Mary Hinkleman, executive director of the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce, speaks at the Women in Business Luncheon.
Women can accomplish success even in the face of personal challenges.
Three Bowling Green businesswomen shared their path to success at the annual Women in Business Luncheon held Saturday at Stone Ridge Golf Club.
Dusty Pendleton, owner of Retro Detailing; Annette Rader, senior manager at the William Vaughan Company; and Jan McLaughlin, with the BG Independent News, each spoke of the challenges they overcame before they found success.
When she was a single mom, a trip to the grocery store was a lesson in humility as she paid with food stamps, Pendleton said.
She said she thought asking for help was admitting failure.
People think of poverty as a lack of money, but it’s a lack of hope, she said, and explained a system that encourages people to not work in order to continue to receive benefits.
When poor, a sick baby means missing work and therefore earning no money.
She said she craved a level of security and fought to get it.
“We don’t have any other choice than to believe in ourselves,” Pendleton said. “Believe in yourself. Trust that your ideas matter, that your voice matters.”
Pendleton’s husband, Doug, said he wanted to own his own business because he never wanted to work for anyone else again.
She said she jokes she wanted to own a business so she could spend time with her husband, and people believe that.
Doug oversees shop operations, allowing Dusty to focus on strategic development, social media, and business management. She is also co-hosting a detailing podcast currently in development and is authoring a book aimed at helping aspiring detailers launch successful businesses.
“I’m proof you can build yourself from nothing,” she said.
Rader said she always knew she wanted to be an accountant, and taxes are all she now does.
She was fired from a job when the company downsized and there was another employee with the necessary tax experience.
She returned to Bowling Green to work and now she serves as a senior manager in the tax department of William Vaughan Company.
Rader is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants, currently serving on the Women’s Initiative Committee and a former member of the executive committee.
Last month she marked 35 years as a certified public accountant in Bowling Green, she said, and her clients almost feel like family.
She went from no job to one she’s held for more than three decades, she said.
“When God closes a door, he opens a window,” she said. “There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.”
McLaughlin, who was the featured speaker, said she grew up in a home where hard work and honesty were the top priorities.
She has covered news in Wood County for 40 years, covering city councils and school boards, personal successes and tragedies.
As a former instructor at Bowling Green State University, she told her students their mistakes should keep them awake at night.
She spoke from experience, explaining early in her career she typed “children” instead of “chicken” was being served, and said she was surprised to have a job he next day.
Journalists wield a great deal of power, and they are motivated by a belief that a community functions best when members know what’s going on, she said.
McLaughlin shared four tips for success:
Don’t let self-doubt sideline you.
Roll with the punches. McLaughlin was editor at the Sentinel-Tribune when she was fired after 31 years for insubordination. A month later, she and others started BG Independent News.
Do work that matters. She said she has spent the last nine years posting stories “we think readers might care about.”
Surround yourself with people you can count on. She said when she underwent treatment for cancer, family, friends and colleagues were there to help.
The luncheon, hosted by the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce, was held to celebrate October as National Women’s Small Business Month.
