Few people are aware that more than 11.6 million\u00a0firms\u00a0are\u00a0owned\u00a0by\u00a0women, employing nearly 9 million people, and generating $1.7 trillion in sales as of 2017.\u00a0 In fact, women run businesses are helping to lead a resurgence in American manufacturing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many\nwomen-run businesses participated as exhibitors in the Made in America show,\nand as I mentioned in my last article, I participated as a panelist for the\nWomen Leading America Made session that featured five women running their own\nAmerican-made businesses. Moderator Rose Tennent asked each of us to briefly\ndescribe our businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Barbara\nCreighton, CEO of Sarati International, Inc.<\/a> started her\ncompany in 1992 in south Texas to make private label prescription drugs,\nproprietary drugs, and skin care products. She said, \u201cWe develop custom\nformulations and then private label them. We make products like you would\npurchase, and we private label them. We are woman owned and woman run.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beverlee\nDacey, owner of Amodex Products<\/a>, said that\nher parents started the company in the early 1970s, and now she runs it. \u201cWe make a soap-based product that is an ink\nand stain remover liquid solution and do our own manufacturing in Bridgeport,\nCT. Amodex is the only stain remover recommended by the manufacturer of Sharpie\nto remove Sharpie ink from anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connie\nSylvester said, \u201cI am an inventor and founder of two companies, Water Rescue\nInnovations<\/a> and Mommy-Armor\nUSA<\/a>. I founded my first\ncompany six years ago in Duluth, MN to make the ARM-LOC water rescue device\nthat slides onto the victim’s forearm and locks into place so that a rescuer can\npull the victim to safety. I sell to a\nmale-dominated industry of first responders, fire-fighters, police, and rescue\nsquads. I\u2019m often the only woman telling men how to rescue people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n She\nshared how she started her second company, Mommy Armor USA. On February 14,\n2018, after she dropped off her son at school, she got a text message saying there\nwas a school shut down due to a shooter. She was thankful that it wasn\u2019t at her\nson\u2019s school, but her heart broke for the 17 parents that lost their children\nat Parkland in Broward County, Florida. She\nsaid, \u201cThere was a problem, and I came up with a solution. I had some bullet\nproof material and suggested to my son that I could make a bullet-proof\nbackpack, but he said they had to leave their backpacks in their lockers. I\nasked what they got to take to class, and he said they get to take their 3-ring\nbinders. My other son said they get to take their daily planners. So, I got the\nidea of making a bullet-proof cover for the 3-ring binder and the daily\nplanner.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n She\nthen demonstrated how the bullet proof daily planner could be attached to the\n3-ring binder and how it could be used to shield your body like armor. She is\njust launching the product in time for Christmas. She has the Mommy Armor fabricated by a\ncompany in the hills of the Appalachian Mountains, Capewell Aerial Systems LLC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leigh\nValentine, founder of Leigh Valentine\u2019s Beauty said that she went through a\nterrible divorce, lost everything, slept on the floor, and was on welfare for a\nwhile. Then, the Lord gave her an incredible idea for a non-surgical face lift product\nmade from plant extracts that dramatically firms skin and takes away\nwrinkles. She was on the QVC shopping\nnetwork for 14 years and sold over 40,000,000 products. She said many people have told her she could\nsave money by buying from China, but she said, \u201cAll of my products are made in\nAmerica, and I try to buy as much as I can in America.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nshared that when I started my sales agency 34 years ago, I chose to only\nrepresent American manufacturers. I was\na woman in a man\u2019s world because I started out selling castings, forgings, and extrusions.\nNo buyer or engineer I saw had ever been called on by a woman. I visited all of the companies I represented\nand learned everything I could about their manufacturing so I would be\ninformed. When I saw what was happening to manufacturing and how it was being decimated,\nI started writing blog articles and reports and then wrote my book. Can\nAmerican Manufacturing be Saved\u201d Why we should and how we can<\/em> that came out\nin 2009. A second edition came out in 2012, and I have written over 300 articles\nin the past ten years. We have saved American manufacturing, and now we need to\nrebuild it. I showed everyone my latest book, Rebuild Manufacturing \u2013 the\nkey to American Prosperity<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rose asked us to what message we would give to a woman who has an idea for a\nproduct or who has already started her own business. Leigh said, \u201cYou really have to fight to\nbring your product to market. I partnered with some people that I wish I never\nhad partnered with.\u201d She would advise women that if they need a partner \u201cbe\ncareful to pick a partner that has the same values and vision you do. They will\nsteal from you and lie.\u201d In the end, it cost her $6 million to end the\npartnership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Beverlee\nsaid, \u201cWhen you run a company, don\u2019t think you are ever going to reach an equilibrium\nwhere you don\u2019t have problems. Every single day there are stress and problems.\nThen you realize that the problems don\u2019t go away, they just get bigger and\nworse. It is normal. It is part of what you do when you run a\ncompany. The other lesson I have learned is don\u2019t grow too fast. There is only\nso much you can do and only so much you can do well. We are only a five-person\ncompany. When we got picked up by Lowes, we made the decision not to go with\nHome Depot because we wanted to be a good partner to Lowes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barbara\nsaid, \u201cDon\u2019t believe all the lies that are being sold to young people. There is\nno a glass ceiling. Men created the glass ceiling to keep women down. I have\nnever felt held back by a glass ceiling. I was the first women on the west\ncoast to sell chemicals, and the first women in land development. The ceiling\nis only created by you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connie\nsaid, \u201cDon\u2019t set the bar too low and never give up.\u201d She did high jumping like her brothers and\nthey never lowered the bar for her even though she is only 5 ft. 3 in. She actually coached track and field for five\nyears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nsaid that I would advise a woman to never stop learning. \u201cI recently got my\ncertificate in Lean Six Sigma to be of more service to my customers. Service is\nall I have to offer \u2014 service to the companies I represent and service to my\ncustomers. When I started my company, I\nchose a motto: you achieve your goals by\nserving others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rose\ncommented that there seems to be more comradery at this trade show and asked us\nto share what we thought about the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leigh said, \u201cIt is such an honor to be here. I\nam thrilled and honored to be here. This is a movement, and we\u2019ve got to stick\ntogether and support each other\u2019s businesses.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Connie\nsaid, \u201cThis is like a family. I was actually at another Expo here and saw an\nannouncement on the TV in my hotel about this show, and I knew I had to be here. When I walked the aisles, I knew I had found\nmy people. Everyone of these people know what it takes to make products in\nAmerica. We could have hit the easy\nbutton and made things cheaper in other countries, but we chose to make our\nproducts in America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barbara\nsaid, \u201cIn this incredibly divisive world, we need to help one another. I am\nextremely excited about being able to share joy. I just try to lift others up.\nWe are Americans and are proud to be Americans, and we want to have joy in a\ncountry that has given us amazing opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beverlee\nsaid, \u201cThe Made in America movement has been around for awhile now, but what I\nhave enjoyed the most is that for the first time we have a \u201chubable\u201d wheel\nwhere there were a lot of silos. All of us here are together in this. It\u2019s not a trade show, it\u2019s a forum.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nsaid, \u201cThis show is a dream come true for me. Most people don\u2019t realize that\nmanufacturing is the foundation of the middle class. We lose manufacturing and\nwe lose the middle class. We\u2019ve had wage stagnation for 20 years, and my\nchildren aren\u2019t as well off as I was. We have to get the message across to our\nchildren and grandchildren of how important it is to make things in America\nagain. I heard it said that there are only three ways to create tangible\nwealth: \u201cGrow it, mine it, or make it.\u201d We need to create wealth for our\ncountry by making things in America so we can have a safe and free country.\n\nAfter\nour panel session ended, we said that we would look forward to seeing each\nother again at the 2020 Made in America Show. We know it will be even bigger\nand better, so don\u2019t miss it.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Few people are aware that more than 11.6 million\u00a0firms\u00a0are\u00a0owned\u00a0by\u00a0women, employing nearly 9 million people, and generating $1.7 trillion in sales as of 2017.\u00a0 In fact, women run businesses are helping to lead a resurgence in American manufacturing. Many women-run businesses participated as exhibitors in the Made in America show, and as I mentioned in my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,270,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-innovation","category-made-in-america","category-manufacturing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":935,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions\/935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}