Closing Thoughts: an interview with Sherry S. Handel of the Center for Women and Enterprise in Worc.
WBJ: You started a magazine in 1995 called Blue Jean. What was the impetus for the creation of that magazine?
Handel: Blue Jean was founded to give teen-age girls an alternative to beauty and glamour magazines and also to involve them in the process of putting together a magazine. A teen editorial board was formed to make key decisions on what went in the magazine, and then articles by girls were published in the magazine. So girls were the editorial decision makers and the content of the magazine was completely written and produced by teens.
WBJ: What personal lessons have you learned about running a business that you hope to impart to others in the community just starting out?
Handel: I think one of the best lessons was, I have to say, that an entrepreneur needs to really have an understanding of cash flow and the importance of having a cash reserve. Even with the understanding I had as a business major, and the time I spent writing a business plan, you don't know what you don't know. I had a distributor go out of business and suddenly I had no cash flow. That was devastating.
Not knowing to prepare for something like that was a big lesson. I just had no way of knowing that cash flow would be so tight and I didn't have a Center for Women & Enterprise to go to.
WBJ: Do you think you'll ever start your own business again?
Handel: Well, I can't say never because once an entrepreneur always enterpreneur, but I know how difficult it can be. If I was to do something in the future, I don't think it would be something of the scale of Blue Jean – launching a national and international type business. I'm really enjoying what I'm doing now. I'm seeing and learning so much and that's incredibly rewarding and gives me the same feeling of accomplishment running Blue Jean gave me.
WBJ: Since you were appointed to your post Sept. 6, what are your first impressions of the Worcester region?
Handel: I really found – and I think this is pretty representative of a lot places – that determination to create and build a business is certainly reflected in our client base. And also I've found that entrepreneurship may not be for everyone. We consider it a success when a women or even a man – we do have male clients, which is something people don't realize – find that maybe this is not the right time for them to start this particular business. Maybe they think they need a little more time to plan, or maybe they need to give a little more consideration to the needs of their family.
Certainly, we do have a great deal of people that come to us to pursue their ideas that know exactly what they want to do now, but they say 'I have this idea, but how do I actually do it?' We can give them the support and the course work to get them up and through all the steps from developing a marketing plan to the financials to projecting their revenue to developing a business plan.The Handel File: |
Born: Rochester, N.Y.
Current residence: Holden
Education:
Bachelor's degree in business management with a concentration in marketing from Northeastern UniversityFirst job: Paper route at age 12
First corporate job: Marketing assistant at Millipore Waters in Milford
Just for fun: Handel is one of 10 children.
WBJ: You mentioned that men are part of your client base. What percentage of your clients are men?
Handel: In aggregate, including CWE's offices in Worcester, Boston and Providence, the percentage of men that are part of our client base is 10 to 15 percent. Just to give an example, in Worcester we are currently running a Power Up course for the first time. This course is a 13-week course, three hours week, and a third of the class are men.
CWE was founded only 12 years ago to empower women to become economically self sufficient and prosperous through entrepreneurship. With that being our mission, we have created course work and programming to accomplish that goal. As a result, men are hearing about the programs and are coming to us and we encourage that.
WBJ: What are the biggest challenges you face doing your job?
Handel: I think the biggest challenges are with having a small staff here in Worcester. We do have an awful lot of programming to put out. And we are rolling out so many new programs this year. So, now with the same staff level, we are expanding our programming and we don't always have the resources to get the word out to the community.
I'd say the biggest challenge is getting the word out and personally making sure that I carve out the time to get out and spread the word just by talking to people one-on-one and networking.
This interview was conducted and edited for length by Christina H. Davis
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