-owner-makes-comeback-in-chester/ 

Learn more about Mary Jane’s Stone Baked Pizza at https://www.maryjanesstonebakedpizzeria.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/mary_janes_stonebaked_pizzeria/