Real-estate entrepreneur: Suzanne Kasler.

Every year Ernst & Young, Merrill Lynch and Inc. magazine honor "individuals and companies whose ingenuity, hard work and innovation have created successful and growing business ventures.

Again, indiana Business recognizes the seven winners of the 1990 Indiana Entrepreneur of the Year awards. REAL-ESTATE ENTREPRENEUR

Suzanne Kasler

The Kosler Group, Inc.

Indianapolis

Suzanne Kasler, who's CEO of The Kasler Group, Inc., in Indianapolis,

Kasler's dollhouse is a collection of miniature rooms decorated in minute detail that includes, among others, a country kitchen, a little girl's bedroom, a man's Ralph Lauren Polo bedroom and a paneled library. It recently was the centerpiece of a fund-raiser for Indianapolis' Riley Hospital for Children and drew "ohhs" and "ahhs" from kids of all ages.

Now, instead of small rooms, Kasler decorates real rooms for the likes of Eli Lilly and Co., International Business Machines Corp., Mayflower Transit, Inc., and AMAX Coal industries, Inc., as well as a host of successful law and accounting firms. Kasler's design work has been featured in top industry magazines, and was recognized among the Top 200 Interior Design Giants by Interior Design magazine.

In 12 years, Kasler's design firm has moved from an office on the top floor above an art gallery in Indianapolis' Lockerbie Square neighborhood to a suite in the downtown Bank One Tower. She has added a location in Cincinnati and opened a second division that provides furniture and fixtures. Her company now does close to $8 million in annual sales and is in an expansion mode. It opened an office in Cleveland last July.

Kasler has worked as co-chairman of a fund-raising event for the indianapolis Humane Society and has contributed extensively to the Conner Prairie Museum near Noblesville. She is active in the American Society of Interior Designers and the Institute of Business Designers, and is on the boards of the St. Vincent Hospital Foundation and the Indiana State Museum. She also is a Sagamore of the Wabash.

To be a successful entrepreneur, Kasler says, you must have the ability "to truly believe in and enjoy what you are doing, so you can progress through good and bad times." Having a vision that is bigger than day-to-day, she says, is the key to getting ahead.