Highlighting Farragut women in prominent business positions
Women in Business series: Part 1 of 3
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Julie Blaylock
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Courtney Hendricks
Women primarily lead our homes and families and, increasingly, lead our businesses and board rooms.
According to Small Business Trends (smallbiztrends.com), 42 percent of all businesses in the United States are women-owned, and more than 1,800 women-owned businesses are created every day.
Farragut and its surrounding communities certainly reflect that statistic, having a number of women who are in prominent positions across a variety of business models and organizations.
Over the next three weeks, farragutpress is highlighting a handful of these women as well as sharing advice for prospective entrepreneurs.
This week’s focus is on two specific organizations and their leaders who are helping area businesses from the ground up.
Closest to home is Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce president/CEO Julie Blaylock, who has humbly served that organization since 2011, the last eight in her current role.
“It is an incredible privilege to serve and lead our Chamber,” she said. “Every leader is different regardless of gender, but it has been shown that when you have more women in leadership positions, the organization enjoys more collaboration within due to a teams approach; stronger community relationships due to increased outgoingness and social capacity; a more optimistic and transformational outlook; and oftentimes more profitability because of these tendencies,” citing www.apa.org/topics/women-girls/female-leaders-make-work-better as further proof.
Blaylock followed in the footsteps of three other notable women leading FWKCC since its inception more than three decades ago and believes a woman’s perspective and insight has directly led to the Chamber’s flourishing membership, which numbers more than 750.
“One thing that I think women leaders tend to do well is communicate a bit more deeply and intuitively,” she said. “They ask more questions —sometimes delving a bit more into the personal sphere, but with purpose — and they demonstrate more empathy.
“That willingness to find out someone’s whole story can tell you a lot about how you need to approach the problem they’ve brought to you or whether there are other more complex issues beyond the one on the surface.”
Blaylock said she has been “fortunate to have been able to build relationships through our Chamber community, well before I took on this current role. I was lucky to have good support from existing business members and partners who believed in my capability and my intention to do the best job I could. Having said that, I’ve had the same experiences over many years that I think we have all had, of walking into rooms and not feeling seen or heard. For me, it was always a personal challenge to find my voice and use it and to believe myself that I had something worth contributing to a conversation.
“I think a lot of female entrepreneurs or business leaders probably experience those same self-doubts and challenges. Self-confidence and the overcoming of ‘imposter syndrome’ seems to be an ongoing point of personal development for a lot of women in business, which is why it’s so important to learn how to build and leverage a strong network of business professionals that you can go to for advice and mentoring.
“We believe in education and leadership development within our chamber, and we see more women stepping up to fill those volunteer roles successfully. Right now, we have around 13 committee groups working on different initiatives or events, and 75 percent of those have women in leadership roles or are liaised by a female board director.”
While FWKCC offers more than 100 program/event opportunities annually, including, weekly networkings and ground-up support, Downtown’s Knoxville Entrepreneur Center has a number of assistance opportunities as well.
The organization (www.knoxec.com) helps “founders of any stage start and grow their business through educational programming, networking, mentorship, connections, and community building,” KEC COO Courtney Hendricks said. “We have opportunities for all types of businesses and offer specific sets of programming and resources for different types of founders.
“KEC is the center of gravity without being the center of attention,” she added. “Our relationships with other organizations within the entrepreneurial ecosystem helps us get founders where they can find the most value. Whether they need assistance with their business foundation, artist resources, introduction into a community in their niche, information about local opportunities, a business accelerator to prepare for a capital campaign, classes on just about any topic, and a free mentor network — our offerings are low cost or no cost and accessible for all.
“In addition to what is offered through the main KEC channels, we have The Maker City supporting creative business, 100Knoxville supporting black-owned businesses and Women in Entrepreneurship (WiE) supporting women in business; all under the KEC umbrella of initiatives.
“WiE” also hosts regular monthly meet-ups, for women in any stage of business, to meet, support and network with each other the second Tuesday of every month, from 9 to 10:30 a.m., at KEC offices, 17 Market Square, Suite 101.
WiE also is an active Facebook Group community, Hendricks said, with more than 3.6 thousand members.
Like Blaylock, Hendricks, who’s many responsibilities include supporting internal operations, along with designing event experiences, believes communication is the key to any successes.
“I like to say that every aspect of what I do centers around creating a great experience,” she said. “Clear
communication and relationships are at the heart of all things.”
Next week: local women business owners share their challenges and triumphs.
