Women in Business Making a Difference

• Eileen Proctor, VP of Franchise Development at Scenthound
• Laurie Spivack, President & CEO of Goodbye Graffiti USA
• Michele Rempel, Managing Partner of Westvyne

Elizabeth Denham starts off by asking: “What challenges have you faced in business as a woman?” The conversation was a lively one.

Laurie shared that her business of graffiti removal was anything but sexy in fact it is a dirty job. She works with men mostly, both as employees and as customers. At times business owners and even clients preferred speaking with a man rather than a woman about their graffiti removal needs. She has learned in those situations to simply provide what the client wants and to not take it personally. In her mind, someone’s desire to deal with a man instead of woman was no reflection on her.

Eileen Proctor echoed that sentiment, sharing we cannot control what people think or what their biases are. She simply takes her ego and gender out of the equation. If someone has an opposing belief or simply needs to be right – Eileen says it does not matter to her long as the job gets done.

Michele Rempel says in the past she had issues around men who preferred to speak or work with men instead of her. However, she believes some of it was her own mental state and lack of confidence. As she matured and grew in her technology and marketing craft issues of confidence and being taken seriously by men disappeared.