By far, the most difficult aspect of this issue was condensing the conversations with these eleven women into something that could fit within the pages of this magazine. When we see a woman who is in a position of power, she can serve as an excellent role model, but the path of how she got to where she is often remains a mystery. We don’t see the hard work, the multiple jobs, the self-doubt, and paths that turned out to be dead ends. But even dead ends are formative when you allow them to become learning experiences. I found it important to understand all the twists and turns it took for these women to get to the point in their careers where they received this award—because these paths weren’t always smooth sailing, and many of these women didn’t have a model for what they were trying to do. 

Of course, no two women’s paths are the same, but, in some ways, that’s the point. There is no one path to success, just as there is no one definition of success. This becomes all too apparent when each woman answers the question about what her greatest success has been. Success ought to be as individual as the journey itself. Of course, many started their career with a very traditional idea of success—a high paying job in a high position of power—and while many of them have achieved that, they have since found greater importance in other aspects of their work: who they’ve helped, what they’ve done for their community, who they’ve mentored and watched grow. 

Within these pages, the women also share advice, lessons learned, and so much hope for the next generation. I hope you’re able to glean hard-earned wisdom from their words and join me in congratulating the 2022 Women in Business Leadership Award winners.

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Angela Barnes

President/Co-Founder for Kvinna Breast Care + Imaging

Work Experience

Angela spent the early part of her career working in art and design as well as women’s ministry, doing leadership training and mentoring.

“About as far from the medical profession as you could legitimately get.” Angela created Kvinna because her best friend, Natalie, found a lump in her breast shortly after receiving a mammogram. The lump ended up being cancer, missed because Natalie has dense breast tissue which makes it difficult for a mammogram to pick up potential irregularities. This sent Angela into a frenzy to find equipment that would detect with dense breast tissue, and she found SonoCiné Automated Whole Breast Ultrasound imaging system, which uses ultrasound technology to detect cancer. At the time, she had to journey to Southern California, the closest spot to have the machine. She believed that women in this area should have access to this technology, and with that, she decided to open Kvinna.

What did you want to do when you were younger and what would the younger version of you think of you now?

“I went to business school, and so I always had a dream of owning my own business, and have dabbled in business in different capacities and my husband and I own a couple other businesses. So, I think I would have thought for sure I was going to own a business of some sort, but I think I would have thought it would be in the design or products field—I think I would have thought I would have developed a product or like fashion or design. So, I think the part that would be surprising to my younger self is that I ended up in some level in a medical capacity.”

“I think my younger self would be proud of me, because this was outside of my comfort zone—I was stepping into a space where I was drinking from a firehose, to be honest. I didn’t know what an ICD-10 code was, and I’ve had to surround myself and humble myself and just say, ‘I’m the person putting all the pieces together, I have a vision of bringing this product and service into the market.”

What has been your greatest success? Greatest challenge?

“I think we’ve been extremely successful at creating a very different kind of experience for women to take care of themselves. I wanted it to feel so different than walking into a sterile, cold, scary environment. I would say seventy-five percent of women come in tense and nervous. So, I feel very proud that we’ve taken something that for a lot of people feels very scary and we’ve created the kind of team that see the women. They’re not just a name, they take the time to chat with them. If they notice they’re nervous, they love on them and defuse those nerves to the best of their ability and educate them. So, I feel like that is one thing I’m super proud of is that we’ve actually been able to accomplish that.”

“The biggest challenge has just been like anything—you don’t know what you don’t know until you’re doing it…. I kicked up a little bit of a hornet’s nest in our medical community because I was a little naive; I didn’t know that there were rules I supposed to be playing by. I was forcing a standard of care change in our community that had been ignored for a long time, and the medical community is extremely territorial.”

Who do you look to for advice or guidance?

“My husband is like my biggest go to person. He’s just a brilliant, wise person. And he’s been in business for many, many, many years.”

“I’m really surrounded by some pretty amazing women in business in our town. A lot of my friends are entrepreneurs. I can pick up the phone and call at least five different people, and they’re all just so gifted in their area.”

What advice would you give to young women trying to go into your field?

“For any woman who wants to make a difference and to care for someone, I don’t know of another industry that’s better for that. I think especially we’ve seen that with COVID and how important the medical community is to really make someone feel valued and cared for and not just a number.”

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Jennifer Thomas

Public Relations & Government Affairs Director for Spokane Home Builders Association

Work Experience

Jennifer’s dad was in the Air Force, and because of this, her family moved to Spokane when she was thirteen. She remembers selling Girl Scout cookies to go to summer camp. “It wasn’t about selling cookies, but it was about giving people something that brought them joy.” When she was in high school, her parents divorced. She graduated from high school wanting to be a doctor, but her mom needed help, so she got a job at Spokane County Title. She then attended Grand Canyon University, where she met a student who was from Uganda. She decided to take a three-week trip there between her second and third year at school. When she returned, she started working on a fundraiser for a nonprofit which sparked her love of helping nonprofits. One of the families who was in Uganda with her said they were moving there full-time to start a computer college and asked if she wanted to join—she said yes. She was able to set up a library, work at an orphanage, lead medical teams, and teach keyboarding and leadership classes. After she returned to the US, she married and worked in mortgage. They moved to Spokane where her family was and opened a branch office. The market crashed and they lost both the brokerage and their home. After that, she went to work in a call center. Shortly after starting the job, her marriage ended. She went back to school and started waitressing at Bangkok Thai and was able to buy her house. She then got a job helping to fundraise for Bill Bryant’s campaign for governor and from there began working for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. She then went to work for a design firm as a project manager. One of the clients was The Jonah Project, and when she left the design firm, she approached the Jonah Project about doing development work. While doing work for them, she decided to start her own consulting company and ran for school board. Though she did not win, she was happy that she saw a problem and wanted to fix it and did something about it. She then started doing consulting work with Quinn Agency. Spokane Home Builders Association was one of her clients, and they had an opening. She already knew that she liked the organization from working with them, and she went for the position in membership. 

What did you want to do when you were younger and what would the younger version of you think of you now?

“I always wanted to do something that had an impact… I thought doctor because I wanted to help people who were sick…I had a friend in high school who had cancer, so she was part of that.”

“I think younger me would be like, ‘Oh, we decided to do what again?’ I would also be proud. I think younger me would be having a real conversation about ‘How did you get there?’ and ‘Why did you do that?’ and want to debate it a little bit but wouldn’t be disappointed in where I am now.”

What has been your greatest success? Greatest challenge?

“My kids are the hardest thing I will ever do, I’m sure of it. And I’ve done a lot of things; I love impossible situations and trying to solve them. My kids are my creme de la crème. I will feel like a success if they get to use my life as a steppingstone and go further than I do.”

Who do you look to for advice or guidance?

“My sister reminds me to be the best version of myself. I learned how to serve the community by watching my mom; she gave her life away loving people. Shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer, I gave her a plaque that said, ‘All that I am or ever hope to be I owe to my mom.’”

What advice would you give to young women trying to go into your field?

“Not from a place of selfish motive or ‘look out for yourself because no one else is going to’—not that—but it’s OK to hold space for you. It’s OK to shine, don’t let your wings be clipped.”

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Jennyfer Mesa

Executive Director/Founder of Latinos en Spokane

Work Experience

Jennyfer started work at 11, nannying, selling roses outside bars in Florida, and cleaning homes. “I know to many it’s viewed like, ‘Oh, you poor thing, you had to work.’ I wanted to help get my family get to the next level and I took a lot of pride in [it].” She left the US without finishing high school and went to visit her dad in Mexico. She was hired by HSBC International within elite banking, as an assistant to an executive director. Through that job, she realized she didn’t like banking and wanted to work in sustainability and shifted to becoming a commodities broker. When she returned to the US, she got her GED and undergraduate degree, studying urban planning.

“I was able to look at the larger picture of how we can work combined with our environment, our build environments, and also our community. There are these different layers that really have to work in sync in order to have a thriving community.”

What did you want to do when you were younger and what would the younger version of you think of you now?

“When I was younger, I didn’t have the ability to see past what I hadn’t seen within my family. I thought I would be a business owner because college just wasn’t accessible or attainable to me or my brother just in the examples that I had in my life.”

“I know my inner child is proud of me right now. But the younger version, I don’t think we ever imagined that we would be doing such impactful work. I’m not a CEO, but I do feel like I am doing a lot of impactful work in the community, for my community.”

What has been your greatest success? Greatest challenge?

In my work right now in community development, cultural development, and Latino activism, it has really been to create visibility of our community here and create cultural landscapes here in Spokane. That was always my dream. I see this city that is not representative of our community, but also of other communities, and how can we have more cultural landscape? We really want to spice it up, because there’s a lot of benefit to bringing in different foods, different perspectives, highlighting different cultures. I think we’re just getting started.”

“I think the biggest challenge is the trust building that we need to do in our community. And that is trust building within ourselves, and with other groups and other organizations and within our own cities to really recognize that we are a large population here, and we have been underserved. And right now, we need to support each other, especially right now with the pandemic. Within the last two years, a lot of us don’t have access to health insurance. We’re the ones that are living in group living, and we just have a lot of high numbers, and that’s within our community. So, the challenge is getting city officials, our local politicians, and community organizations that serve a community to really look at what our community is going through.”

Who do you look to for advice or guidance?

“I look up to my mom because she’s instilled in me this really strong work ethic to continue working forward no matter what obstacles we faced. She’s just always taught me how to be grateful for what we have, and to always look back at others, our families that aren’t where we are.”

“I look to other women for leadership. I have my team of friends that I constantly check in with, like, ‘Hey, girl, how am I doing here?’ I think my secret sauce has just been always surrounding myself with strong women.”

What advice would you give to young women trying to go into your field?

Believe in yourself, because I think as women of color, as women immigrants, we’re constantly told that we’re not prepared. We’re not professional. We don’t have the exact background. And I just want to say to anybody who’s coming into this field of work, whether it’s business, whether it’s nonprofit management, is just don’t believe the hype and believe in yourself.”

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Yvonne A.K. Johnson

Executive Artistic Director at Spokane Valley Summer Theatre,

Spokane Valley Performing Arts Center

Work Experience

Yvonne grew up in the Midwest and started theater in grade school. In high school, she was able to direct in her high school’s black box theater. She attended Carthage College where she majored in speech communications and theater. She was able to study abroad in London for a winter session. After graduation, she directed community theater in Milwaukee while also writing for a newspaper. For a time, she was an aquatics director while maintaining her position with community theater. Then, she attended graduate school at the University of Essex and received a Master’s in Contemporary Theatre Practice and worked with Cassiopeia Theatre Company. She returned to Milwaukee and was hired to work for Milwaukee Irish Art. She then attended Minnesota State University to get her MFA in directing. From there, she took the role as company director and producer for Climb Theater in Minnesota while also developing her own shows. Yvonne then became artistic director for the Spokane Civic Theatre and held that position until 2013 when she was unexpectedly fired. Yvonne says it wouldn’t have happened if she were a man.

“For years, I struggled with that, why did they treat me this way? But I know why, and because of that, it’s given me the strength to go forward and answer the call to come back.” After living in New York running a theatrical management company, she received requests from community members and returned to Spokane Valley to start the Spokane Valley Summer Theatre, a project which has now morphed into the Spokane Valley Performing Arts Center.

“I am very blessed and fortunate to have the best team imaginable and to see them continue to grow. Besides our team, you have the whole village. It takes a village to support the arts. I’m hoping that those who have the capacity to give will give generously to help us reach our goal.”

What did you want to do when you were younger and what would the younger version of you think of you now?

“I thought I would be an attorney. I didn’t even know there were positions like this artistic director, executive director of a theater. I’m from Milwaukee; there’s only so much that you knew in the 70s and 80s. I love political science and I love the law. I do believe that truth always prevails in the end, and certainly through my own triumphs and tribulations, that was the case.”

“Younger Yvonne would say you should have just gone for it right away and not hesitated. But you have to take each of those individual steps and climb that ladder in order to get to the next stage of your career, and I have no regrets.”

What has been your greatest success? Greatest challenge?

“My greatest success and joy is in the work that I’ve done in mentoring hundreds and thousands of youth and adults to help them to pursue their dreams. I hope, if people think about my legacy when I’m no longer here, I’d want them to think look at all the children, the young adults, and she helped to guide all of them.”

“The greatest challenge that I’ve had has been being an arts leader and executive artistic director as a woman—being in leadership as a woman and constantly breaking the next glass ceiling.”

Who do you look to for advice or guidance?

Yvonne’s mom went to seminary school right as it was opening to women. She was in a position where she was a co-pastor in a church, and even though she was more qualified with more experience and education, they gave the senior pastor position to the male. The church ended up dividing and the parishioners who went with her mom started renting space for services until they started a capital campaign to build their church.

“My mother is such an inspiration. Nothing was handed to her. It was a climb every single step.”

What advice would you give to young women trying to go into your field?

“My hope for them is that by those of us who have gone before them, that hopefully the path perhaps is a little easier for them, but they will need to continue to work ten times as hard and ten times as fast.”

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Susan Joseph Nielsen

Small Business Program Manager, Eastern Washington 

for Washington State Department of Commerce

Work Experience

Her first job out of graduating from WSU’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communications was an internship with CNN’s Washington D.C. bureau. From there, she was offered a job in Chicago at the WBBM CBS news station but turned it down because her then-boyfriend now-husband was in Spokane, and they didn’t want a long-distance relationship. She got a job with KREM working in their feature news department. She then took a job as an advertising executive and worked with a couple different agencies, including LG Corporation. From there, she went to work for Educational Service District 101 as publications and marketing coordinator. Following that position, she went to work for Goodale & Barbieri Company as their advertising, marketing, and media buyer. She then took a contract position in corporate communications with Avista, and almost immediately had to deal with a firestorm. She was the person who managed the name change from Washington Water Power to Avista, right before leaving to become a consultant in branding, naming and reputation management. In 2006, she took a position with Rockwood Clinics as a public relations and marketing administrator, where she also helped them change their name. From there, she took the position of Vice President of Communications and Marketing with the Girl Scouts. She then took a job to create a regional College Success Foundation. After five years in that role, she took her current position with the Department of Commerce.

What did you want to do when you were younger and what would the younger version of you think of you now?

“I actually imagined myself staying in television news for my career. And I think I would be a very different person if I had done that, because it would have required me to move all over the United States.”

“I would not have imagined myself having a job that was as diverse as so many of my jobs have been, because I couldn’t see myself outside of television news, which is pretty singularly focused.”

What has been your greatest success? Greatest challenge?

“I’m going to have to go back to the merger work and the name change work [with Avista], just because it was such big work. And I was really proud of how it all came together.”

Who do you look to for advice or guidance?

“People who are smarter than me and who have perspective. I’m a person of faith, so the first thing I do is pray for clear thought. My husband’s a great partner and so I seek input from him, and my dad, and my mother-in-law. I used to tap into my mom’s knowledge a lot because she was so creative. My mother was incredibly creative.”

What advice would you give to young women trying to go into your field?

“If you get a job offer, go to work, but volunteer. This is the time you have the most capacity in your career is when you’re young in your career. When you volunteer, you come in contact with other businesspeople who you would never meet otherwise. You learn about something that’s important to your community and hopefully important to you, and it gives you a perspective that has likely nothing to do with your job.”

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Jaunessa Walsh

Co-founder/Co-owner of Farmgirlfit; 

Adjunct professor at Gonzaga University

Work Experience

Jaunessa graduated from Gonzaga University with a degree in accounting and immediately went into GU’s MBA program. She then started in the education field, working in the HR office for Community Colleges of Spokane. She was mentored by the woman who was the CFO at the time, and got her a connection for a job with a state organization called Education Service District 101. The agency provides business management services for school districts. Fitness and exercise had always been a hobby she enjoyed. She played intramural sports throughout college and was looking for an exercise that was team oriented. Jaunessa had a friend from Gonzaga who had majored in exercise science, and they started doing Crossfit with their husbands. They loved the team aspects of it, and serious weightlifting was a new and fun challenge. They realized there really wasn’t anything like Crossfit that specifically catered to women, and that was the spark that started Farmgirlfit.

What did you want to do when you were younger and what would the younger version of you think of you now?

“I saw myself being what I envisioned a successful businesswoman to be. I thought maybe doctor, and then I remember in high school taking biology and we had to dissect an earthworm and I was like, ‘That’s probably not the path for me.’”

“I’ve always valued hard work. I wanted to be somebody that other people looked up to and respected, to be well regarded. I think that younger me would be proud of where I am right now. It maybe is a different career path. I wear leggings instead of pencil skirts and high heels or whatever we thought a businesswoman should wear thirty years ago. But I think that by and large, I’m the person I hoped I would be, and probably even more so.”

What has been your greatest success? Greatest challenge?

“I’m constantly in awe of the community that is Farmgirlfit. I’m hesitant to call that my greatest success because I don’t think that I necessarily drove that or that it was something I created, but I certainly had a role in it. It’s the one aspect of the community just generally that I’m constantly surprised at how inspiring it is, how passionate people are; the care that they have for others is inspirational and encouraging and generally positive, but not fake or forced.”

“I enjoy working hard. I want to be successful, kind of in the way that society defines success: Is this business profitable? How long has it been in business? How many locations do you have? Things like that. For me, it’s hard to kind of reevaluate what success looks like and that those markers aren’t necessarily the keys to success or indicative of success.”

Who do you look to for advice or guidance?

“I’ve had a lot of professional women in my life that I’ve looked up to who have balanced work and family who I really admire. I’m not very good about seeking mentors, and I think being in an entrepreneurial role, that’s been really difficult. COVID opened up new opportunities to seek mentors or to form relationships with other business owners, because everybody was getting hit so bad that it was like, ‘How can we help each other?’”

What advice would you give to young women trying to go into your field?

“I think the fitness industry is primed for growth. I think that there’s a lot of opportunity here for women specifically.… Be true to who you are and your ‘why’: why are you getting into this business? What is your deep-rooted passion for it? Be true to that.”

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Jessica Winfrey-Atkinson

CEO for Sweet Frostings Blissful Bakeshop

Work Experience

Jess was exposed to the baking world at a young age because her mom, Sally Winfrey, was a bakery merchandiser. When in high school, she traveled regionally with her mom in summer, training bakers for ADM. Around that time, her mom’s friend Judy Rozier Beebe was considering starting a cupcake business and asked for help. Sally agreed to help, and Jess helped sell the cupcakes at the launch of the brand at the Funky Junk show. They sold out of the three hundred cupcakes they brought and went back the next day to sell more. It became obvious that they could make this work, and so Sally invested in the business. While Jess worked for Sweet Frostings throughout high school, she did go off on her own and work for local restaurants for a time. It came up that Judy would need an assistant, and Jess naturally stepped into the role. She helped with ordering, marketing, and office work, but didn’t have an official title. After a couple years, Jess moved into management, and when Judy stepped away from the business, Jess officially stepped into the leadership position. 

What did you want to when you were younger and what would the younger version of you think of you now?

“I had probably two visions of what I would do as an adult, and that was being a famous actress or running business or businesses plural. And my goal when I was fifteen was to own a business by the time I was twenty-one. I did help manage this business by the time I was twenty-one, so I feel like I met my goal.”

What has been your greatest success? Greatest challenge?

“Marrying my husband in 2020 was one of the biggest things for me. He’s my biggest supporter, my very best friend. There’s no one like him and I love him very much and he helps me with everything. He runs a business too, so he gets it.”

“My biggest success with Sweet Frostings would be not only surviving the pandemic, but absolutely thriving through and outside of it. I say that we got there through sheer willpower of working hard and not letting anybody tell us we can’t do it. Essentially, we stayed open.”

“We came out with a stronger team, a better idea of how and where we want to go as a company, and better culture, values as a team. That was probably my biggest challenge and achievement, because that was a learning experience in so many aspects.”

Who do you look to for advice or guidance?

“My business coach is who I seek guidance from, but my mom is who I look up to. She didn’t come from any sort of wealth. It’s not like, ‘We just had money lying around and we just decided to open up a cupcake shop. She cashed in her retirement to start a business that she had no idea was going to fail or succeed. And she had thirty years of experience seeing other people fail. She taught me how working hard is the only way you get your dreams or you get what you want.”

What advice would you give to young women trying to go into your field?

“The food industry in general has gone through so much and is constantly changing, and I think is a very good outlet for people who are creative. I would say if you’re creative, if you like to work hard, and you have a passion for food, I think the food industry is a great spot for you. If you’re an artist who loves creating, molding, one of the sweetest mediums is cake.”

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Sarah Carlson

Founder/Private Wealth Advisor at Fulcrum Financial Group

Work Experience

Sarah initially attended Yale University pre-med but took a class by Robert Shiller—a well-known economist—and switched her emphasis. She’s a rower, and out of college she moved to Seattle to row for the national team. Starting out as an analyst in the financial field, she was the only woman on the squad who also worked full-time. She realized she didn’t want to be an analyst, so she joined MassMutual and went through their training program and distribution system with them. She was a career agent with them for a period of time. While on one of their trips, she was the victim of a hit-and-run where she nearly lost her life. She didn’t receive the support she needed from the organization, and knew she had to make a change. This led her to starting Fulcrum Financial Group twenty-four years ago.

What did you want to do when you were younger and what would the younger version of you think of you now?

“I wanted to be an obstetrician/gynecologist. As a young girl, I just thought women and other girls would need help being comfortable, and I adored babies. I just wanted to deliver babies—I thought for sure I was going to do that.” 

“I had always been a straight-A student, and freshman year at Yale, there was a biology class that I worked so hard to get a C. There were so many incredibly talented, brilliant people there, and I realized I wasn’t the big fish in the pond anymore. I was really humbled. At that point, I realized that I could work really hard, or I could go more toward my natural abilities.” 

What has been your greatest success? Greatest challenge?

My biggest success has been my children. I have four children, two sets of twins—three boys and a girl. They’re young adults, two still in college, two just graduated. My ex-husband and I had seven years of infertility and navigating that and being successful at having them—they are my biggest joy.”

“[My biggest challenge] was my divorce to my ex-husband. It made me sad, but we were no longer helping each other on our paths, so we had to break up. I think the way we broke up was harmful to our kids and that would be my biggest regret.”

Who do you look to for advice or guidance?

“I remember I had a volleyball coach who when I was a little girl she looked at me, she said, ‘Sarah, you have what it takes; if you want, you can become President of the United States.’ I feel really blessed that I’ve had coaches who have seen the best in me.”

“My mother has always been a safe place for me to fall and just to help navigate.”

“In the industry, I continue to develop relationships with women who can coach and offer advice in the independent system. I love going to conferences because it can get isolating here in Spokane because there aren’t many women my age who have built a business, and the higher up you go in an organization, the more isolating it is. 

What advice would you give to young women trying to go into your field?

I think it’s important in my field and in other fields that women realize it’s a marathon, not a sprint. You show up, day in and day out. It’s the little steps that can help you navigate, and life is always going to happen. I do believe you can be a doting mother and run a big company—you can have life on your terms—it does mean you have to take steps to navigate that and understand when to assert your power and when to maybe not. I think it’s important that women persevere and go for it; you’ve got to lean in, right?

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Gynii Gilliam

President at Jobs Plus, Coeur d’Alene Area Economic Development Corporation

Work Experience

Gynii attended UCLA to study international politics. During her junior year, she interned with a consulting firm that does economic development and they offered her a job because she graduated early. She continued to work for them through graduate school at University of Michigan. When she came back to Idaho, she worked for a different consulting firm doing transportation, but also in economic development. She stepped out of the field because her children were young and the job demanded a lot of traveling. She opened her flower and gift shop in Challis, Idaho. She sold her shop and was doing substitute teaching in calculus and physics. The state started a part-time job in rural economic development, and one of her friends suggested she apply. She received the job and was doing economic development for Custer County and Lemhi County. Bannock County had a vacancy in Pocatello, and they recruited her to go down there. From there, she was recruited to go to the state. It was a bit too administrative for her, so when the position came up at Jobs Plus, Coeur d’Alene Area Economic Development Corporation, she applied.

What did you want to do when you were younger and what would the younger version of you think of you now?

“When I was younger, I thought I would do the same thing except in foreign countries, because I went into international politics because I thought I could offer US aid, or State Department, or something, so that I would be helping emerging nations. I just ended up doing it in the US. So I think my younger self would be pleased with how things turned out. And I do have a plan. I wanted to do the Peace Corps thing right out of college, except I had a job, so I couldn’t really do that. But I’m going to do a volunteer economic development stuff—I’ve looked around, there’s a whole bunch of different things—when I retire. I’m just going to do it backwards.”

What has been your greatest success? Greatest challenge?

“Personally, my boys, because they’ve grown up to be contributing members of society, so that’s always one of the things that you hope to manage to do. Professionally, I think it’s the impact of the positions that I’ve been in, and the number of jobs that have been created in Idaho through the various partnerships—that’s a big part of economic development. I just feel like I’ve contributed to society.”

“The whole challenge of being a working mom, I think it’s still very prevalent even today. You would think that we would be well past that, but we’re not. I think it’s still a bigger challenge for working moms than working dads.” 

“Everything is so divisive right now; even things that shouldn’t have a political pinch have a political tinge to it, so it makes it harder for economic development. Both our regions are growing at a very rapid rate. There are people who think we should just close the gate. First, there’s no gate to close. And legally, you can’t close a gate. People will come, you can’t control people wanting to come to our area. The best that we can do is to help manage that growth.”

Who do you look to for advice or guidance?

“Mom and Dad, of course. My boys taught me a lot in terms of because they’re with you day to day and it’s a different perspective. So as a mom, I learned a lot.”

“I look up to all my girlfriends, they give me inspiration. They propped me up when I needed to be propped up. They listen to you when you need to whine and complain about some things because of frustration. My sisters and girlfriends, I really value what they bring to my life.”

What advice would you give to young women trying to go into your field?

“Find mentors, whether it’s someone in the field, or someone that can just help you with leadership, making decisions, someone that makes sure that you’re staying on the true path. And speaking of truth, be true to yourself. Don’t lose your moral compass. Sometimes it feels easy for those things to happen, because you’re trying to make compromises to make things happen. But don’t lose that.”

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Monica Simeon and Marina TurningRobe

Founding Partners at Sister Sky; Sister Sky, Inc.; Holistic Native; Native Business Center

Work Experience

After college, both sisters started their professional career in the Indian gaming. In the early 90s, they started a hobby making soaps and candles while still working their day jobs, taking their products to weekend craft shows, learning about how people perceived their product. Then they rented a kiosk at what used to be the Franklin Park Commons. They knew that the tribes were in a second phase—they had built the casinos and were now able to add hotels to that anchor business—and they decided to offer their brand in sample sizes to the industry nationwide. They went to tradeshows around the country that were specific to Indian gaming and met tribal leaders throughout the country. Many of the leaders ended up asking the sisters to come speak about starting a business. They did this a few times, but it didn’t feel responsible to the sisters because they were coming in, giving them a pep talk, and leaving. They became certified in a curriculum called Indianpreneurship; the curriculum had leave-behind resources. They received their 8(a) certification and started their federal contracts division, but also opened their two nonprofits, Holistic Native and Native Business Center while still maintaining their products division. Everything was tied together in their mission of health, wellness, and education resources.

What did you want to do when you were younger and what would the younger version of you think of you now?

“My younger version of myself thought I would be in advertising somewhere in New York City. My younger self would say, ‘Well, you didn’t get anywhere near that. But you got so much more.’ I think that I think honestly my younger self had a lot of dreams, but was pretty timid and saw stuff and kind of hoped that it would happen, but didn’t manifest that.” -Monica

“I didn’t have any belief in myself when I was younger. I think when we were young adults, we kind of got we looked around especially when we were maybe traveling with  our business in the beginning and we would see other Native Americans that were kind, were successful, or role modeling. And even then it was still like, ‘Can we? Can’t we?’ We’ve got this little business. And finally, one day, I got pissed off and I said, ‘You know what? I can do this.’” -Marina

What has been your greatest success? Greatest challenge?

“My greatest success is bringing up the next generation. I’m fortunate now to have seen to have worked with my niece, who is like my daughter, and my son bringing them into into the business and into entrepreneurship and into the vision of doing good work. 

I feel so blessed to be witnessing that, and to see where it goes. To be mentoring in that capacity is very cool.” -Monica

“My biggest challenge is still how transactional some organizations, agencies, or programs can be with tribal communities. We know how important it is to build relationship in our communities. We know the history of abuses and the mistrust that exists there and historical trauma. Yet still, it astounds me that folks still take their lens of going in and doing something and then lifting out. It just can’t be that way.” -Monica

“My biggest win has been keeping focus. There have been times where my focus has strayed, and I may get discouraged or really pissed off, but somehow, my focus would come back.”-Marina

“One of my biggest challenges is learning how to navigate conflict. I think I’ve learned as our business has grown how to manage that a bit better… I keep on working at that and learning how best to manage various types of conflict.” -Marina

Who do you look to for advice or guidance?

“In the very beginning stages of our products division, we would travel to conferences, convenings, and conventions. So, we would hear things that were on agendas or breakout sessions. Then we brought it back and talked about it, and did more research. So, it’s really like absorbing what’s coming at you.”-Marina

“I think it was a process of empowerment. The more information we got, the more empowered we became to make better decisions.” -Monica

What advice would you give to young women trying to go into your field?

“I’m a big believer in collaboration. Although it takes patience and effort, there’s a true efficiency when you can collaborate because you’re not duplicating resources, your learning curve isn’t as steep, you aren’t going to be burning through as many resources and ultimately, if you can successfully collaborate, you will have a better product or service.” -Monica

“Search your heart about wherever you’re going to go, or whatever you’re going to do. That’s the little trail that you’re cutting to go to that place, and you want to be honest because what you’re going to be doing is serving, whether you like it or not. That’s what we do: we serve. Working is serving, and where your heart is telling you to go, that’s a little trail you’re cutting for yourself. And that’s where you’re going to go serve.” -Marina