The Village Behind the American Dream
That lesson now shapes the advice she gives young women considering manufacturing, engineering or entrepreneurship. “Find mentors,” she says. “Find women and male mentors, because they bring different perspectives. Create your village early on.” Lisa admits she wishes she had understood that sooner. In Winton’s early years, she met extraordinary people but was often too consumed with raising children and building a business to nurture those relationships as intentionally as she might have. She also knows how easily women can convince themselves they need more experience before stepping forward. “As women, we feel like we have to be perfect before we have to feel like we are really, really ready. And you’ll never be really, really ready.”
Winton Machine’s story also has a deep connection to the U.S. Small Business Administration. From the company’s earliest years, Lisa and George used Small Business Development Centers for financial guidance, business education, exporting, marketing and connections. Later, when they needed financing to expand, conventional lenders saw manufacturing as too risky.
The SBA helped change that.
“If it wasn’t for the SBA, we would never have gotten a loan,” Lisa says. “We couldn’t have done it. There’s no way.” For her, those resources were never only financial. Often, the real value was being connected to someone who knew what Winton did not yet know.
“You can’t grow alone. You can’t be in a silo.”
122 BUILDING THE FUTURE WOMEN
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