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Northshore October 2025
By 2005, Leslie Novak had been selling portable chairs for 15 years. Her wood and canvas HowdaSeat had been well received, and featured in catalogs and high-end retail stores. But the Newburyport–based company couldn’t sustain its growth and Novak had to downsize. “We hit some hard times,” she says. Then, she got a phone call from a mother looking for a small seat for her son. Occupational therapist Gloria Sanford-Breton had suggested the seat might help him focus more in school. Novak was shocked. She got in touch with the therapist and set up a visit to her classroom, where several seats were being used. The mo
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