Whichever direction your political posture may lean, 2008 is a landmark in the history of women's leadership. While it's not the first time for a woman to achieve major party nomination - - Geraldine Ferraro was Vice Presidential nominee for the losing Democratic party in 1984 - - the outpouring of support for female Oval Office candidates in both major parties this year was unprecedented.
Janet Holloway, co-founder and Executive Director of Women Leading Kentucky, is glad to admit that the playing field for men and women is "more equal than it's ever been." Women Leading Kentucky rewards individuals and businesses that are committed to advancing women's leadership in the state, through awards, scholarships, roundtable luncheons, and an annual Women's Business and Leadership Conference.
Holloway came to Kentucky in 1990 from New York City to take a job at the University of Kentucky as the state director of the Kentucky Small Business Development Center. Early on, she made it part of her daily work to bring together women entrepreneurs from all over the state - - a task that turned out to be more daunting than she originally imagined. What she found was that "in the rural parts of the state, it was rather difficult to identify successful accomplished women business owners." Of the female rural Kentucky business owners she did meet, most of whom ran salons or boutiques (typically female-dominated businesses), Holloway was surprised at how many "still had joint checking accounts with their husbands - - meaning if they needed to buy inventory, they needed their husband's co-signature on a check; if they needed a vehicle, they needed their husband's co-signature."
After many conversations with these women centering on the idea that if they ever wanted to move ahead as business owners, they needed their own money, emerged the concept for a conference to help young and growing women entrepreneurs understand the basics of establishing and expanding a business. The UK conference, at the time called Women Mean Business, defied the popular expectation that "women wouldn't drive from rural Kentucky to Lexington for an all-day conference" - - somewhere between 300 and 500 women showed up, and the energy roused by the speakers, workshops, and networking was like "igniting a fire," according to Holloway.
Through leading the conference for several years, Holloway began to realize more and more that working with women was what she wanted to make her life's work. She also realized that, during a time she calls "the heyday of entrepreneurship," she wanted to try her hand at starting her own business. In establishing J. Holloway & Associates in 1999, Holloway was able to achieve both of those ideals, though at the time she had no idea what she wanted her business to do besides creating a statewide conference for women.
Among Holloway's early discoveries was that teaching about business ownership is one thing; actually doing it is something different entirely. "But I was determined to make this work. I just had to make it work," she said. "I realized that I liked working for myself better than I liked working for someone else ... I liked that freedom, I liked the creative possibilities it offered."
Acknowledging the importance of a small business having a solid professional team, one of Holloway's first measures was creating an advisory board, which included Paula Hanson of Dean, Dorton, and Ford; Laura Boison, at the time with Bank One (now with ES Barr & Co.); Lisa Davis of One Alliance; Governor Martha Layne Collins and others. She credits much of the success of Women Leading Kentucky to the support, ideas, and efforts of her advisory board throughout the years.
By the middle of the second year of the conference, the board was looking into forming a 501c3 so that Women Leading Kentucky, which they had then begun to call themselves, "would have root in this community, it would have longevity, it would belong more to the community."
In 2009, the Women's Business & Leadership Conference will be 10 years strong; monthly roundtable networking sessions are regularly filled to capacity. Holloway cites a number of reasons for its long-running success, the first being their ability to bring together business people from so many sectors: legal, health care, corporate, non-profit, the civic community, the arts community, and so on. "If I'm a small business owner, I need to do business with corporate people. If I'm an educator, I need to understand what's going on in my community," said Holloway. "So I think that complexity of sectors is one big advantage that brings people there."
Other factors that put the business where it is today include the welcoming atmosphere of the meetings, and the fact that businesses are beginning to realize the importance of marketing to women (see the Viral Rant column in this issue, p. 21), and a solid team of dedicated professionals and sponsors throughout its tenure.
The role of women as leaders has certainly come a long way, but Holloway thinks there is still certainly room for progress - - companies are still learning to talk to and market to females, she said, and women are still building confidence and becoming comfortable with their ability and power. In the meantime, women and men committed to pushing these issues forward are in good company here in Kentucky - - with much thanks to Ms. Holloway and her associates at Women Leading Kentucky.