Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Visionary Entrepreneur Speaker Series where Wendy Mascio, CEO of Workscape, spoke. The theme of her lecture was, “You May be an Entrepreneur and Not Even Know it!” As it turns out, Ms. Mascio didn’t study Entrepreneurship while she attended Grove City College. In fact, it wasn’t even an established major during her time here! She was a biology major with an interest in the health care industry. After graduating, she began working for a hospital, but quickly found she was uncomfortable with the so called status quo. Being dissatisfied with the status quo led her to quit her hospital job and start her own company. Thus, one of her main points was that if you’re dissatisfied with the status quo in your area of work, and if you’re willing to do something about it, you may be an entrepreneur.
Her entrepreneurial story is not only inspiring, but also incredibly encouraging. Towards the end of the lecture, she gave some wonderful advice regarding being a woman in business. The face of the entrepreneurial world has changed dramatically in just the past decade. The landscape of career possibilities has drastically opened, especially for women. As Ms. Mascio mentioned however, many women in business today think that they can have it all – a career, a family, everything. This may be an unrealistic expectation for some people, as the demands of both a career and a family can be incredibly high. Being an entrepreneur, however, allows you to be both a mother and a successful businesswoman because you are your own boss. While you many have to work incredibly hard to make it to your kid’s soccer game, there won’t be anyone telling you that you can’t. You set your own hours and your own priorities. You can decide what the balance in your professional and personal life will be. I found this to be remarkably encouraging and refreshing. I appreciate Ms. Mascio’s honesty is saying that while it is hard work to achieve this balance, it is still doable and can offer fantastic flexibility and creativity in a woman’s life.