Ohio Women’s Coalition with Rachel Winder

[00:00:00] Betty Collins
So today is a is a great topic and it’s a topic that I really wanted to have a great conversation with a great woman who I’ve known for some years. And it’s all on advocacy. And it’s it’s not politics. It’s advocacy, although that includes politicians. Right. So I’m really fortunate because in central Ohio is where the government is for a higher rate. And so you have a little bit more access, a little bit more easier. And so there’s a lot more lobbyists here. There’s people who you can connect yourself with. But I really didn’t know much about advocacy until I was in the National Association of Women Business Owners Columbus chapter, and they are known for advocacy. It’s kind of they’re different characteristics compared to other groups in town. And so I started seeing that, hey, we’re going to go talk to this senator or we’re going to try to get to the governor’s office, or we’re going to do these things because we want to tell our story or we want to communicate what’s important to us. And I really didn’t really think much about it until in 2019 I started I was going to become the president of the that Columbus chapter in July of 19. So I went to an annual neighbor’s annual training in D.C. but it’s also really their advocacy day. So the presidents and the incoming presidents and the past presidents all meet for a day about NAWBO and training. And then we have a day or so on advocacy. And we actually in the year that I went in 19, we actually get to get in these big black SUVs. They went in a parade over to the White House grounds. And if you know the White House, you’re not walking in the front door, but there’s other buildings on that ground.

[00:01:46] Betty Collins
So we went to the Eisenhower building and we met with at that time the Trump administration officials all all morning long. But it was the coolest experience. And it was invigorating because I saw everyday people who wanted to serve their country, not what you see on the news that want to make noise. These were everyday people that wanted to hear from you. And then from there we got back in the cars and we got to go over to the hill and we met with our different various senators on both sides of the aisle. We met with the National Chamber of Commerce and heard where they were. And it was all geared to women, women owned businesses, women’s capital access, you name it. The topic was there, and the more I was there that day, the more I said, These are some everyday people who want to make a difference and they’re the influencers. And it dawned on me, advocacy is where I want to hang my hat and the rest of my career as I. I’m a CPA first, but I really am involved with women groups in town. So today I want to talk about a very, very amazing organization called the Ohio Women’s Coalition and the executive director. It’s the first executive director she’s going to tell the story of of this. But it’s Rachel Winder and she has an amazing story. I’m going to let her talk first about what she does for she’s like me. She has an everyday living and then she really advocates for women. So Rachel welcomed today. And just give us, you know, tell us a little bit about you, the law firm you work with and and what you you know, what your passion is.

[00:03:23] Rachel Winder
Yeah. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. Great to be here. So as Betty said, I’m Rachel Winder. I am. I’m a lobbyist by trade. It’s not a dirty word. We do a lot of important work.

[00:03:36] Betty Collins
It’s a good thing.

[00:03:36] Rachel Winder
It is a good thing. And I’ve spent the last 30 years working in and around the state house for various entities, and I came to Benesch Law, which is where I am now in 2013, and I started my own practice inside. It’s it’s not a legal practice. It’s a government relations practice. And I was so lucky to have been introduced to the National Association of Women Business Owners early, early on in my trajectory at Benesch, maybe in 2014, 13 and 13, 14, and I was fortunate enough to become their public policy advisor. So and their first first public policy advisor. And they, you know, including Betty, they are filled with really passionate women that understood that they needed a bigger voice.

Right.

[00:04:28] Rachel Winder
And I learned a lot through that experience. I’m not even sure like we knew and maybe we still don’t even know exactly what we need, but we knew we needed more.

[00:04:37] Betty Collins
Right? Right.

[00:04:39] Rachel Winder
Whatever that was. And so we just started picking away at things that were lacking when it came when it came to women owned businesses and public policy. And it sort of has become my passion to examine and figure out the intersection of public policy and women owned businesses.

[00:04:58] Betty Collins
Correct.

[00:04:59] Rachel Winder
So. And above Columbus. We they accomplished a lot. We did a lot with with the issues that they wanted to tackle. And one was they we created a definite Mary McCarthy brought it to us and she said we need a definition of a micro-business because a small business is defined as anywhere to 400 to 500 employees.

[00:05:21] Betty Collins
And that’s a very small number of companies in the country have that many employees. This is not that’s not a representation.

[00:05:30] Rachel Winder
It’s not a true representation. And especially for women owned businesses, a lot of our the members of NAWBO and others or were solopreneur. Right. Right. So we created a definition of a micro-business in the Ohio revised code. And it means know a company that has fewer than 20 employees, which is just close to the majority of businesses in the city.

[00:05:48] Betty Collins
See it all the time.

[00:05:49] Rachel Winder
97% of all businesses have are micro-businesses. And so now we have that definition in the revised code and we can steer programs that way that are there to benefit micro-businesses, large sized businesses.

[00:06:01] Betty Collins
Right.

[00:06:02] Rachel Winder
And then we created this amazing program, the Women’s Business Enterprise Certification Program in Ohio. And the goal of that program really is just to increase contracts to women owned businesses, not just government contracts, but private businesses. And so we created this this certification program, and it was brought to us by some great NAWBO employees, you know, Mary Korn and Sean Skinner and Jeannie Goetsch and all the names that I know, you know. And they’re so passionate and they were experiencing an issue because they wanted to compete for contracts in other states. Right. So Indiana is an example. They went to Indiana. They have a really robust woman business enterprise certification program, which means they steer contracts specifically to WBS. And our our friends Sean and Jeanie and Mary and others wanted to be certified by that program so they can compete fairly with other women on businesses that were certified. And they were told, you can’t be certified in Indiana, you have to be certified in your home state. Well, Ohio doesn’t have a certification program, so there’s absolutely no way that we can compete fairly with these other women owned businesses in those states without a program. So we put one in place, right? Nobody said we could.

[00:07:17] Betty Collins
But we.

[00:07:17] Rachel Winder
Did. It’s one of our priorities, you know. Yes, it is one of our proudest accomplishments. And now we have this WB program in Ohio. And I’ll talk a little bit more about sort of what that’s meant for Ohio. But so through my experience with NAWBO, I just learned that women needed so much more, right?

You know, and hopefully you and the audience will will think, well, I’m not certified. Well, I’m not I don’t want to get certified. I don’t need to be certified or this doesn’t apply to me. If you understand two things from this today is that there’s a lot of issues that still need advocated for women and women owned businesses. We focus mostly in the business area, but access to capital is is one of the crucial things. And so you would be surprised. So don’t don’t shut your mind down. But knowing who your representation is and especially the environment we’re in right now is crucial. And so I’ve watched and worked along this side of Rachel, and I wanted to talk about something really that I’m totally passionate about, which is this Ohio Women’s Coalition. So one day I get a call from Rachel and she said, you know, we have this thing going on called COVID and it’s March of 2020. And guess what? I’m going to let her go into it a little bit more. But tell us a little bit about the Ohio Women’s Coalition, because it’s the it is the hottest thing in Ohio women. So if you’re not a member or you’re not, you don’t know what it is. We want to make sure you do today. So tell us about it.

[00:08:52] Speaker2
Oh, I’d love to. So the Ohio Women’s Coalition started out very organically back in March of 2020, in the middle of COVID had just started. And and those of you who are in Ohio, it was it was right during the time when Governor DeWine and Amy Acton were Dr. Acton from the Department of Health were coming on our televisions every day at 2:00 and talking about everything that was happening and with COVID. And after they shut the economy down and they created this this advisory council or a panel of businesses, they they called the Economic Recovery Advisory Council, which was businesses from across the state. Well, we got I was the public policy advisor for Nabil at the time, and we got a call from some other amazing women business or women or women’s organizations around Columbus and around the state. And they were concerned that this advisory organization did not have enough representation of women, did not have enough representation of minorities, and did not have a single micro-business on on the panel. And these are the people that are making decisions on how. We’re going to open back up the economy in Ohio.

[00:10:02] Speaker1
Because it was just going to be a couple of weeks. It was just going to.

[00:10:06] Speaker2
That’s right. They’re getting ready to open it up back in April, early April of 2020. And so they all these women’s organizations across Ohio were going to join together and write a letter either to the governor or to the media or to the editor, just expressing their concern about why this organization, why this advisory committee was not representative. And they came to nab Columbus and they said, will you sign on to this? And leadership at NAB Columbus was that you were were you?

[00:10:35] Speaker1
That was myself and Michele Kasper.

[00:10:37] Speaker2
At that time. Yes. So you and others brought it to me and said, is this something that we should sign on to? And I read and I looked at it and I you know, I know the governor, you know, and I know he’s doing the best that he can do. And I know that he’s focused on trying to put this back together. And I said, let’s just see if we can get a seat at the table. Maybe we can find a spot for us, or maybe we can talk with his office and make sure that they are considering our thoughts. And so I suggested that, you know, give me an opportunity to reach out to the governor’s office and see if we can get somebody to talk with us.

[00:11:10] Speaker1
Right.

[00:11:11] Speaker2
Lo and behold. Zoom, I had never I think I had maybe been on one zoom call in my life.

[00:11:16] Speaker1
All of us had only been on one zoom call. So we get it.

[00:11:20] Speaker2
So we were able to get the governor’s advisor to the Economic Advisory Committee and all of these women’s organizations, which, in my my mind was the coolest part of this. Forget the governor’s office. This was so cool that we had all of these women’s organizations. We’re talking NABA, Columbus, NABA, Cleveland, the Women’s Fund, Weld.

[00:11:40] Speaker1
The SBA, the.

[00:11:42] Speaker2
Sba, the Dress for Success, the Asian Pacific score of Thrive. I mean, all of these people on this call and and the governor’s office, you know, he was great. He listened to us. He you know, he maybe got off after 30 minutes or so. And the rest of us stayed on. And we just talked about the issues that we’re dealing with and what we’re, you know, like. And it was just really inspiring. And so we all agreed, let’s do it again. Let’s do it again next week.

[00:12:09] Speaker1
Yep.

And so I was like, okay, well, let’s bring let’s invite somebody else. You know, let’s, let’s have a guest, but also continue talking amongst ourselves. So I, we called and I think the next week we had a woman who was sitting on that advisory committee up in the Cleveland area, and we got her to join our call and talk with her about what her experience is like and if she could help make sure that our voices are being heard. And and then the fall. And then we had another great conversation. Right then the following week, I invited a staffer from the Department of Development and they instead bumped it up to the director and they said the director would want to be on this call. And instead we got, you know, so I always joke like I usually get bumped down.

[00:12:50] Speaker1
Right, right. You got bumped up to the top.

[00:12:52] Speaker2
I got bumped up to the top because this is an audience that they want to talk with. Right. So it sort of work both ways. So long story short, we incorporated and we became the Ohio Women’s Coalition. And Betty, as you know, didn’t hesitate to jump on our board.

[00:13:07] Speaker1
Oh, absolutely. By the way, I’m the treasurer. Imagine that she’s the chair.

[00:13:11] Speaker2
Poor thing. So we got great financial advice and but.

[00:13:16] Speaker1
What the audience needs to hear of what she just talked about was. She saw something geared to women, women, business owners. It triggered something within her that said and even though she knows the governor, not all of us do. Obviously, something triggered her to go. We have to do something. We’re in that environment a lot today, but you got to do something in a way that works, right? You got to have a voice that people can hear so that then they can listen. And that was the lesson I learned in the early days. We were nothing more than every Friday at 11:00. You know, and there were some times there might have been 75 to 100 women. Hopefully I’m not inflating that. But it was like, this is what I’m going through. This is what we need. And and the traction of this group took to new levels. So then we’re like, okay, it’s not over. It’s not going to be over. It’s lasting much longer than we all thought. Right. And we said, what do we want to do? Which is that. And and I was the one who said, well, we’re just a coalition of voices, you know. And then we started thinking, how do we do that? But why did it become Ohio? You know, let’s go that it’s not just the Columbus area. Why did we go Ohio?

[00:14:33] Speaker2
Well, yeah. So I mean, we had had a lot of success with Nabil Columbus and you had said it’s a local chapter, right. But we created a statewide program, the WB, that’s for the entire state of Ohio. But what I was learning when I was talking to legislators and we were having legislative events and we were at advocating and lobbying, legislators are asking, do you have my constituents in your organization? You know, are my constituents going to be at your legislative event? And I was like, only if you’re in Columbus because we’re the Columbus chapter and those are our members. Right? But the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House are both from Lima, Ohio. They want to hear from their constituents. So so where are the women businesses in Lima? And the chairman of the Finance Committee in the Senate is from Cleveland, Ohio, and the chairman of the House Finance Committee is from Akron. And they need to hear from their constituents. And I knew we needed a statewide voice. And this just became an opportunity to be able to have the voices from every corner of the state.

[00:15:36] Speaker1
And and that’s what also, again, when you’re thinking about, I don’t know, my senator, I don’t know my rep. And yet we have people in Cleveland who are in powerful positions or in what you said in Lima. It’s not just Columbus. So. So making sure that you’re at these table with influencers and is crucial, it’s just important. And that’s why I’m all in with Ohio, the Women’s Coalition, because it is we’re just everyday people trying to get little things done. Because one thing we saw during Coban, I don’t want this to be a covered topic, but everybody had access to PPE. If you were an employer and you had employees, there was no how long have you been in business? You know, we need all your tax returns for three years and we need this and we need this and we need it was how can we help you and how can we empower you? And so we wanted to take that concept. Absolutely. Along with the Ohio Women’s Coalition. So when you look at this, you’re looking at this, you’re trying to have an intersection of policy and then the success of women business and pulling that all together. What have you helped accomplish for women business owners in Ohio so far? The coalition? What have we.

[00:16:51] Speaker2
Done? Yeah, so. Oh, my gosh, we’ve had we’ve had a lot of success. We have we’ve more to do. But, you know, I mentioned the micro-business definition. I mentioned the WB, which we created. But what, what was so crazy is the MWC. We started informally having these calls every Friday and one of our calls we invited the governor’s chief of staff. And, you know, and I ask our members and everyone on the calls, what do you need? What do you want? Access to capital. Access to capital. Access to capital. We don’t need a lot. We need 5000. It would change our businesses, you know, but we can’t get it because we don’t have we haven’t been in business long enough. And they only really all these different reasons why it’s just so hard to obtain. So we talked to the governor’s office and she invited the director of development back on our call again. And the two of them just listen to us. Two wonderful women, by the way.

[00:17:43] Speaker1
Right.

That’s Governor DeWine. They happened. Yes, he does. He’s got a great cabinet full of women. So they listened. They understood. They heard us. And out of the the budget of the state of Ohio, you know, it’s 40 plus billion dollars was introduced maybe January, February of 2021, and it included two $10 Million loan funds, one just for women owned businesses and one for minority and women.

[00:18:12] Speaker1
Microloans, right.

[00:18:13] Speaker2
$20 million. It’s crazy, you know, that that is was part of the statute we immediately went to. Work. We started, we testified in committee. We had the most pieces of written testimony of any issue in the committee that day. I testified in person and we fought to keep those dollars in the budget and they stayed. And we have these loan programs now in the state of Ohio first, first ever.

[00:18:40] Speaker1
Write.

[00:18:41] Speaker2
In the history of the state of Ohio what were women owned? Businesses were even mentioned in the Ohio revised code.

[00:18:46] Speaker1
Right. I mean, I hope you heard that first ever mentioned. I mean, that’s amazing to me. But as when we got and I honestly, I thought we’ll never get 10 million over two years or we’ll know. And it was like, wow. And you know what the really the key was? We asked. Yeah. And not only did we ask, we were ready to ask and we and you were you’ve got enough people around you again, the influencers, that’s who you needed to ask. And we did it. And so if you’re a women owned business and you’re not asking and you’re not pushing with data and with all of the things that, you know, you’re probably not going to get anything if you don’t. Right? So so when we got the 20 million or I should say really, Rachel and the Ohio High Women Coalition, there was a lot of people that were involved with that. They just all did the part that they could. We then said, we’ve got 20 million reasons to tell our story, you know?
And so we became but we’re known in Ohio, especially in the I mean, it’s a known no maybe not to the general public as much, but it certainly is within the influencer groups. So what other things, though? I know you have a minority financing advisory board. Let’s go through some of those things that has really been impactful.

[00:19:59] Speaker2
So, you know, we mentioned the WB that was created and we’re seeing we’re starting to see these ancillary impacts from the work that we’re doing that is like it literally these these kinds of things give me chills, you know.

[00:20:11] Speaker1
Right.

[00:20:12] Speaker2
But there is because this loan program is becoming so popular and women businesses are are stepping up to the table and they’re asking and they’re getting these loans they’ve given away here somewhere. They’ve been away almost three, almost 5 million so far. And we’ve got another 15 million to go. So get your loans, you know, get your loan applications in.

[00:20:35] Speaker1
Yes.

[00:20:36] Speaker2
But part of the process with the loans is the very last thing that you do is you go before this this organization called the Minority Minority Financing Advisory Board, and it has members appointed, I believe, by just the Department of Development, director of Department of Development. They might have some governor appointments, but they all have to give a thumbs up and sign off to the money that’s being.

[00:20:56] Speaker1
Which is good. That’s good accountability.

[00:20:58] Speaker2
That’s good. Right? You like that?

[00:21:00] Speaker1
Yes.

And I started attending these meetings because I want to see what’s happening with these dollars that we have advocated for. I want to know what they’re doing with them. And I look around the table and it’s it’s all men, which is fine. I mean, it’s fine. And they’re all very diverse. Right. But they’re giving away they’re interviewing these women and these women owned businesses. Where are the women? Right. And so what’s happened is they’ve recognized it that they need to be more diverse. Obviously, they need women businesses on this. You know, they do. And so they they have a gentleman who’s stepping aside to make room very good. So they’re literally making room at the table for women owned businesses, like like we talk about and, you know, sort of a imagine way. And here it is like happening, right? And there’s another open seat that they’re making sure is filled by, you know, so they’re making room for us. So that’s just been amazing. The other thing that we learned recently is the WB program is only a year old. They had we passed the bill maybe at the end of 2020 and then they had to write the rules and they had to go in and it went into effect and it’s not even been around for that long. There are nearly as many women owned businesses or women certified as women business enterprises, as minority business enterprises, which is so interesting to me because the MBA program has been around for 40 years.

[00:22:22] Speaker1
Wow.

[00:22:23] Speaker2
We’re 100 businesses off from having the same number as they do, which is just incredible to me. Like, why have we not had a voice before?

[00:22:32] Speaker1
Right.

[00:22:33] Speaker2
So that’s crazy to me. And again, like, we want to lift everybody up, you know, we’re not competing with anybody. We just want equality and everything that that is happening at the state level, public policy and everywhere else.

[00:22:45] Speaker1
Absolutely. And you know, when I look at what my mom, you know, and she my mom was a very she was interesting because she she was your typical I got married when I was not 1819 and we had kids and my dad was the patriarch he was till they were 85 until he died when he was 83. And and she will she sat my sister and I down when we were a teenager saying, you’re not going to do this now. Today, she’s like, This has just gone too far. But in her mind, she got her daughters to be educated and self independent. I’m still going. We still have things because you can’t believe that men and men aren’t bad, are making decisions on women. Right. But they’re making decisions on women owned businesses. And it’s like, where is the. So we just still have things to advocate for. That’s my point. We still have to push these things. But if you don’t ask, it won’t get done. And if you don’t say, I want to be at that table, you will never be there. You just.

[00:23:44] Speaker2
Won’t. I just want to mention one other thing that adds to my chills. You know, so we just learned from the Department of Development that they have asked every agency in the state to predict how many contracts will be going to women owned businesses for the first time in the history of Ohio. So now every single state agency that contracts for anything, and you’d be surprised how many things they contract with the prisons, contract with yoga instructors. You know, there’s there’s a lot of opportunity out there for folks that don’t think they might want to look into being certified or work with contracts. But so they, at every single state agency now has to make a deliberate choice of writing down the number of contracts that they expect to go to women businesses. So it’s no longer an afterthought. It’s a deliberate idea of where these contracts should go.

[00:24:32] Speaker1
And that’s the success of Indiana. So when you look at a state like Indiana, they have benchmarking, which everyone always kind of hates benchmarking and maybe affirmative action type things. But it’s like if you don’t start there, it’s all just really good rhetoric, you know? So there has to be some accountability to it, you know, that, hey, this is is this is something that we have to achieve. So that’s, in my mind, is a great start.

[00:24:57] Speaker2
Start. It’s a great.

[00:24:58] Speaker1
Start. Hey, we’re asking the question, are we making sure we’re doing that? And that’s that’s that is chilling. I mean, that really is that definitely is. So and what’s interesting about how women’s coalition I do want to make this clear. It’s very bipartisan because I don’t really I’m kind of a conservative by nature in many respects. So I’m kind of the sometimes the outlier in the room. But I don’t care if I’m with an independent or a liberal or a moderate Democrat or a right winger or whatever you want to call everybody, if they understand the passion behind the women’s coalition, we’re going we want them to hear us. You know, we want to have our voice with them because you just never know who’s going to be the one that you that that influence is going to go. I might be over here. I might be over here, but I can I get it? I get what you’re saying. And so we’re very bipartisan. I want to make sure people understand that. But you’ve accomplished a lot. I mean, it’s really amazing what you, the board and how our members are growing. Our sponsors are stepping up. But what’s next? What’s next for the IWC? What do we got coming.

Oh goodness.

[00:26:05] Speaker1
So because you can’t top that year I think, but I shouldn’t.

[00:26:08] Speaker2
Say I don’t know. Well, well so we have to protect our our 20 million. We have a, we have a budget every two years. We got to make sure that and maybe it should be more.

[00:26:16] Speaker1
Well, I want to put this out there. The Ohio Women’s Coalition is in its infancy stage and has accomplished this much. It’s in a very embassy stage for a non profit. So to go and say, yeah, we influenced and got $20 million in the budget for a state in like year one, maybe a little bit. I mean, you’re like, wow, so what’s but what’s next? Yeah.

[00:26:38] Speaker2
By the way, because we’re in our infancy, we’re growing. We need members. We need board members. So if you’re listening to this and you want to be a part of it, you can be you can help us figure this out because we’re still young, very, very young.

[00:26:52] Speaker1
We’re any treasures out there, any CPAs out there? I’ll move over to something else.

[00:26:56] Speaker2
Yeah. Yeah, well, we have a great treasure. So what’s next? So you talked about metrics in Indiana, right? So they’re sometimes referred to as like set asides or goals, right? So they set aside a certain percentage of contracts and those set asides go to whatever preference program, whether it’s minorities or women or and then there’s goals, right? Which is they don’t it’s not a mandatory, but agencies need to aspire. Right, to hit a number of those many contracts going into women businesses. And in Ohio, we have four different preference programs. We have a minority business enterprise program that has a 15% set aside. So 15% of contracts go to minority certified companies. We have an EDGE certification, which is economically disadvantaged companies. If you get certified there, there’s a 5% goal. So agencies are try to aspire to give 5% of their contracts and it can be a subcontract to you can be a sub on a prime contract. So 5% goal, veteran business enterprise certification, certified companies have an extra point. So when they put a bid in their score, they get one extra point if they’re a certified veteran and then the WB, the women’s business, they have nothing. So we don’t we don’t have a goal. We don’t have a set aside. We don’t have a and.

[00:28:11] Speaker1
All these other things.

[00:28:11] Speaker2
Do all these other things do. Right. So we do know that there’s the whole system needs to maybe be revamped and looked at. So that’s certainly something that we’re. Advocating. We’re talking to the powers that be about that. That doesn’t really work. Maybe we need to take a step back, have an umbrella type program where everybody fits under it or something that makes sense. But before you even know what it should look like, you need to understand the data. And so and you need something in place called a disparity study. And that has to be a statewide state sponsored study that courts can use if these programs ever get challenged. So if you’re a minority or a woman business and you win a contract and somebody who lost the contract is upset about it, files a lawsuit over this, these programs. You need that disparity to defend yourself. And there hasn’t been the state of Ohio does and there hasn’t been one done. I couldn’t find one, actually. I did research. It’s at least 20, I think more like 30 or 40 years that one has been done, if it’s ever been done. So we are advocating for the state to fund a statewide disparity study.

[00:29:14] Speaker1
And what would be in that for anyone who maybe they don’t know what I mean? I never understood that the power of data until I have been involved with it. So what would be in a disparity study?

[00:29:25] Speaker2
So, you know, I don’t know if you were I’m sure you recall we met with Governor DeWine. A bunch of us sat around the table. We met with Governor DeWine. And we said to him at the time, hey, we need goals for women and businesses. We need we need to require your agencies to give us contracts. And he goes, How do I know that you have the capacity in the state to respond to? I’m going to put an arbitrary number on my agencies and tell them that they have to hire these. But I don’t even know if we have these specific businesses that are owned by women. Women. So how do we.

[00:29:53] Speaker1
Right.

[00:29:54] Speaker2
And so that’s what you’ll find out. Like you’ll find out not only what how is the state been doing in the way that they contract? Are they contracting fairly equally or is there a disparity, a proven disparity with using data? The city of Columbus just did one. They found that there were disparities. They found that there were underutilized companies and they found in some instances there were not disparities. So that’s what we hope to learn. But on a statewide basis and then also the capacity of the of the companies in the state. Right. And then they they will have recommendations on how to even out whatever they find. And maybe, you know, maybe we’re doing great. I doubt it. But maybe.

But we don’t know.

[00:30:31] Speaker2
What we don’t know. Right. And so even even legislators that are by nature do not support these preference programs. And I understand it, it’s certainly not they’re terrible. I mean, to get certified as a burden, you know, so that’s something else we’re doing is trying to ease that certification process so it’s more streamlined. Right. But we just want to we just want to see what’s out there. And we want recommendations put in place by you utilizing the data so we can just change the way that things are done in Ohio for the better.

[00:31:00] Speaker1
And studies make so much sense. I mean, like with Nabil, there’s a person she owns Measurement Resources, Sheri Chaney Jones, and she’s great because she can come up with not just women. It’s not fair. It’s like, by the way, here are how many women owned businesses owners we have. Here’s how many are under this revenue. So here’s how here’s how women are paid versus because she’s gone out and she’s gotten real data. Yeah. And again, when you put that in front of your influencer, it’s it’s huge. So a disparity study would be great. What other things do you feel like you’re going to what’s next? What’s on the agenda?

[00:31:37] Speaker2
Oh, well, I mean, so so we’re starting to we talk about government contracts a lot, but the private industry, the private sector, also, these especially the larger businesses they contract all the time to and and supplier diversity is the buzzword of the day. Right. And these companies, a lot of times don’t know where to find the where are these diverse suppliers. Right. So we’ve recognized that the Ohio Women’s Coalition is an opportunity for suppliers to get in front of hundreds of women businesses who want to work for these companies, hundreds of hubs in the state. So as an example, we have a we have a guest coming at the end of June. I don’t know when this is going to be heard the end of June, June 17th or so. If it’s already passed, you call us, we’ll tell you about it. But the national supplier diversity director from Intel is going to be joining the Ohio Women’s Coalition, and they have $500 million set aside for women owned businesses. So we’re going to talk with the the head of that that initiative. Right. And we’re going to she’s going to tell if she wants. She was excited to get in front of us. So we’ll learn about that. And we also have some interest from Ohio Health. We have some interest from Wright State. And so we’re trying to connect, be a connector for these women and the supplier diversity folks. And then I mentioned, you know, we got to replenish the loan program and we got to streamline the WB certification process and all the certification processes. So those are a few things.

[00:33:09] Speaker1
People do get really wrapped up in the certification, all the paperwork, and I got to hire a consultant to get it because I can’t keep getting denied or they keep sending it back. And so that streamlining. Would be huge, but we got to keep the budget now going. But that’s exciting about meeting with Intel again. We just you know, Rachel was really triggered by a committee that she saw that was not representing the business community, which is a lot of women owned business are are the ones who keep starting them. And so now here we are. We’re going to be in front of this large, large change to the region called Intel. And we’re going to be at the table.
Yeah, you know, just started out with we got to make a difference. And but you also have to make a difference. You’ve got to be prepared. Nothing is easy, but you can make it easier. I mean, that’s, you know, so in the certification process, you know, for me, I am a shareholder at Brady where but I’m not I don’t have enough. I mean, there’s 21 of us. So it doesn’t really apply to me, right? I mean, it can in some ways. But but for you that are in the audience going, that’s not me and we’re not advocate. There’s so many women’s issues we could be advocating for, by the way, that we said we’re going to narrow this and keep it focused, but maybe one day you’ll have a staff of 20 and we’ll get to do all this.

[00:34:21] Speaker2
Right. Well, just real quick, you just reminded me that the WB these loan these loan programs they put in place, they put the parameters around what you have to do in order to be eligible for the loans and they’re requiring in the micro loan program that you are WB or MHB certified right so even if you don’t do government contracting, you can get access to these 3% loans. And then the WB loan program, which is a larger loan program, they’re not requiring that you’re certified. And so if you’re not certified, you’re and you do win a loan or you know was the.

[00:34:56] Speaker1
Yeah, well yeah. You’ve won the lottery. Yeah. No you get the loan.

[00:34:59] Speaker2
If you get the loan you’re eligible for the loan. It’s a, it’s a 3% interest rate but if you are WB certified, it’s a 1.5% interest rate and I said 3% on the NBB it’s not I’m sorry it’s 0% in the micro loans. So these are the loans that we’ve created is that we’re going to replenish in this next budget. Right.

[00:35:19] Speaker1
So what I would tell you is get educated about what these things mean instead of making an assumption this doesn’t apply to me. I mean, really dive in. And as women in this audience, in key women in management or players in organizations or you own your own business, this is the moment to grab, right? Oh, and the RWC. So tell us your five and ten year plan and hey, you’re going to retire as the executive director of the Women’s Coalition, right?

Oh, my gosh. I mean, I don’t you know, when I think ahead five or ten years, I honestly I mean, I just I think there’s just no stopping us. I don’t know. I just we just need to grow. Where are we going to be in 5 to 10 years? I look at us like I want to be the like an Ohio Chamber or like a NFIB, which is the National Federation of Independent Businesses. I want to be big and powerful, and I want people to continue to listen to us. And I want people so what? We just need support. We need members, we need sponsors. We need people who are passionate about what we’re doing. It’s really cheap to be a member. You know, we try to make it affordable.
It’s 100 bucks, $135. I think for the year we really tried to make it affordable, but we want lots of lots of people to come join with us.

[00:36:33] Speaker1
You know, one of the things that why the coalition took off so much was those Friday calls had, you know, 50, 70, 100 people on them. And you’re your influence, your senators, you’re representing your directors in the government, the governor’s office. They saw the power and number. They’re like, this is like a lot of people. So, okay, so so that’s a reason to really join. And you also are supporting other women business owners, you know, and it’s again, it’s we’re not going to get you with all these fees and all we’re going to be really reasonable and how we’re going to get you involved. So so why though beyond hey the influencers and and we’re making change and we had a we had an I mean, amazing basically about 18 months, two years and made so much progress. I can see 5 to 10 years you’re accomplishing this. Right, but what are the reasons would you support or join the WC beyond that? I mean, I love the camaraderie of it all, I can tell you.

[00:37:35] Speaker2
Yeah, well, I mean, it is great. You know, we just we some of my favorite moments were when our special guest and we’ve had the lieutenant governor, we’ve had the secretary of state twice. We’ve had director of development a couple of times. You know, we our legislators, you know, we’ve had the editor of The Dispatch joined us. I mean, yes, we’re bringing these amazing people to the table. So you get sort of a firsthand view of of of these folks and what they do. And you sort of have a front row seat. I mean, and we do zoom it just to make it convenient. We’ve done a couple of in-person events. We have a great event coming up.

[00:38:09] Speaker1
Let’s talk a little about that. Just why you joined. Because this is this is real stuff.

[00:38:13] Speaker2
So, you know, Betty is passionate about advocacy. Right. And that’s what we’re trying to do. We are an advocacy organization. And that’s why we exist. We’re not necessarily a networking organization, but you need to network with your legislators. You need to network with the influencers and the people, and you need to know them. So when you when you need to ask for something, you already know them. So the upcoming Women’s Leadership Conference, which Brady Wares is helping to sponsor along with the SBA. And I think the better.

[00:38:41] Speaker1
Business, the Better Business Bureau. Yes. Yeah, we started this conference already. We we started this conference in 2014. And so this is our ninth year. And what I wanted to do this year was include a lot more advocacy with it, because last year we were virtual, which was not my preference, but we still had 164 people registered and we had 102 to 110 people were there on it all day. But at noon, Governor DeWine came in and zoomed in. And people, you don’t have to like him. You can love him. But it was the governor of Ohio was there. And so we’re going to have some really cool stuff throughout the day at this conference on June 24th. You really definitely want to check it out. It’s on Brady Wares website, but it’s the Women’s Leadership Conference. And so tell us about what your firm is a sponsor. Yes. And we’re going to have some fun with I know we can’t tell who’s going to be there yet because a lot of times they can’t commit till it gets out. But tell us a little bit about how advocacy in your firm is going to play a role in it?

[00:39:40] Speaker2
Oh, well, we definitely so we have some invitations out to some high level folks. We did get confirmation that the director of the Department of Development, Lydia Mihalic, is going to be speaking to us at lunch, which is amazing. And she is the person she just inherited all of these preference programs. So she’s trying to learn about them and she’s in a position to change them, you know, and and so she’s really passionate about what we’re doing. She also controls the loans. I mean, it’s her agency that’s giving up. So so she is. And she’s the one who’s asking other agencies, how many contracts are you going to give to women businesses? So she is just a huge supporter. You know, when I sent her an email, when I saw these these dollars in the budget and I said, oh, my gosh, thank you, thank you, thank you. And she responded to me with one sentence. We heard you. I mean, I like it’s crazy. It’s like, wow, you know, advocacy really does matter. So Lydia’s going to be there. And then at the end of the day, we’re going to have a really fun, relaxing reception right in the hotel, the same area. And we’re inviting policymakers and public officials and candidates. And you’re going to be in the room mingling with folks that are going to be making decisions about things that impact you on a daily basis, not just in your business, but your personal life, wherever. And and so we’re really excited about that. It’s important. And that’s going to be, I think, what, 330 or 4:00?

[00:40:59] Speaker1
Yeah. So the conference is is an all day conference. But if you just can only come to advocacy, you can come. The only downside is you have to pay for your own drinks and the cocktails. If you attend the conference, you actually we have five women who have stepped up right now to pay for the cocktails for that for that hour and a half, it’ll go 330 to 5. But we’re going to have players in the room. So why wouldn’t you want to be there, right? Why wouldn’t you want to come to it? But last year, Rachel was so supportive in her company, Benesch was so supportive in sponsoring this. And they’re doing it again this year. And then this year we’re going to bring a lot more players and we have some other surprises, maybe hopefully for that, but that will be there that day. But it was really, really it’s going to be impactful. So you want to be there.

Let me just tell you that Mary McCarthy and Betty Collins know how to put on a conference. They know how to put it’s it’ll you will leave inspired you will be interested throughout the entire day. There’s actually too much on the agenda I want to do more than right. The time even allows for us to do right, but they’re always great.

[00:42:00] Speaker1
Because we’ll kick off with a really great breakfast speaker. She’s she just wrote a book. It’s on it’s doing really well on Amazon. And and then we’ll have a national speaker, Cindy Solomon, at lunch. We’ll have 15 breakout sessions. So you can choose through the day. There’s exhibitor tables if you even want to do that. And in in 2019, we had probably I’m going to say 250 people there all day, and we had another 70, probably 50 to 70 for lunch. I mean, it’s well attended to have to have 2020 where I had to just cancel it. It wasn’t appropriate with health and everything and the uncertainty of that time. And then for 21 to still have that many people because we just had great speakers. So at the end of this podcast we’ll get you actually where you can register and be a part of it. So make no mistake about Benesch law. Rachel Winder we’re going to have really good influencers in the room throughout the day. And you you don’t want to miss that part of it. But I really appreciate you coming on today. And if you want to know more about the Ohio Women’s Coalition and yourself, where can the audience find you?

[00:43:06] Speaker2
So definitely check out our website. It’s WW Ohio Women’s Coalition. All one word dot org org and I actually bet you’ll be proud of me. I’ve upgraded the website I’ve been. I figured out how to do that. We’re still in our infancy. We also need some website design. If you do website design, check us.

[00:43:27] Speaker1
Out. Yep.

[00:43:28] Speaker2
But w w w dot Ohio Women’s Coalition dot org. Please join us if you can. And all my contact information is on there, including my cell phone. Call me.

[00:43:37] Speaker1
Yep.

[00:43:38] Speaker2
I’d love to talk with you. Join us if.

[00:43:39] Speaker1
You want to talk more about some of these topics, whether it be certification or how do I get involved with these loans or those I mean, the WC is going to be able to give you that. They’re going to get the information. So today we didn’t talk about politics and we we try not to talk about CO but as little as possible. But we did talk about the importance of influencing and Ohio’s women coalition is doing that and we as women whether we’re in business or not or we’re key players or just we just want to help women. We want to help further things along and empowerment, make sure you’re in the right room with the right people. O How? W w is what we call the High Women’s Coalition can get you there, but I appreciate you listening today and I appreciate that I have this opportunity to hopefully inspire you in some manner. And this is Betty Collins. Have a great day.

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