Women’s Entrepreneurship Panel discuss their journey to success

By Lena Zhu | Published by November 7, 2019

Joan Verplanck, the current Wenzhou-Kean University Board of Director, had a difficult early life as a young bride married to an alcoholic. 

“I had the great opportunity, in hindsight, to have been married young to an alcoholic with two children from a previous marriage,” Verplanck said. 

By the age of 25, she became the mother of small children with no one to support her. Despite this, Verplanck remains upbeat and even thanks her early marriage as a way to start a fire beneath her. 

“I grew up very, very quickly,” Verplanck said.  With the advantage of three children to support and an underperforming spouse, it does put the fire under your pot. Someone had to support the family, so it was going to be me.”

Verplanck now works for the Kean Wenzhou campus as Board Director, having served her time as President of the United States Chamber of Commerce from 1995-2010. 

This was the type of story that inspired four women to discuss their journey and lives of success at the Women Entrepreneurship Panel Discussion on Oct. 25 in the Dave Gibbons Conference Center in Kean Hall. 

Three other panelists, Marjorie Perry, an alumna of Kean, Monica Smith, CEO of MarketSmith Inc., and Elisa Charters, co-founder, and CEO of Latina Surge.  

Marjorie Perry, an alumnus of Kean University and the current President and CEO of MZM Construction and Management Company Inc., grew up in a poor family living in the projects of Newark. 

“I did not like that we were broke all the time,” Perry said. “I just knew that the girl next door could buy a pair of cute shoes and I had to go in the basement of Bamberger’s or Kresge’s and get my little two-dollar shoes off the table. The girl next door would get a pair of $100 shoes. That was always the culture.”

However, she was exposed to a better and different life at a young age. She did not give up hope.

“I just knew that I had a dream,” Perry said. “I lived in the projects at night and they [her Jewish teachers] would take me to their homes in Livingston and Short Hills. So, I saw two worlds pretty early.” 

Perry emphasizes the point of getting exposure to a different life. Perry faced trials and tribulations as a young black female in the construction business, a career dominated mostly by men. 

“When I started construction, I knew nothing. I just had a dream to be successful. I failed a million dollars a few years in. I faced female racism as well as regular racism,” Perry said. “‘What is a female doing in this [career]? And you happen to be a chocolate girl? Are you confused? Get out!’” 

These were the types of comments that Perry had to face during her journey. However, she held her head up high and continued to get an education, eventually obtaining her civil engineering degree and has now started Harvard University in May of this year. 

“Education never stops if you are going to stay relevant,” Perry said. 

Another panelist, Monica Smith, founder, owner and CEO of MarketSmith Inc., focused on failure and what motivates her as an entrepreneur. 

“I was never a great student, but I had a great desire to be extraordinarily empowered,” Smith said. “Back when I went to school, women in entrepreneurship was not even discussed. You were either a teacher or nurse or maybe go into finance if you knew someone. There were so many limitations.” 

Growing up learning disabled with six brothers and a lower-middle-class family, failing was not an option for her. As a young child, she saw how hard her parents worked for the life they gave her and could not bear the idea of failing. 

After having quite a success reviving her old college newspaper, she was recognized and thrown into the corporate world. There, she always made mistakes and had a fear of being fired at every moment. She asked her brother, who was well versed in the corporate world, what she could do to become better. He responded with one word: Read. 

“So, I never stopped reading,” Smith said. “Anything that I could get my hands on, I read. That helped me and gave me perspective and knowledge of all these people who struggled before me.”

With entrepreneurship, Smith is able to live in the moment rather than wait for old age. 

“We all grew up in a world where we were taught ‘you do good, you work hard, you do right by your kids, you retire and then you do all the things you really want to do,’” Smith said. “That’s what our parents did. I watched my parents not get there.” 

Elisa Charters, an advocate for diversity and inclusion and the co-founder of Latina Surge, lived double lives. Her mother was a wealthy immigrant from Peru but left everything when she came to the United States. Always having the drive for more, she strived for a better life. 

“I wasn’t a great student. I was pretty competitive. I played tennis, softball, and two years of basketball. That led me to have a lot of skills as to how to be a team player,” Charters said. “And that is essential to your success. Everything you do today is team related. You have to have that emotional intelligence, that cultural intelligence, and learning how to work with other people on your team.”

Along with teamwork, Charters firmly believes that support from your network is important. 

“It’s the network that you have and the people that support you,” Charters said. “You have to keep pushing yourself and always have an open mind to learning because you never know what those paths could lead you to.” 

Perry believed that immersion was just as important. 

“Immersion is just as important as networking; I grew up going to a thousand networking events. I talked at Joan [Verplanck] but not to her,” Perry said. “The Harvard experience says that you have to learn how to talk to me and that means taking the person off the pedestal for a second and become relationship-oriented with them. People want to work with people they like.” 

With the panel coming to a close, Smith had one piece of advice for the audience.

“Going through your 20s, your brain is still growing,” Smith said. “There is a tremendous amount of information that can be taken in during these times. Think about how you spend your time. Own it. You are completely empowered to make the move.”

 

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