Q and A with Heather from Adams, Massachusetts, United States
“A lot of entrepreneurs and women in general, are always worried about what others will think. We are afraid of being judged. This fear keeps us from starting something or going all in on something.“
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: What am I passionate about? That’s actually a hard one for me. I have so many things that I love doing but am passionate about?…hmm.
Well to start off, I am extremely passionate about my children. I have three kiddos, and I am very passionate about teaching them to be good people with morals and life skills. This has become a bit harder with a 13-year-old boy with ADHD. He has the base; he just needs to remind himself to use it.
My other passions are entrepreneurship and sharing my knowledge. I have been a business owner for more than 20 years. During that time, I have educated myself and have learned tips, tricks, and don’t dos. I feel it is my duty to share that knowledge with others. I will actually be teaching workshops at my local community college; starting a business for adults and a young entrepreneurship class. I am super excited about this. I am most excited about teaching kids. If I can give them the tools they need now, this gives them a way better chance of having a better life. (I will also be teaching Life Skills for Teens and Pre-teens as well as a cooking class for kids. Kids are a big part of my passion for teaching.)
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: Growing up, my parents worked their butts off to provide for my brother, sister, and myself. They worked long hours and sometimes multiple jobs. My father actually worked at the same place for the first 18 years after leaving high school and has worked for the town since he left there. My mother worked at a chain grocery store for almost as long as I have been alive. I definitely saw a strong work ethic from my parents.
My grandparents lived next door, and we spent a lot of time with them. Especially my grandfather. He was a former farm boy from Ohio who fell in love with an educated Second Lieutenant in the Women’s Auxiliary United while he was enlisted during WWII. My grandfather was a truly inspiring man. He believed in constantly educating himself. After he passed I found books, tests, and certifications from distance learning programs. He was also a family man. He loved spending time with his kids, grandkids, and his wife, my grandmother. He was funny, blunt, and a role model. I believe he shaped so much of who I am and who I strive to be.
Growing up, I was not exactly the child that my parents wanted me to be. Back in the ’80s and ’90s, it was drilled into your heads that you needed to go to college and get a real job. That has never been who I am. Although I love learning, I am not a college degree kind of person. In that sense, I was a bit of a wild child. I loved photography and interior design. I loved being creative and crafty. I did not have the best grades in school. I mean I passed all….I think I passed all of my classes. Hey, I graduated high school and that is what matters right?
After high school, I took a few classes at two different local colleges and then went to Boston to the New England School of Photography. I really enjoyed my time there. I learned more in one class than I had learned in all the photography classes that I had taken combined. After studying there, I went back home and studied graphic design at a local trade school. We had a requirement to take a photography class, and I actually helped my teacher to teach that class. That might have been where the spark for teaching started because that was my first glimpse of sharing my knowledge like that. I was so proud of myself at that time. Proud of knowing that I had information to share and proud that I had the ability to share it with others.
My parents had shown me what their version of work ethic was, but my version did not match theirs. Where they worked at the same place for much of their lives, I worked at many different places, learning new skills and never settling. As much as I loved some of the jobs that I had, they were just jobs.
My senior year in high school I had been hired by my aunt to photograph a wedding as the second photographer, as her present to the bride and groom. That was the start of my first business for me. I built that business up over time. It was a long road of working multiple jobs and trying to run a business. It was a journey of trying to understand business. When I figured out how to brand my business, market my business locally, and really dive deep into my business, it became successful. In addition to the photography business I also had a small children’s clothing business. I learned a lot from that business but ultimately decided that sewing was more of a hobby for me. It’s more of my escape and running it as a business was not working for me mentally. In addition to those two businesses, I run a small food trailer. I love cooking for others and sharing healthy and tasty food with them. I have only been doing this for about a year, but absolutely love it.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: I have always been a very hard-working person. I am never interested in settling. I spent too long as a kid and a teenager feeling like I was less than or being judged….I am not willing to let that rule me anymore. A lot of entrepreneurs and women in general, are always worried about what others will think. We are afraid of being judged. This fear keeps us from starting something or going all in on something.
Don’t let fear keep you from following your passions or being who you are. You have a purpose. “Our fate lives within us, you only have to be brave enough to see it.” (Disney’s Brave 2012)
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism….At the risk of people, especially women, getting mad at me, I have never associated myself with feminism. It’s not because I don’t believe in equality, actually, it’s exactly the opposite. I feel that the term feminism is an ideal that is very narrowly focused on a specific vision of what gender equality is. To me, it seems mostly political.
What I do believe in is the ability for women to be who they are and be able to act accordingly, without prejudice or fear of retaliation. It is all genders, all classes, and all ethnicities, loving and respecting each other. It is empowering those around us. Allowing them to be the person that they are meant to be. If a woman wants to be a housewife then she can. If a man wants to stay at home and run the household and raise the children, he can. Without being looked down on. If a woman wants to run a massive business and run it with gusto, she can. If a woman wants to be a world leader, no one will say she can’t run for office due to her gender, culture, or economic class.
Being human is about acting humanly to all in spite of our differences because our differences make us human.
MORE ABOUT HEATHER: All of my experiences, my time learning, and running my businesses, have set me up for where I am now, I decided to really follow my passions and start teaching on a larger scale. I started Learn Business U. I have created a couple of workbooks and I am starting to develop my full course on Business Clarity and my coaching program. I love working 1-on-1 or in small groups, helping entrepreneurs, so I am very excited about this new venture.
I’d love for fellow entrepreneurs to join my Facebook group, Learn & Grow for Entrepreneurs. www.facebook.com/groups/learngrowbusinesslbu/
The Woman Wednesday Blog 