Dr. Lisa Grant, congresswoman headline Women in Business seminar

May 15-Earlier this week, Centralia School District Superintendent Dr. Lisa Grant urged a room full of Lewis County women to embrace leadership in their own way.

"They need you and your unique leadership style doing work in our community," Grant said, "helping others in your organization."

The Economic Alliance of Lewis County hosted its annual Women in Business seminar Wednesday at The Loft in Chehalis.

The event featured a keynote speech from Grant, a panel of local business leaders - all women - and a special video from Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania.

Lewis County Economic Alliance Program Manager Dolly Tardiff led the event and moderated the panel discussion.

The panel gathered Sweet Dough Cookie Co. owner Ashlee Shirer, KMB Architects' Emily Moneymaker, Olympia Federal Savings Chief Credit Officer Carrie Whisler and Edward Jones Financial Adviser Julia Gaul.

The event, which attracted roughly 60 attendees, focused on leadership, growth and confidence in all parts of life, but especially in the workplace. Materials and questions focused less on the exact details of starting or operating a business and more on the personal side. Panelists and guest speakers discussed issues such as communication, presence, values and legacies.

Guest speakers also touched on the challenges faced by women entering male-dominated fields, such as architecture and banking, and the challenges of balancing business with the expectations of motherhood, sisterhood and other important family roles.

In her short video, Gluesenkamp Perez recalled the moment a customer entered her business, an auto shop, and asked to speak to the owner, assuming it wasn't her.

Whisler recalled a client early in her career telling her he preferred not to bank with her. She added that in response she told him her strengths and eventually won the account.

"I know what it's like to have somebody come in and ask who the owner is, or to talk to the owner," Gluesenkamp Perez said. "You're looking at her."

With the keynote speech, Grant led the audience on a guided exercise meant to help each individual reflect on how they approach leadership and what they bring to the table. Grant's exercise focused on the metaphor of leadership style as an outfit, with each part - from the shoes to the blazer to the accessories - representing one aspect or another.

In her metaphor, Grant depicted the shoes as someone's vision, their goals and their steps toward them, with the blazer representing confidence and composure, and accessories representing the communication that ties it all together.

Throughout the event, Grant often asked the women to conference with others at their tables and discuss the different parts of their own leadership styles. When asked about motivation, Shirer said she couldn't imagine waking up and not wanting to go to her shop.

When asked about how she keeps her composure in difficult situations, former United Way of Lewis County Executive Director Annie Oien recited a useful slogan: "Everything is a win if the goal is experience."

In the panel portion of the event, Tardiff asked the four participants eight questions about their experiences, their motivations and what advice they wished they had received earlier in their careers.

The panelists built consensus in their advice to the crowd, urging them to be confident and brave and always keep growing, whether that meant asking an embarrassing question or going out on a limb and asking a potential mentor to talk over coffee.

"As soon as you stop being curious, you stop learning, you stop growing," Moneymaker said. "So always be curious."

The panelists also emphasized individuality in their own way as they discussed their different approaches to work. Whisler emphasized the importance of "practicing the pause," meaning not committing to new work or activities immediately and considering the options first.

On the other side, Gaul referred to the Jim Carey Movie "Yes Man" in saying that she says yes to everything.

"I'm the opposite," Gaul said. "I say yes to everything, even when I'm not ready ... It creates opportunities. It creates conversation."

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