Letter from the Editor For over 100 years, March has celebrated International Women’s Day. That has always been an easy day for me to remember, as it is also my birthday! Traditionally, we have celebrated this special day by marking some amazing Women in Business articles in our magazines. This month is no different, as we have highlighted three incredible local businesswomen here in Port Stanley and Union. I have always had a great role model in my life when it comes to women in business — my mom, Gloria. She has been in sales longer than I have been alive, selling everything from shoes to mobile homes and flooring to what she is best known for -- advertising. Growing up, I learned a lot from her. Not only was she gifted in sales, but she was also wildly creative. She could come up with unique features and products to sell, and she could craft fun, creative ads for her customers. I grew up in a house full of salespeople. My dad owned his own business, and my brother has sold everything from ink cartridges to mattresses to windows and doors. I always said I didn’t want to grow up and be ‘a salesperson’ because I knew what a lot of people thought about salespeople. But what I learned from my mother is that if you put the customer first, if you think about what they need and what is in their best interest, then you don’t need to be pushy. People will appreciate you and want to work with you.
So, when in 2011, the right opportunity arose, my mother contacted me about a job as a print sales representative for a new newspaper in London. She knew I could do it — after all, it was in my blood — and she knew I had the right temperament for it. Sales is hard. When I sold advertising for the new newspaper, I joked that I got told ‘no’ for a living. But another of my mother’s true skills as a salesperson — and now as a sales manager — was recognizing talent and shaping it into something more than just ‘sales’. She taught me how to help business owners market their goods and grow their businesses. Turns out, she was right about me all along, as I was quite successful in London and then in St. Thomas. While my mother continues to do what she loves, she still does it with the same panache she always has. She looks after her customers first. She always said, ‘If you look after your customers, they will look after you’. While she never achieved her dream of becoming a nurse, life had other plans, turning her into one heck of a salesperson, manager, and mom. And I am proud to say that I still have never grown up to be a ‘salesperson’; instead, I work with businesses to help them grow and achieve success. Much of that success is life lessons I learned from the first woman in business I knew!
Page 2 Port Stanley Villager • March 2025
To advertise here, please contact Geoff@villagerpublications.com
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs