Chamber Diversity Improves
A few weeks ago, accountant Chris Schnug of McFarland & Alton was elected vice chair of the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce.
Barring the unexpected, next summer she will be chosen the first woman to chair the Spokane chamber in 97 years.
Another woman accountant, Lynn M. Jones of LeMaster & Daniels, has been named secretarytreasurer.
Two out of three of the chamber’s top officers next year will be females.
And the lone man in the trio, Larry A. Stanley, is a departure from most past chairmen in that he is truly a smallbusiness type. Other chairmen of recent vintage have come from big business, so to speak. At least, big for Spokane - Washington Water Power, Cowles Publishing, URM Stores, etc.
But the founder of Empire Bolt & Screw Inc. is the epitome of the familybusiness entrepreneur. It strikes me that Larry Stanley has probably served on more volunteer, non-paid, small-business councils, task forces and committees at all levels from Spokane to the nation’s capital than anyone in the history of this community.
So, this is not your standard, country club, Chamber of Commerce clutch of good ol’ boys with big bucks.
These are work-a-day business leaders.
In addition to drawing leadership from the working ranks, the chamber has been diversifying racially to reflect more closely the population.
Of the 13 new trustees selected this year, three represent racial minorities. It’s not a lot in number, but percentagewise it far exceeds the ratio of minorities in Spokane’s population. The three are Chun Kwang of Shogun Restaurant, Valerie Marshall of Martin Luther King Jr. Center, and Jose Pena of United Way of Spokane County.
And finally, reflecting the gender revolution in the workplace, the ratio of women on the chamber board is rapidly approaching one-half. Odds are that’s a first in the nation.
So, with women taking over the reins, what do men get out of the chamber’s break with tradition?
Well, men don’t have to wear ties on Fridays in the heat of summer. That’s new.
Actually, the Friday exception to the dress code stipulates “professional appearing casual clothing.” But men have taken that to mean no ties.
OK, it doesn’t measure up to what the women’s movement has achieved. “But, hey,” says veteran chamber staffer Mike Archer, “I’ll take it.”
You make a living doing what?
Your answer to that question on a home videotape could make you a TV star - for several seconds.
A new video-magazine series called “Small Business Today” is coming to public television this fall. It’s about starting and growing a business. And businesses nationwide are being invited to audition by sending in a videotape.
“Ten or 15 seconds is enough,” the show’s administrative assistant, Lydia Curtis, told me. “And it needn’t, in fact it shouldn’t, be professionally shot.
“Ideally, it would be a brief vignette of you doing what you do in your business,” she says. “Actions that illustrate the words make a better video.”
The format calls for 13 installments of 30 minutes each. Each week, the program will include interesting answers to the above question, she says.
The question again is: You make a living doing what? And here are some sample answers:
“I make anatomically correct dolls which are used by counselors to talk with children about abuse.”
Or, “I sell coffee from a large thermos which I strap to my back while riding through the streets of Chicago.”
Or, “I write jokes. Wanna hear one?”
The first show will air Sept. 10. Auditions will be kept open through September, Curtis says.
“So far I don’t have a commitment from Spokane’s public TV station,” she says. “But KSPS (Channel 7) has our pilot, and we’re hoping they will sign on.”
If the series isn’t aired by a station the first go-round, Curtis says, it may be scheduled to appear later. “The series is evergreen,” she says, “which means it may be run at any time.”
Host and executive producer is veteran business educator Hattie Bryant.
Videotaped answers to the question may be mailed to: Hattie Bryant, Small Business Today, P.O. Box 23100, New Orleans, La., 70183.