Britt-Marie Trace, Owner since the beginning!
Bomb Shelter was born in April of 2000 and opened for business. We opened with 4 rooms after roughly 5 months of construction. The original brainchild of Michael Mikulka and Britt McQuate (Me!), Bomb Shelter was added as a way to help bring additional clients over to recording studios owned by Mikulka, then called Gopher Baroque Productions. When we started out I had never ran or owned a business, but I jumped right in with determination and learned as I went, kind of a trial by fire! Early on I was running and managing two businesses, both Michael’s recording studios and the fledgling rehearsal studios. With my time being split, I wasn’t able to focus as much time to give the rehearsal studios the boost that they needed. Though we have survived, it seems to have taken me a bit longer to get the business where I feel it should be. I have definitely learned so much along the way about running a business and about myself, so overall I would not go back and change a single darn thing. In June of 2005 my business partner and I decided to part ways. Michael sold his recording studio, moved to Texas and got married. So in June 2005 I took the plunge and finally quit working at the recording studio to start a new chapter here at Bomb Shelter all on my own. I have to admit that it was a bit scary, at first. I set some pretty huge goals in 2005 for the growth I wanted to see here, and I’ve surpassed those initial goals in a short amount of time. In January 2007 I was on the cover and featured in the Women in Business section of a local business magazine called OC Metro. I am excited and amazed at all that has happened in my life since starting this business. I look forward to the future, and maybe some more locations…
Personal Info:
I’m 5’ 4” tall, and have big feet. Yes, I freely admit that. I was always hoping that I’d be taller since I got these big boats—it just didn’t happen. My favorite color is definitely blue. I’ve always been kind of a tomboy even though I hate that term to describe it. I went to high school in Eugene, Oregon. I joined the United States Marine Corps when I was 17, after graduating high school. I was in from 1990-1995 and worked as an aviation electrician on FA-18 aircraft, (stationed at El Toro, CA) no I didn’t get to fly in one. I did sit in the cockpit though, but somehow that’s just not the same. I did quite a few miscellaneous, un-fun jobs which got me to thinking, there must be a way to have a fun job and make money. It still took me a while to solve that problem. Eventually through a series of events (far too long for me to go into here) I met the person who later became my business partner, leading me to move back to California and landing me on a new path for my life, and immersing me in the music business.
I got married on May 21, 2006 to the amazing James Trace, who is the love of my life. We met when James moved his recording studio in here at Bomb Shelter. He was simply my tenant renting space here for several years! We were suddenly both single at the same time and decided to hang out together. We quickly discovered an attraction, a friendship, and realized there was much more to this relationship than either of us had anticipated. When we're not here at the studio we hang out with our 2 dogs (Wrigley and Kona), and 2 cats (Moo and Maui) at home. We also like to travel, go camping, hiking, cycling, and just being together.
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