Inspiration the hard way

Four female executives share how they made it, minus the fairy tales.

By CHRISTINA REXRODE
Published November 26, 2006

They're at the top of their game, but they weren't always. At a recent meeting of the Tampa Bay Technology Forum's Executive Women's Network, four of the area's female executives shared what they've learned.

Be flexible

Shelley Broader, who heads Sweetbay Supermarket, was sure she wanted to be a newscaster - until she found a job in the field. She didn't have a Plan B, so she moved home, where her mother told her, "You can't live here very long."

Broader moved to Boston. "I always tell people, 'I liked Spenser: For Hire,' " she said. "And also, John Kennedy was still single."

There, she switched gears, and started working in finances and stocks.

Hit the books

The Vietnam War was in full swing when Judy Genshaft, now the president of University of South Florida, graduated from college. It was such a tumultuous time, she told herself that she would never go back to school.

She became an intake worker at a mental health facility, then had an epiphany.

"I said, 'My boss is not a lot brighter than a lot of people. Why is she my boss?' "

The answer: The boss had a higher degree.

So Genshaft went back to school, and she's still there.

Find mentors

Rhea Law leads Fowler White Boggs Banker in Tampa, but when she was a child, her parents told her she would never go to college. "You're going to get married, you're going to have kids, that's all you're going to do," was their mind-set.

She went to work in fundraising for USF because she found out that employees got six credit hours of class free each semester. When she decided to go to law school, her boss and other mentors at USF gave her the "go for it" she needed.

Show 'em what you're made of

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio says she didn't plan to run for mayor, because it seemed like it would be too much for her family. Then an acquaintance told her not to bother running because the race had been decided.

Iorio says she can't stand being told she can't do something.

"I got off the phone," she said, "and I told my husband, 'I'm going to run for mayor.' "

Christina Rexrode can be reached at (727) 893-8318 or crexrode@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 25, 2006, 21:04:23]