-------------------------p o ttia n i. ©bscruer MED W eek____________ September29,2004
Women Under the Hood
Nontraditional
careers pursued
buying,as wellasinmanufacturing.
CrmsunKTckxitispnpellingwomen
into executive positions as women
products m ore and more to fe-
m ale car buyers.
W om en’s progress in this tra-
As one o f the largest indus
tries in the w orld and the second
largest em ployer in the state,
supplying more than 13,4(M)johs
in the m etro Portland area, the
autom otive industry is an area
w here w om en are becom ing
increasingly involved in day-to-
are becoming the decision-makers
day operations.
Factors in this increasing involve when buying a new vehicle and
ment include women’s roles in car auto makers are gearing their
ditionally male-dominatedindus-
try, is e x e m p lifie d by Kim
A lfonso, the first w om an presi-
Factors in this increasing
involvement include womens
roles in car buying, as well as
in manufacturing.
ENROLL IN CLASSES NOW.
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dent o f the M etro Portland New
C ar D ealers A ssociation and
vice president and co-ow ner o f
Vic A lfonso C adillac.
C om ing from a Portland auto
re ta ile r fam ily, A lfo n so has
w orked her w ay up, participat
ing in the m any changes in the
industry. She began as an office
clerk at age 12 w orking during
her sum m er vacations and over
the next 20 years progressed
continued
on page HN
Kim Kittinger, automotive instructor at Portland
Community College
Supporting Minority-Owned Businesses
»
T
continued
from 04
overcom ing
trem endous
obstacles. In the last 20 years, the
number of minority-owned busi
nesses in this country has more
than doubled. Minorities own 15
percent o f all
A m erican
businesses. T hat’s more than 3
million firms, and more than 3 mil
lion factories and stores, consult
ing shops and co nstruction
outfits. M inority-ow ned b u si
rewarding experiences that minor
ity small business owners face.
“They said. Go ahead and try it,
but I don’t think they expected me
to have any success with it. I started
landing jobs,” says Say, winner of
the U.S. Sm all B usiness
Administration's regional Minor
ity Small Business Person of the
Year award.
As she became the president of
a company doing business in the
petroleum industry. Say encoun
They said, Go ahead and
try it, but I don ’t think they
expected me to have any
success with it. I started
landing jobs.
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— Karen Say, Minority Busainess Award winner
nesses are the fastest growing seg
ment of American business today.
Why is that?
It is largely because of their spirit
of entrepreneurship, the combina
tion of hard work and calculated
risks people take to keep their busi
nesses successful. It is because of
people like Karen Say. Karen Say
knows very well the challenges and
tered the misperceptions that come
with being a trailblazer.
“Most of the people in this
business are middle-aged white
males, and when I'm in the room
as a counterpart, everyone as
sumes I'm the secretary. I've had
people tell me what kind of coffee
they want. T here’s a whole pro
cess where I had to prove myself
to be given credibility.”
My father would have enjoyed
MEDWeek. He immigrated to
America from Mexico and began
his new life as a farm worker in
rural Missouri. That was not an
easy life, but he was determined
to take advantage of the opportu
nities his new country offered.
He understood that this truly was
a land where your dreams could
come tru e-if you worked for them.
He was right. My father went
from picking potatoes to become a
business owner and leader in the
business community.
But he didn't stop there. He
wanted to help other immigrants
live out the American dream. So
he started the Kansas City His
panic Chamber of Commerce and
was one of the co-founders of the
U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Com
merce.
My father believed in hard work,
personal responsibility and calcu
lated risk. And he believed in
America.
M inority-ow ned businesses
produce almost $600 billion in an
nual revenue. They employ more
than 4.5 million Americans, and pay
them $96 billion a year. Encourag
ing and helping minority-owned
businesses isn’t just the right thing
to do. It’s the smart thing to do for
today's economy and for the fu
ture.
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