Reporter’s Corner:

Think local on American Business Women's Day

Once a year, every September, our nation recognizes the businesswomen who contribute to our workspaces and community on American Business Women's Day.
According to the American Business Women's Association, this day was created in order to "bring together businesswomen of diverse occupations and to provide opportunities for them to help themselves and others grow personally and professionally through leadership; education, networking support and national recognition."
It would be easy, on this day, to recognize some of the nationally-known businesswomen in leaders, such as Angelina Jolie, Mary Kay Ash, Oprah Winfrey, Ivanka Trump and others.
But instead, I think it is essential to take this day and pay heed to the women, locally, who produce items, run businesses, contribute to our communities and educate children. For it is those women, at a local level, who truly make American Business Women's Day what it is.
For the majority of my adulthood, I have worked in women-owned businesses or for female managers and employers.
I have nannied, worked retail, provided early-education and written for a newspaper - and for the most part, worked alongside some truly inspiring, powerful women.
The National Association of Women Business Owners says that around the nation, approximately 11.6 million businesses are owned by women and employ nearly nine million people (as of 2017).
In Monticello, women-owned or women-operated business make up real estate companies, title firms, downtown shops, insurance agencies, childcare and early education facilities and so much more.
In my opinion, it is essential to see gender diversity in business ownership and management; when men and women work together to create a community and a workforce, it allows a varying level of perspective, growth and opportunity.
When women own businesses and contribute to communities on a professional level, those communities receive more voices, more hands and more minds to help lift those communities to greatness.
By supporting women-owned businesses and Monticello's professional ladies, you are doing more than just sustaining a current business owner – you are paving the way to allow future women the opportunities to build their own businesses and careers locally.
For the last few decades, there has been a rise in women-owned businesses across the country.
This burst of businesses means that women are obtaining financial independence, standing alongside their peers and achieving a sense of belonging in the world we all live.
This weekend, in honor of American Business Women's Day, stop in at one of your many local, female-owned businesses and support the professional ladies who contribute to our community!
To learn more about some of the remarkable ladies who make up Monticello's professional workforce, turn to pages 10-11 and read some of our professional spotlights on local women.