Leslie Benser Luciani

Leslie Benser Luciani was born and raised on the west side of Michigan but spent summers on Mackinac Island selling fudge and ice cream in her family’s business.

The Benser family owns Original Murdick’s Fudge, which has eight locations in Michigan and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and are co-owners of the Chippewa Hotel, Pink Pony and Lilac Tree Suites on Mackinac Island.

“Growing up, our family worked summers instead of going on vacations, but I had a great childhood with great people in a beautiful tight knit community,” she said fondly.

She and her siblings had the uncommon challenge of spending the first and last months of the school year going to Mackinac Island schools and the remainder of the school year going to their hometown school until her sophomore year of high school.

“I remember it being difficult when I started French class in the fall since the rest of the class had already been studying it for a month,” she reminisced. Later, the Benser family moved their home base closer to Mackinac Island which allowed the siblings to stay in one school all year.

After high school, Benser Luciani attended Albion College where she majored in political science with a minor in French and was in the Gerald R. Ford Institute for Leadership in Public Policy and Service. In 1986, she earned a law degree from Wake Forest University before returning to Michigan. She explained, “During law school, I interned for different law firms in different cities and realized I missed Michigan and that it had more to offer than I had thought.”

She married her husband, Don Luciani, and practiced law for three years before deciding to open a retail store, La Belle Provence, in Northville with a friend who also had a French background. “I realized I was more creative driven than being a lawyer allowed.”

Of her business, she said, “La Belle Provence was Country French with artistic-driven fabrics and colors. We imported French antiques and accessories and offered brands like MacKenzie-Childs.”

Around the new millennium, the business and Luciani family moved to Birmingham which Benser Luciani said allowed her to better balance motherhood with the demands of the store. Later she and her partner sold the business which freed up her time to help Original Murdick’s Fudge develop an online presence.

Her work with the business’s website, newsletters and social media evolved into a successful collaboration developing retail products for Pink Pony as well as launching a new store called Pink Pony Club with longtime friend, Cheryl Nephew Jaquiss, whose family co-owns businesses with the Benser family.

During summer months, the Birmingham resident often spends up to two weeks each month on Mackinac Island working for the family business and enjoying life on this idyllic island. This summer has been especially busy and challenging with the recent passing of her beloved father, Robert Benser Sr, who started the family business on Mackinac Island decades ago.

Her adult sons have continued their family’s special legacy by becoming business owners on Mackinac Island. While Michael and Joey live and work out of state, their brother, John, recently moved back to Michigan to run Mackinac Outfitter, the outdoor clothing and gear retailer owned by the three brothers. Their business logo is the iconic Round Island Lighthouse that their grandparents helped preserve fifty years ago.

When she’s not working, Benser Luciani loves to travel with her husband and sons to “offbeat, remote places.”

“We moved to Birmingham in 2000 when our kids were younger and in school,” she says, adding, “I appreciate small businesses and love a walkable community with great people. In that way, Birmingham is not unlike Mackinac Island.”

Story: Tracy Donohue