The challenge of working in recruitment and training with a high-profile law firm appeared daunting initially. The people at the firm were terrific, and it was a very fulfilling time in my life. I arranged on-campus and in-firm interviews and planned the lavish parties that are part of turning clerks into associates. Planning large group 3-day junkets to Key West was not a burdensome duty, especially when you had to" advance the trip" to ensure everything would go well! When I started in 1980, there was only one female partner. By the time I left in 1987, the partners on the recruiting teams had told me, "the best candidates are all women!" Now that was serious progress.
As our youngest daughter was getting ready to go to college, we started our plan to move west again. We chose Bozeman, Montana, a college town close to Yellowstone Park and a comfortable mix of mountains and open space. I returned to the mountain environment where I felt most comfortable, and my husband returned to the prairies where he felt most comfortable. We packed up our youngest daughter and our old yellow labrador retriever and headed west.
We found a house just six blocks from Main Street on the main road between downtown and the campus. We took our daughter to Eugene, Oregon, where she started her first year of college, and then we figured out what we would do for a living. We had just jumped off with no jobs but thought, "we'll figure it out ." And we did.
I stopped at the Women's Center to get acquainted. I found they had received a grant to start a Women's Entrepreneurship Training Program. The amount was not significant and was only for a year. There was no staff, no syllabus, just the grant application with a brief program outline. I thought this could be an exciting assignment, but I wasn't sure how to make it work. A vision of my mother's resilience, perseverance, and willingness to tackle new adventures came to mind. I am my mother's daughter, so I knew I had to try. I convinced the Women's Center to hire me.
I spent hours meeting people in the community whom I thought might help. First, I had to put together a Board, and I successfully recruited the women's studies program director from Montana State University to join us. Then I convinced a highly regarded developer in the community (a Kansas native, like my husband), a woman banker, and a former mayor to come aboard.
I spent many hours designing a course of study that included management, marketing, and accounting and then got feedback from the new board. The board members stepped up to help out most unexpectedly. The banker said she'd teach accounting and the women's studies director said she'd help with grant administration. The developer volunteered to work on some marketing information, and I would teach management.
The grant required that we have three businesses up and running in the first quarter of the year. My previous work with state governments took me to Montana's capital, Helena, to meet with the granting agency to say that was impossible. They agreed and were extraordinarily helpful throughout the three years we had the program.
It soon became time to write the grant for the following year. These were state training program funds based on Federal guidelines. I had never written a grant application before, so I dug in and learned. Grantees met with funders once a quarter, and I had to move quickly.
I looked for opportunities to create innovative or unlikely partnerships. I allied with the AFL-CIO (The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, a labor union) to work with the women in their program in return for some funding. We were a small operation, but we started to have some success. In one venture, we helped women start businesses selling art and clothing. Education was an essential component of our work. Many aspiring women entrepreneurs undervalued their time for the products they created. "If you can't sell it and make money, then it's a hobby, not a business." This adage inspired many women to recognize their self-worth differently.
There was an interest in making the Women's Entrepreneurship Training Program (Headwaters Entrepreneurship Resources) a permanent part of the community's larger economic development organization. I received an offer to be its Executive Director. Again, I paid homage to my mother's spirit and influence on me, and I said yes, enthusiastically!
In Montana, local economic development fell to private-sector nonprofits, such as Chambers of Commerce and economic development organizations. Bozeman had both. The Chamber of Commerce focused on tourism, and the economic development organization created basic sector jobs. In the early 90s, a town with a research university had a distinct advantage. And one that also was a beautiful place to live (like Bozeman) was a golden opportunity.
My mother inspired the joy of learning in me, which was important in my career path. Don't be afraid to learn what you don't know. So, the first thing I did was ask to go to Economic Development School at the University of Arizona. It was a 4-day short course that was extraordinarily valuable. I learned about recruiting businesses, growing existing businesses, and, most importantly, getting the community to support our work.
Our board members were primarily young businesspeople (women and men) who saw the benefit of what we were doing. They knew that if we could get graduates from Montana State University to start their businesses in Bozeman, we could probably keep them. So we partnered with the university and formed the Gallatin Valley Technology Alliance. The purpose was to have the valley's technology business owners interact with each other and maybe do some business. (Now often referred to as B2B, business to business.) We were very successful (some long-time residents would say too successful). Bozeman has become one of America's favorite places to live and start a new business.
It was time to move on to new adventures, but where do you go from there?
Written by Dixie Swenson.
03242022A4/5
Join us next week for Part 5, the conclusion to the story, I Am Because of the Women Who Came Before Me.
This week's blog story is part of a month-long story. To view past installments and other stories, please visit our blog, Learn-Engage-Empower Learn-Engage-Empower, at im4u.world and subscribe to get the stories delivered weekly to your inbox.
This story is among many that inspired us to create im4u.world im4u.world. im4u.world is an ambitious project designed to build positive and constructive conversations worldwide, share learning experiences and make real change locally. It is easy to join us, and there is no cost to join.
Comentarii