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Above Left to Right: Robyn Feigenbaum, Patricia Whitaker, Ruth A. McGowan, Wendy B. Gray, Laura L. Herring, Karen O. Drake, Kathleen Flemming, and Barbara Bartley-Turkington.
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Women entrepreneurs in the St. Louis area are crossing thresholds, breaking barriers and answering doubters by running thriving companies.
By Liese L. Hutchison
Over and over, women business owners are proving themselves—in boardrooms, with profits and at home. They seem to do it all. St. Louis Commerce Magazine asked a group of women entrepreneurs to discuss their successes at a recent round table. These women were chosen because they: founded businesses, live and work in the metro area, are active in the RCGA and were willing to meet for a two-hour luncheon and photo session.
Interestingly, these prospering women entrepreneurs share a number of similarities:
- most come from large families, through which they learned to handle a variety of situations
- all were encouraged by parents or spouses to strike out on their own
- most played competitive sports in high school and, in some cases, in college, enabling them to think quickly, drive toward goals, believe in themselves and feel that failure was not an option
- all self-financed their businesses
- reasons for starting their own businesses, from as long ago as 1981 to as recently as eight months ago, were pretty consistent: they wanted to take control of their lives and time, and they saw opportunities that they seized
- all thrive on the challenge and excitement of running their own companies.
Numerous topics were covered, from “making it in male-dominated industries such as banking and construction” to “balancing work, family and community involvement.”
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"Balancing our personal lives makes us more capable of handling multiple projects in the business world."
- Karen Drake, Owens Drake Consulting
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Doing Business in St. Louis
The discussion started off by pondering the importance of being from St. Louis and whether or not it is harder for women to break into the “good-old-boy” network. Some have experienced the St. Louis region to be a great place for women to do business. Wendy Gray feels it was relatively easy starting a company here. “I’m from Chicago, and I don’t think I would have been successful if I stayed there,” she notes.
But others bring up the “Where did you go to high school?” question when discussing business success in St. Louis.
“I live in Illinois. I think that when you’re not from St. Louis and everybody else is, it’s harder to make it,” Barbara Bartley-Turkington notes.
Laura Herring says being from the area doesn’t guarantee success. “I grew up in St. Louis. I didn’t go to Mary Institute, Clayton, Burroughs or Ladue. In corporate St. Louis, those kinds of connections are critical,” she states.
“But it’s easier for you as a native daughter,” Bartley-Turkington replies.
“Not necessarily,” Ruth McGowan remarks. “In the ’70s and ’80s, the corporate people in St. Louis wanted to work with people from outside the area. Now in the ’90s you see the switch to using St. Louisans.” McGowan maintains she is still asked the question today on where she went to high school.
“Did you find that inhibited you from getting in the door?” Patricia Whitaker queries.
“Everyone’s in an uproar that I’m a product of the public school system. They love it that I went to Washington University and received my master’s from Saint Louis University, and that gives me a little more credibility than saying I was a public school graduate. It’s not only high school connections and lifelong friendships women might need to overcome, but it’s also finding women in decision-making roles.”
Herring agrees. “It’s hard to overcome when you go to a prospective client and want to do business and they say ‘I’ve been working with Joe for 20 years.’ It has only been very recently that women have been in decision-making roles.”
Karen Drake chimes in, “It’s hard, but it’s not awful. There are women that don’t make it. This is a real relationship town. I’m not a native either.”
Herring continues, “I just called on a company that I had called on 10 years ago, and it was interesting because I was asked the same question I was asked then: ‘Who do you have in St. Louis as a client?’” she notes. Having already been asked that, Herring made sure she was armed with big-name St. Louis companies as clients this time. “St. Louis is a very different place to do business,” Herring says diplomatically.
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Barbara Bartley-Turkington
Barbara Bartley-Turkington, president, Newco Flooring Systems — An Air Force Lieutenant Colonel assigned to Scott Air Force Base, Bartley-Turkington started her company after she retired from the service. Projects she’s worked on include the TWA Dome, Brown Hall at Washington University, Hyatt Regency Hotel and the Thomas F. Eagleton Building. Bartley-Turkington is a Leadership St. Louis graduate, a former National YWCA entrepreneur of the year winner and board member for SSM Healthcare, YWCA, Focus St. Louis and Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club.
Karen O. Drake
Karen O. Drake, president Owens Drake Consulting, Inc. — A native of Washington, D.C., Drake launched her company in St. Louis in 1989. She took her 20 years of experience as a trainer, speaker and psychotherapist and created a firm that helps organizations improve their capabilities through organizational diagnosis, organizational development and management skill improvement. Drake serves on numerous boards and is a graduate of Leadership St. Louis. She received her bachelor’s in psychology from Indiana State University and her master’s in psychology from Washington University.
Robyn Feigenbaum
Robyn Feigenbaum, president, Oakwood Systems Group — Feigenbaum’s career began in 1971 as a programmer/analyst. Citing an entrepreneurial spirit, she educated herself on a new minicomputer that IBM was distributing in order to leave her position and start offering her services as a consultant. In 1981 she founded Oakwood. Today the high-tech company, with $7 million in revenue, employs 70 people in St. Louis, Nashville and Kansas City. Oakwood, a three-time Technology FAST 50 winner, also won the 1998 Arthur Andersen Best Business Practices for Motivating and Retaining Employees. Oakwood still employs four of its first five employees.
Kathleen Flemming
Kathleen Flemming, president and CEO, Frontenac Bank — Flemming has banking in her blood. After 20 years of banking, including seven as vice president at Boatmen’s (now Bank of America), Flemming decided to open her own bank. In three-and-one-half weeks she raised the necessary $6.4 million, secured the charter and opened a facility in Earth City. Flemming started the Banks R Four Kids Too! Program and is planning to open a branch early next year. She received her bachelor’s in business management from Southern University in Charleston, S.C., and MBA from Fontbonne College.
Wendy B. Gray
Wendy B. Gray, founding principal, Gray Design Group — Gray started her own design firm in 1982. Today, Gray Design employs more than 55 design professionals and has offices in Denver and Fort Meyers, Fla. Gray’s firm is consistently ranked as one of the best in the business and she offers a full range of design services, including architecture, corporate office design, tenant planning and commercial interior design. Gray is a Focus/Leadership St. Louis graduate and received her bachelor’s in environmental design from the University of Missouri–Columbia.
Laura L. Herring
Laura L. Herring, president and CEO, The IMPACT Group — A pioneer in career/life transition support, Herring founded The IMPACT Group in 1988 to provide numerous services to its corporate clients: recruitment; employee, spouse and family relocation; outplacement; dependent care resources and career management consulting. Herring, a psychologist, works with Fortune 500 companies around the globe. Active in numerous organizations, the St. Louis native graduated from Webster University and Washington University. She also studied psychology at The Institute of European Studies in Vienna.
Ruth A. McGowan
Ruth A. McGowan, president, MarjeM Diversified, Inc. —McGowan started her career in St. Louis in 1971 when she joined Southwestern Bell Telephone as a plant extension engineer. Eleven years later she opened a McDonald’s franchise with her husband (the duo currently operate two franchises) and in 1991, McGowan, a St. Louis native, founded MarjeM. The training and work force development consulting firm works with a variety of companies, specifically women-owned, African American and other minority entrepreneurs. An RCGA, Business Finance Corp. and Industrial Development Authority board member, McGowan received her bachelor’s in applied mathematics from Washington University and MBA from Saint Louis University.
Patricia Whitaker
Patricia Whitaker, president & CEO, Arcturis (formerly Interior Space, Inc.) — Whitaker’s full-service architectural company works with Fortune 500 companies providing architectural and interior design services. Starting on her own in 1977, Whitaker’s company now employs 60 people and works with such clients as Ameren, Union Planters Bank, Edward Jones, Enterprise and Citicorp. She works on numerous boards and committees, including the RCGA, Arts & Education Council, YMCA, McKendree College, March of Dimes, St. Louis Art Fair and Grand Center.
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Proving Themselves
When asked whether the group felt they had to have more credentials or be smarter to succeed because they were women, they all agreed—women have to be better, especially in traditionally male fields. Drake states, “You have to be better and you have to be smarter.”
Bartley-Turkington says being in a male-dominated field such as construction has its challenges. Recently a man on a job site approached her and said condescendingly, “Let me explain construction to you.” In another instance, she recalls a meeting with a large company and the owner said, “Do you think I’m going to give you any of my business when you’ve only been in business for four years?” Instead of reacting to his comment, she relays, “I listened to what he had to say and walked out of the room with $6 million of his business.”
“He could have been testing you,” Whitaker comments. “I’ve never found it to be a disadvantage being a women. I find that if you show what you can do, they give you more work. Our business is about long-term relationships. Once you get past the initial meeting or contact and you can show you’re a competent person, you can get business.”
“I’m not from St. Louis and being in banking, it’s pretty much a male-dominated field,” Kathy Flemming notes.
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"You show your commitment and your passion for your business and clients will commit to you."
- Laura Herring, The Impact Group
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Robyn Feigenbaum says being in a male-dominated field hasn’t hurt her business. “Being in technology and being a woman has not stopped me at all. Clients say ‘I want someone good,’” she notes. “I don’t think it has affected me. I was one of two women in my graduating class. I don’t notice the difference anymore.”
“I don’t think gender has been a problem for me. Being an African American is more of a barrier. Sometimes the ethnic part is a lot harder,” McGowan states.
Herring says succeeding is not necessarily about gender or race, but the ability to make relationships. “You show your commitment and your passion for your business and clients will commit to you.”
True, notes McGowan, “It’s about relationships and getting involved in the civic arena.”
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Key Facts About Women-Owned Business in the U.S.
- As of 1999, there are 9.1 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., employing over 27.5 million people and generating more than $3.6 trillion in sales.
- Between 1987 and 1999, the number of women-owned firms increased by 103% nationwide, employment increased by 320%, and sales grew by 436%.
- As of 1996, one in eight (13%) women-owned businesses in the U.S. was owned by a woman of color. These 1,067,000 minority women-owned firms employ nearly 1.7 million people and generate $184.2 billion in sales.
- As of 1999, women-owned firms accounted for 38% of all firms in the U.S.
- The top growth industries for women-owned businesses between 1987 and 1999 were construction, wholesale trade, transportation/communications, agribusiness, and manufacturing.
- Women-owned businesses are as financially sound and creditworthy as the typical firm in the U.S. economy, and are more likely to remain in business than the average U.S. firm.
- As of 1998, just over half of women- and men-owned businesses—52% and 59%, respectively— have bank financing. However, women entrepreneurs have lower levels of available credit than their male counterparts, and women business owners of color are less likely than Caucasian women business owners to have bank credit.
- When making purchasing and other decisions, women business owners are more likely than men entrepreneurs to seek advice from associates and advisors; they place more emphasis on quality, service and vendor reputation.
SOURCE: National Foundation for Women Business Owners
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Community Involvement
Flemming stresses the importance of community involvement. “I’ve experienced the banking business in New York and D.C. and banking in these places is more formal than here,” she states. “A lot of business that I do here is at the ice rink with the kids or marching in a parade or sponsoring a soccer T-shirt. I get a kick out of business by helping other people realize their dreams.
“Any female-owned business has to focus on ‘what can I give back to my community.’ Out-of-town companies are absorbing all the profit and investing it in their communities. We need to give back. As women, we have that empathetic and emotional side to us that enables us to look at the big picture,” she states.
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"It's about relationships and getting involved in the civic arena."
- Ruth McGowen, MarjeM Diversified
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“For me, what I really appreciate about St. Louis is that if you want to get involved, the people will embrace you,” Herring notes. She says that by getting involved in community activities and giving 110 percent, she’s garnered a lot of business.
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Key Facts About Women-Owned Business in St. Louis
- As of 1999, there are 78,100 women-owned firms in the St. Louis metropolitan area, representing 37% of all firms.
- Women-owned firms in the St. Louis metropolitan area employ 244,200 people and generate more than $30.8 billion in sales.
- Between 1992 and 1999, the number of women-owned firms in St. Louis increased by 36%, employment grew by 106% and sales rose by 141%.
- St. Louis ranks 24th out of the top 50 metropolitan areas in the number, employment and sales of women-owned firms.
- The St. Louis metropolitan area ranks 36th out of the top 50 metropolitan areas in terms of the percent growth in the number, employment and sales of women-owned firms between 1992 and 1999.
SOURCE: National Foundation for Women Business Owners
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The Balancing Act
“I’m very glad to be a woman business owner, but it poses a lot of challenges in terms of balance. Last night I was at my kids’ soccer match, other nights I watch my kids play hockey, together they are on four different teams. Guys don’t understand that you really want to get everything done,” Flemming says.
“I think balancing everything makes you better,” Drake states. “I guess that comes from having a lot of strong women in my family; the way we were raised is that you’ve got to take care of what God gave you, because we all have gifts and some people may try to diminish those gifts. My mom always used to say ‘make it work.’ Balancing our personal lives makes us more capable of handling multiple projects in the business world.” She says this personal and professional juggle she believes makes her stronger.
McGowan sums up most of the women’s sentiments. “Yes there are hills, and sometimes they look like they’re mountains, but they’re not insurmountable. Some people will look at us as women, some as minorities; it sits there like baggage, but you have to get over it.” And these women have, building successful professional and personal lives for the next generation of women business owners to emulate.
Liese L. Hutchison is an assistant professor in the department of communication at Saint Louis University and a free-lance writer.
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