Wednesday, 13 October 2010

• Woman in Charge: Lillie Ammann

  Meet Lillie Ammann, 
  Christian freelance writer, editor, and published author...  

        
  
  Today I am a freelance writer and editor. I have published a romantic suspense and a contemporary romance novel, as well as several short how-to guides. I also edit business documents and book manuscripts and help authors self-publish their work. My gender is not an issue in this career, but the situation was different when I first started in the world of work.

  After I graduated from college, I worked for a couple of years in federal civil service. Looking back now, I realize there were no women in positions of authority even though women made up a large percentage of the workforce. However, I was just starting my career and was perhaps too oblivious to even notice. Then I took a job with the state employment office, working in a program in which the employment office and several social service agencies collaborated to help the hard-core unemployed.

  I was the only woman and by far the youngest person at the counselor level. All the other women were part of the administrative staff or the lowest professional position. The other counselors were all men who had retired from military service. My immediate supervisor, also retired military, had his desk in the public area of the office where he could monitor everything that went on.

  At the end of my first full week on the job, my supervisor called me to his desk and asked for a particular report. I replied, “I’m sorry, Mr. Spencer, but I’ve never heard of that report.” He jumped up and started screaming, “You are so stupid you can’t do anything right. I had this place running smoothly, and you had to come along and ruin everything!”

  The room was full of workers and clients who heard his tirade. I ran to the restroom—the only one for the entire floor, locked myself in, and cried for about half an hour. I reminded myself I didn’t need this job and told myself I could just march right out there and tell Mr. Spencer, “I quit!”

   But then my innate stubbornness—what my mother called stick-to-it-iveness—kicked in. I decided that I wasn’t going to let that man or anyone else run me off. I would be there long after he was gone, and when I left it would be on own my terms. So I washed my face, went back to my supervisor, and asked him to explain the report he wanted. Within a few weeks, he was asking the other counselors, “Why can’t you do your paperwork the way Mrs. Ammann does?” That didn’t make me very popular with my colleagues, but I felt vindicated after being called “so stupid I couldn’t do anything right.”

   A few years later, I left that job—on my own terms and after my supervisor was gone—to start a plant shop. That business grew, and customers started asking me to put plants in their home or office, which led to my business evolving into an interior landscape company. I joined the Chamber of Commerce and realized that often I was the only woman in the room at events. Someone gave me some excellent advice: address the men by their first names rather than Mr. So-and-So.

  Today it seems that everyone uses first names, but back in the 70s, businesspeople typically addressed each other more formally. However, calling the businessmen I met at Chamber events by their first names took away the apprehension and intimidation I felt in those meetings. It put me on an equal footing with the men in the room.

  Although succeeding in business was probably more of a challenge for me as a woman, I didn’t let that slow me down. During the nearly 20 years I owned and operated the company, my business grew to become one of the top three interior landscape companies and one of the 25 largest woman-owned businesses in the metropolitan area.

  I’m so glad I didn’t give in to my injured pride and hurt feelings and quit when my supervisor called me stupid. I would have avoided further unfair treatment at his hands, but I also would not have developed the tough mental attitude, the motivation, and the skills to succeed in my own businesses.

  

  Dream of Destiny

  Stroke of Luck

   

   

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