Still, if you haven't heard of Bigelow, it's worth noting how her contributions have made such a positive impact on the community.
Bigelow grew up in Westport, where she was often asked by school mates why the trappings of a wealthy background didn't show themselves more prevalently about her.
"Why are you studying so hard," she remembered them asking. "Why do you need good grades?" and "Why wasn't I driving a Corvette?"
But Bigelow described her father, David, as "a very humble man." She said he and her mother, Eunice, were never extravagant, and never spent a lot of money. Those same values, which she grew up taking for granted, are the same she's passed on to her two children.
"It was her grandmother, Ruth Campbell Bigelow, who began the well-known Fairfield-based tea company back in 1945. After presiding over the company until her death in 1961, according to Bigelow, "She literally handed it over to my father."
Her parents, in turn, took the company to the next level. "They ran it from 1960 to 2003," Bigelow said. "They're the ones that brought it to the size it is today." Her father in particular, she said, "really drove the business."
Ironically, Bigelow had not planned on becoming heir to the family business. She graduated Boston College magna cum laude in 1981, and later earned a master's in business administration from Northwestern. It wasn't until 1986, however, that she began her fulltime career with the company.
But just having the Bigelow name didn't automatically qualify her to take over as president. She began in the financial department, working to bring the company's costing system into the future. Over time she worked her way up, first as a project leader, then operations planner, materials manager, customer service manager, on up through vice president of operations, and finally president.
Robert Hendrick, vice president of supply chain for the tea company, has worked with Bigelow for over 20 years. "We started off as colleagues and she advanced through the company," he said.
"She's always been good to work for," he said. "She is very good at going through situations and trying to figure out what's the best way to do it, and take out the unnecessary steps."
"She challenges her people to be better people ... to be the best you can be," he said.
Hendrick said Bigelow's approach to running the company is the right one, for she views her 330 employees as being the 330 related families who are affected by the company.
"She's very supportive of all the employees," he said.
"We don't have shareholders, we have employees," Bigelow said. "My motto is the 330 families that work for me are our shareholders ... They're all part of our success and they're all part of how we can keep 330 families employed."
"One of things that I'm so excited about ... is that we're doing so well during these difficult times," Bigelow said. "Now, more than ever, those employees need to know that."
She said in recent times some of her employees have experienced some challenges in their home life. Others have simply been stressed by the look of the current economic climate, and peripheral fears. "We're blessed," she said. "We're blessed to be growing." Consequently, she said, as a whole her workers are particularly appreciative of being associated with the company.
Asked what she would tell other business owners in the current financial climate to change to improve their chances for success, she repeated what she recently told a forum of 100 family-run business: "Nothing."
"You should be doing the same things during good times, as you would during bad-patrolling costs, creating new items, being good to employees but having expectations ... no fat in the system," she said.
"It's just about good planning, creating planning, aggressive controlling of costs, and taking care of your employees.... and part of that is doing the right thing and getting out into the community and making a difference."
Toward this end, Bigelow encourages her employees to participate in community-related projects and charity programs.
"We really support employees giving back," she said, "and they love it. You don't end up losing an hour of productivity from that employee."
"She's very innovative," said Valorie Luther, founder and CEO of Creative Concepts, who has worked with Bigelow on various projects for the past four years.
"She's very, very smart. She's a great leader, because she does see trends and goes where those trends are going," she said.
"She's not just resting on the work that they've done," she said. "She's really pushing the company forward in a positive way ... There's just constant innovation going on."