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A Conversation with ‘The Photo Lady’

Mary Alice Valvoda, the talent behind MAVZPIX, continues a successful career from her home studio at Judson Manor.

During a round-robin style luncheon gathering at Judson Manor, Mary Alice Valvoda—an ambassador—mingled with visitors, answering questions about life in the community. “You can ask whatever you want,” she encouraged, noting how she was on the “asking side” of the conversation a couple of years ago. 

Guests want to know, “What made you decide to move to The Manor?” 

Mary Alice tells a story that resonates with many. “You become a prisoner in a beautiful museum—your own house,” Mary Alice says, dialing back to her own decision. The housework and property maintenance had become bothersome and frustrating rather than a rewarding aspect of keeping a home. 

“The house was beginning to manage me rather than me managing the house,” she quips. “I sat down one day and thought, ‘What am I doing? I’m putting time, effort, energy and money into the house, but I have to take care of myself…and I really don’t like doing this anymore.”

While Mary Alice was in good health, she determined it was time to move to Judson Manor while she was calling the shots. 

A dear friend emphasized this important point, Mary Alice says. 

“The best time to make the decision is when you are the person in the position to do so and are not being forced into it,” she told Mary Alice. “Your decision under your terms is No. 1.”

The other question her friend prompted: “What is the worst thing that can happen? What are the consequences of making this decision?”

Mary Alice reflected on the broad range of decisions she had made in life and business over the last 30-some years—big things, not which shoes to buy. She always followed her gut, and never looked back. “I knew Judson was the right choice,” she says. Important to Mary Alice was finding an apartment at Judson Manor that allowed space for a home studio for her business, MAVZPIX, a photo art studio for restoring and transforming photos and artwork into professional prints. She was prepared to leave behind home maintenance—but planned to take her digital imaging work and the equipment required along with her for this next chapter of life. Fortunately, there were a few different apartment homes available, and one had the necessary second bedroom she was seeking. “It all fell into place,” Mary Alice says. 

A Pioneer in the Classroom and Career World

Rewinding through a career story with many twists and turns, though a common thread, Mary Alice explains her background by saying, “Imagine two parallel lines. One is education and the other is career.” 

From the time Mary Alice graduated high school, she attended college part time—at John Carroll University, which only enrolled males, allowing women to take classes after 4 p.m. However, because of Mary Alice’s interest in English and technology and desire to earn a chemistry degree, she took those night classes while working at General Electric in the glass technology research department. “I was told at the time they do not hire girls in labs,” she says, again a pioneer. 

Meanwhile, she got married to her late husband, Ted, and they started a family while she continued her career and courses at John Carroll. “Once I got to the upper division courses, I had to go to the dean to get special permission to attend those classes,” Mary Alice says. When she graduated in 1972, a Plain Dealer headline announced: “Mother of three after 17 years gets her college degree.” It made the front page. 

Mary Alice accepted a position in technical information research at TRW and moved on to earning a master’s degree, which she earned six years later from Case Western Reserve University. “That was around the time when computers were just coming into being and I was in the right place at the right time,” she says. “This took me into various jobs that never existed before.” Eventually she led the research department for McKinsey & Co., and her last role was manager of training and development at BP America. Meanwhile, Mary Alice began pursuing an interest in photography when digital imaging came onto the scene. “I already understood computers and how they work,” she says. She became a consultant and expanded her photographic work, and 16 years ago started MAVZPIX, her entrepreneurial passion project. Now she runs the business today from Judson Manor. 

Mary Alice quips, “Pretty soon, I got to be known as the photo lady.” 

Full Circle to Judson Manor 

Just as Mary Alice’s one-thing-leads-to-another career and life path, her introduction to Judson and ultimate move to The Manor was not entirely serendipitous. She and Ted had looked at Judson Manor during an invitation to Case alumni to visit the campus. They agreed, this was a place they would enjoy living later in life.  Today, Mary Alice continues her photo restoration business and hosted a talk at Judson on preserving photographs. Soon after, she hosted a Digital Art Exhibition in the Pavilion with the support of the Judson art community. “My favorite parts about living at Judson is from the day I came in and was a ‘newbie,’ people were so friendly,” she says. “The variety of people who live here and vastness of knowledge makes this a very special place. It’s a very warm, enriching environment.”