Women Stepping UP will focus on Owning the Workplace: Reaching Your Potential as it continues an online panel discussion at noon on Wednesday, July 21, to continue our celebration of the 100th anniversary (plus one) of the ratification of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote, but also to say “It’s Your Turn.”
The panel discussions will lead up to the annual Women’s Equality Day Centennial (Plus One) celebration luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, August 26, 2021 featuring Astronaut Mae Jemison. The luncheon will be at the Old National Events Plaza and tickets are available at http://SteppingupEvv.com/tickets or at YWCA Evansville at 118 Vine St., Evansville.
The series, It’s Our Turn: Stepping Up Together, will continue with the panel discussion Owning the Workplace: Reaching Your Potential from noon to 1 p.m. July 21. It is free and available on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/steppinguptoequality.
This panel session, in collaboration with YWCA Evansville, is designed to offer suggestions for workers at all levels in today’s workforce to navigate advancement, pay equity, professionalism and most importantly how to reach your potential.
July 21’s panel, Owning the Workforce, will feature Dentist Marjorie M. Cabell, Jo Ferrell, Co-owner of Home Envy and Tresa Miller, owner of Grateful Threads. Shelley Kirk, WEHT/WTVW anchor, will moderate.
Dr. Marjorie M. Cabell
Dr. Marjoie M. Cabell, DMD, is a dentist for Merit Dental who specializes in periodontal and oral surgery, cosmetic dentistry (crowns, bridges, dentures) and tooth replacement implants. She is a graduate of Texas Southern University and the Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry of Temple University.
Cabell enjoys a wide variety of activities including home projects, reading, cooking, 10k walk/runs, bicycling, church, traveling and experiencing life and different cultures. She said she welcomes opportunities to learn and grow.
Jodi Ferrell
Jodi Ferrell, 46, is the owner/partner of Home Envy. She first went to work for a bathroom remodeling company on a commission basis in 2007 because they were looking to add a “tomboy” estimator. But she almost gave up on the first day after her trainer/manager told her to put her notebook away saying “you are wasting my time, you are wasting your time. This is not a world for you; you are never going to make it.” She went home and told her husband Kevin that it wasn’t going to work — “He can’t stand me and I don’t know why. We are going to starve.” Kevin Ferrell asked his wife when had she never quit on anything? So she went to the library and checked out books on building codes, plumbing codes, construction and bathroom remodeling. Despite continual harassment from the manager, she was selling more jobs than he in two months and in four months she had his job. She, her husband and another worker, Jacob Pankey, formed their own company in 2011. And still the discrimination against her as a woman continues. “It happened just yesterday,” she said.
Ferrell, who grew up in St. Anthony, Ind., and her husband have two children, Noah Ferrell, 22, and Kainen Ferrell, 20. The couple owned three Domino’s Pizza outlets in Washington, Ind., Olney, Ill., and Mt Carmel, Ill., before moving to Evansville.
Tresa Miller
Evansville native Tresa Miller is the owner of Grateful Threads Fabric
& Furnishings, established in 2005, making her the third oldest
retailer in Downtown Evansville. She attended both ISUE and the University of Evansville.
Prior to opening her shoppe, she was a Financial Advisor with
Northwestern Mutual for 14 years. Sales has always been her profession,
working 16 years in the transportation industry for both Fortune 500
companies as well as locally owned trucking companies. She loves the
creativity involved with Grateful Threads and is proud of the service
and quality offered by the company.
Tresa has been married to Brent for 30 years,(how did that happen?!)
and has two sons, Kyle and Kory. Kyle and wife Leah have blessed us with
three terrific grandchildren and Kory is single and very busy as the
General Manager of Pangea Kitchen.
Self employed for the last 30 years have taught many lessons which
Tresa is happy to share.
Shelley Kirk is an Eyewitness News anchor for WEHT/WTVW.
Upcoming panel discussions will be on the third Wednesday every other month.
In September, after hearing from STEM-focused Mae Jemison at the Women’s Equality Day, the topic is Engineering Opportunities in Math and Science
In November, we will look back and prepare ourselves for the future with Ready Next Time: Lessons Learned from a Pandemic.
Women’s Equality Day will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, August 26, (doors open at 11 a.m.) and will feature Astronaut and leader Mae Jemison. Dr. Jemison is an engineer and physician who became the first African American woman to be admitted into NASA’s astronaut training program and travel in space. She served as a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavour and orbited the earth for almost eight days in 1992. Jemison is now focused on encouraging young people to consider careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects to help solve the challenges of the future. Sponsorships are available now and a limited supply of tickets will be available soon. Follow the links at SteppingUpEvv.com