UWO’s Women in Business (WIB) student organization hosted a panel discussion Feb. 27 that featured four women in various industries within Wisconsin sharing insights into their careers and the workplace.
The panelists included Paula Haferman, CPA and partner at Hawkins Ash CPAs, Kelly Tetzlaff Carl, district manager at Penske Truck Leasing; Hannah Freeman, director of continuous improvement at JX Truck Center and Grace Taylor, marketing and communications manager at LaForce.
The event was the WIB’s first guest speaker event of the semester, with over two dozen female students participating in the discussion in a classroom at Sage Hall.
Throughout the evening, the speakers focused on sharing their experiences and giving advice in their male-dominated fields, and how female representation at the workplace has evolved over the years in their respective industries.
Tetzlaff Carl said she acknowledges that the transportation industry is heavily male-dominated but hopes that stigma will change by the time she is done in her career as a leader and manager.
“There really wasn’t any women in leadership when I first started, and that was a culture shock when I got out of college,” she said. “There’s a lot you can learn from that if you’re willing to adapt to where you are.”
Tetzlaff Carl said that while some may not respect people like her in her industry because she is a woman, she believes that speaking with enough conviction will get anyone to believe what someone has to say.
“I think my biggest learning lesson when I started is finding my voice and being very direct and assertive … because it helps with confidence,” she said.
Freeman is also familiar with the transportation industry as she is a third generation worker at her family’s trucking business. She said when her grandfather was in the business there weren’t many women in the workforce, but that it expanded and evolved after her father took over at the start of the millennium.
“Women started getting admin jobs, marketing and HR [in 2000] when the company was growing,” Freeman said. “Now we’ve got operation managers that are female and we had an executive that was female that was with us for a while.”
Freeman said she strives to reach positions like these in her future and said that talking through her strengths and asking questions helps get over the hurdles at her workplace.
“It’s only as challenging as you make it, as long as you’re willing to listen and be patient,” she said. “Once I started feeling more confident in the space, confident to ask questions and confidence to be curious, that’s how you get past the male-dominant part of the industry.”
Taylor, who has worked in the construction industry with LaForce for two years, also acknowledged that working in a mostly male field can be weird and challenging when starting a new job. She joked that she was concerned about who would be her “bestie” at her job and who she would eat lunch with.
“Now my work bestie is a 55-year-old man who went to high school with my dad,” Taylor said. “I think culture shock is a great way to put it, when you show up and expect something one way and it comes out the opposite.”
Taylor said that if a person goes into an environment with a negative outlook, it is going to be negative, but that there are good sides to being one of a few women in industries like hers.
“You get to pave the way,” she said. “You get to teach people and make a change and see their thought process change.”
Haferman agreed with changing how women are perceived in industries with a male majority, but said that sometimes people, often older generations, aren’t willing to learn and change.
“It’s one of those things where you just have to put your best foot forward,” she said. “You can listen to your clients, accept what they have, and show them that you’re worth it and you know what you’re talking about.”
Haferman said that when she took over as a partner at her firm, she thought she was going to lose many of the stereotypical golfing and fishing-type clients because she wasn’t a man with those interests.
“[Instead] I appealed to my strengths, I listened, I understood what the client needed and got to them on a timely basis,” she said. “Now I’ve actually gotten compliments saying ‘you know we weren’t sure, but we actually like you better than the other guy.’”
All the panelists shared their alma maters and work experience with the prospective businesswomen in the room, as well as giving advice for the different steps students can take to succeed in the workforce.
“I would highly encourage you, if you can, to study abroad,” Freeman, who studied abroad for a month in Uganda, said. “Go try somewhere different because that gives you a completely unique outlook on life and what you do. It gives you a different picture on how much we actually do have to offer.”
Taylor said she agreed how important studying abroad is, sharing how she met her best friend, who also introduced Taylor to her fiancé, while studying in Italy.
“That definitely worked out for the best, so continue saying yes to everything,” Taylor said.
Haferman also expressed the importance of trying new things and having new experiences when getting into the workforce, saying even after 30 years of working with taxes that she learns something new every day.
“Know that you’re going to make mistakes and you’re going to fail,” she said. “You’re not going to learn until you’re put into these uncomfortable positions. You get to choose what degree you want and what you want it to look like, so don’t limit yourself.”
Tetzlaff Carl told the students in the room that they are in a unique position now to try something new and something hard before entering their future industries.
“Take that really crappy internship that sounds like it is going to be rough, making you do 200 calls in a week and making you go door-to-door talking to strangers,” she said. “There is nothing better for you to do. I would hire somebody that told me they did [things like] that 10,000 times over.”
The panel ended with an open Q&A session with the students in the room, who asked the panelists questions like discussing wages and raises on the job and where to shop for workplace clothes. The event ended with a WIB traditional selfie with the panel and audience, who were treated to an assortment of snacks and beverages for the discussion.
The WIB’s next event takes place March 13 from 6-7:30 p.m in Reeve 221, where participants will make March Madness brackets and talk about how students can set themselves up for success in the business world.
For more information about the WIB student organization and other events in the future, check out uwosh.presence.io/organization/osh-uwo-women-in-business.
