Columnist Susan Snyder: Look out, world: She’s comin’ through

Tuesday, May 2, 2000 | 9:48 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Tuesdays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

It's hard to believe Stephanie Esbin is only 13.

She's like a grown-up in a kid suit.

From braces to tennis shoes, Esbin looks like a typical eighth grader. Don't be fooled. This Becker Middle School student is anything but typical.

"My philosophy is you can't trust somebody else to get things done," Esbin says. "I trust myself to do everything."

See? Told you so.

Esbin opened her own graphics business -- Madagascar Imaging -- when she was 10. She's writing a novel, she enjoys reading old Mad magazines and doesn't e-mail. (OK, so that was Dad's idea).

The Las Vegas City Council named her Citizen of the Month in April for her most recent project, which has raised almost $2,000 for Las Vegas' Animal Foundation.

Esbin publishes a newsletter called Fur & Feathers, which she designs, writes and markets herself. Every two months she sets up a table at Borders Books on North Rainbow Boulevard and sells them for $1 apiece.

Her next sale is 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 3.

"All of it goes to the Animal Foundation. I don't take anything. I pay for it out of my pocket," she said.

Fur & Feathers costs her about $75 to print. Each issue is packed with information about pet care and includes a Spotlight on Great Pets profile. Esbin accepts submissions but says she finds most items on her own by reading and interviewing local animal experts.

"I just mush a lot of things together," Esbin said. "I'm pretty organized, and I'm very ambitious."

She's a lot of things -- funny, engaging, at ease with herself and not too much ahead of herself.

She likes alternative rock (but "none of the sappy stuff") and reads Nancy Drew mysteries along with U.S. News & World Report. The magazine rated her college of choice -- Stanford -- third nationally last year. Good school, and it's pretty, she says.

Esbin figures she'll make a success of whatever she tries, and she makes it easy to believe in her. It's almost like a spell.

"She just called out of the blue. For some reason, I was just compelled to meet with her," said Mary Herro, Animal Foundation president.

Esbin called Herro late last summer to talk about doing the newsletter. She looked around the Las Vegas shelter and decided it was worth the effort.

Herro said her schedule is tight, and she usually transfers such callers to the shelter's volunteer coordinator. Her staff was floored she planned to meet with Esbin herself.

"I told them there was just something about her," Herro said. "She cares so much. How can I not answer to that? She is showing the power of one person."

Esbin's donations bring the Animal Foundation ever closer to raising the rest of the money needed to build a new $3.4 million shelter in Las Vegas.

Esbin wants to make a lot of money when she grows up so she can donate to charities. She thinks she might be a pediatrician or own a retail store or invent a product no one has thought of yet.

"I'm not going to have a boss, though. I'm going to do it myself," she said.

No argument there.