I have always wanted my own business. Even when I was working for a Fortune 500 company.

In the 1980s, I was working for Wang Laboratories (name ring a bell?) on their regional marketing team in Atlanta. When they announced they were looking for someone to run the first Wang Business Center in Washington, DC, I jumped at the chance! Being an intrapreneur with the backing of a major company was a great way to start my journey.

So, I opened the first PC retail store for any major computer manufacturer.

We had an inventory of PCs, printers, and floppy disks since the hard drives were exceedingly small.

You can now find those early PC versions in a museum somewhere.

After 30+ years in tech marketing and sales management, freelancing with small businesses doing their bookkeeping, financial reporting, and HR work, plus working for a non-profit and two marketing communications companies as a Director of Finance and HR, I had a decision to make.

Was I going to retire from my great job,  or was I finally going to take the leap and have my own business?

That’s when I heard about Felena Hanson, Founder of Hera Hub. She was doing incredible work in San Diego to support women business owners, and I was hooked.

I told my husband that I had found my next thing.

Felena’s mantra is: “Go Big or Go Home.”

We’ve all heard it before, but it’s now forever on the kitchen wall at Hera Hub DC as a reminder of my big leap.

Since then, it’s been my mission to support women business owners in every way that I can.

Given great training by IBM and Wang early in my career and learning from people who have supported and mentored me for over 3 decades, I knew what I was destined to create the first Hera Hub outside of San Diego, CA.

Fast forward, now with 40+ years of business experience, it’s been over 8 years since we opened our doors to the community. I’ve met countless women who are doing amazing things and are supporting each other with their generous nature and serious expertise.

Hera Hub DC is more than a dream come true, it’s a legacy to my mother who was a high school Home Economics teacher. She taught young women how to take charge of their lives, careers, finances, households, and families so that they could rely on themselves and thrive.

Guess that’s my destiny too.

What are you destined to do?

It’s never too late to make a difference.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” – attributed to Gandhi, but not his exact words, and on the wall at Hera Hub DC