Prior to Chapelle, Jo and her partner, Terrece Beesley, started a cross-stitch book publishing company The Vanessa-Ann Collection. This soft bound book company, one of the leaders in its field, was eventually integrated into Chapelle Ltd.
In 2002, Jo partnered with daughter Sara Toliver to provide an additional dimension to Chapelle and opened three retail establishments: Ruby & Begonia, a gift and home décor establishment offering “an embarrassment of riches”; The White Fig, "a most unusual gift basket company"; and Olive & Dahlia, "where garden is beyond essential and beauty is beyond reason".
Ruby & Begonia was a back-to-back recipient of the Gifts & Decorative Accessories Retailer Excellence Awards, winning the 2002 Gold Award for Excellence in Visual Marketing and the 2003 Gold Award for Excellence in Community Service.
In 2005, Jo and Sara co-founded and produced WomenCreate, a five-day hands-on multimedia symposium of the arts and crafts showcasing the industry’s top artists in over 30 different craft mediums. Women had the opportunity to meet, create, learn, share and shop.
Speakers at this event included: Susan Branch, illustrator and author of 14 books which have sold over 3.5 million copies; April Cornell, designer and owner of a line of April Cornell clothing, home goods, fabric, and clothing stores; Shelli Gardner, founder of Stampin’Up, a $220 million direct-sales company; Nancy Mernit Soriano, Editor-in-Chief of Country Living Magazine; Sue Warden, the host and executive producer of “Sue Warden Creative Décor”; and Sue Ellen Cooper, Exalted Queen Mother of the Red Hat Society.
In an attempt to always offer her authors and consumers countless options for inspiration, learning and creativity, Jo recently partnered with Pinnacle Marketing to create a new company, Two Bit Productions. This company produces their newest product line of interactive DVD books, Create with the Designers, plus the CDs that are included in the Chapelle Memories of a Lifetime and Instant Memories series.
Jo’s latest company is Empire Road Productions whose focus will be to work in conjunction with Chapelle Ltd. in publishing, but will also expand into web communities, magazines, brand publishing and manufacturing.