Cover Story

No limits

By Gail Baruch

ROCKFORD WOMAN

Apr 25, 2008 @ 12:00 AM

Would anyone refuse to fly with a pilot just because he was a man?

Would most construction site project managers be amused at being mistaken for an interior designer?

Being a woman in a traditionally male field has its challenges. But six Rockford women say, it has its rewards.

Whether flying a plane or breaking up a fistfight, women excel in ever widening arenas. They cite encouragement from parents, who taught them to change a spark plug or bought them a flying lesson. They praise mentors, employers and colleagues who judged them on ability rather than anatomy.

They manage to balance a nontraditional career with marriage and motherhood. Cops can breastfeed. Auto specialists can hug you. Grandmothers can manage your portfolio.

There’s no limit to what Rock River Valley women can do.

Suzie Gale: Auto repair
As a little girl, Suzie Gale would stand on her wagon, lean under the hood, and watch her dad change the spark plugs on his ’55 Chevy.

Today, she manages Butitta Brothers Auto Service in Freeport.

“I always enjoyed automobiles,” she says, recalling her teen years in Mount Morris. “We’d hang out at the gas station, drink a bottle of Coke, and friends would pull their cars in to work on them.”

So it wasn’t too far a stretch when a friend suggested she apply for a job at Kelly Springfield Tires. Before that, she’d worked as a restaurant manager and for a Freeport manufacturer.

Her first job at Kelly Springfield was as a credit manager, doing bookwork. “Then I got into selling tires, and service followed,” she says.

She credits her former boss, Arlo Barry, for being her mentor.

“I never went to college,” she says. “It was all hands-on training. He taught me everything I knew.”

After 12 years, the store was sold to Roadmaster. Gale moved from assistant manager to manager.

When Roadmaster closed eight years later, Butitta Brothers reopened the facility with Gale as manager.

Despite the paperwork and the ringing phones, customers always come first.

An increasing number of those customers — about 55 percent to 65 percent — are women, she says.

“In 21 years, I’ve really seen advances in women becoming very knowledgeable about their cars,” she says.

“I like to show them what a ball joint or a tie rod looks like, what is tire wear or where the fluid leak is.”

Only two out of 10 employees in the automotive field are female, she says, so she still feels like a pioneer.

“It’s a learning situation every day,” she says. “It’s like a team — or a family.”

Product knowledge is just part of her job. Communication is key. She needs to know what questions to ask: Is it a hard start when it’s cold? Does it sputter when it warms up?

“Sometimes, I have to pull it out of them,” she says. “If I don’t communicate the problem correctly to a technician, we’re wasting time.”

Gale's profile
Age: 57
Birthplace: Mount Morris
Family: Husband Glenn; four daughters, 14 grandchildren, one great-grandchild
Hobbies: Reading, taking road trips, attending Packers games, and spending time with family

Christie Jarrett: Construction
Christie Jarrett remembers a day on the job site when a construction worker tried to be helpful.

“Are you dropping something off for your husband?” he asked her.

“No,” she answered. “I’m the project manager.”

Another time, she was mistaken for the interior designer.

For Jarrett, 30, the challenges of being a woman in a traditionally male field are worth it.

“I truly love working in the construction industry,” she says. “There is plenty of room for talented people, no matter what gender.”

Construction work is all in the family. Her father, Robert W. Stenstrom, encouraged her and her brother to learn all aspects of the family business that her grandfather founded in 1953.

Today, Stenstrom Companies Ltd. comprises five divisions: Stenstrom General Contractors, Real Estate Development Group, Excavation and Blacktop Group, Petroleum Services Group, and Pearson Plumbing and Heating and Pest Control.

As a child, she and her brother accompanied her dad to the office Saturday mornings. As a teen, she worked there some summers, answering the phone. After earning a bachelor’s degree in finance from Northern Illinois University, she returned to Stenstrom seven years ago.

“In my desire to learn the business, I’ve done a little bit of everything,” she says. “When you have a family business, you do whatever it takes to get the job done.”

She’s worked in payroll, safety committee and real estate, as well as a project manager and estimator — two positions generally held by men. Currently, she serves as director of human resources and marketing for all five divisions. But she hasn’t completely retired her hard hat; she continued as project manager at Grace United Methodist Church when work resumed there this spring.

“I bid the project in July,” she says. “That’s one of my favorite jobs, putting together the estimates and going out onsite. You’re always going to learn something new.”

Jarrett's profile
Age: 30
Birthplace: Rockford
Family: Husband, Ehren, principal at Hononegah High School; son Jackson, almost 5; daughter Lillian, 21 months.
Hobbies: Exercising and spending time with family.

Carla Redd: Law enforcement
Officer Carla Redd recalls feeling proud the first time she helped a male officer subdue an assailant.

“Some are a little leery at first,” she says of her male colleagues. “They wonder if the woman can hold her own.”

Redd, 37, has been holding her own for 11 years. She’s one of about 40 female officers in Rockford’s 300-plus police force. She works for the Weed and Seed program, which strives to improve high-crime neighborhoods.

“The best part is dealing with the residents,” she says. “Quite a few see me as a friend. The most frustrating is dealing with the same issues and same individuals over and over again. Some learn from their mistakes; some keep making the same mistakes.”

Redd was born and raised in Rockford, one of three children. She grew up a tomboy in the footsteps of an older brother. She graduated in the last class at West High School.

She attended Iowa State University and Rock Valley College. She graduated from Northern Illinois University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, with an emphasis in criminal justice.

At first, she wanted to be a defense attorney; then she decided she couldn’t defend clients she knew were guilty. She found work as a probation officer.

“I had to deal with so many individuals who did not want to change,” she says.

She was introducing a friend to a police recruiter when she found herself agreeing to test for the Police Department.

“I was ready for a career change,” she says. “Mom was so worried about it. After I passed the test, she was more excited than I was.”

Women are still a minority in law enforcement. Recently, 83 qualified women submitted applications to the Rockford Police Department; of those, 16 showed up to test and five passed the physical agility test, allowing them to take the written exam. That’s compared with 122 men who qualified to take the written exam.

Some women may be afraid to be in a fight or a foot chase, Redd says. They may be hesitant to shoot a gun or have to take someone’s life. “But you’re trained in self-preservation,” she says. “When it comes to the end of the night, I’ve got to go home.”

At home are her husband, a Rockford pastor, their 12-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son. Off hours may find her bike riding or playing basketball with her children.

Women play a special role in law enforcement, Redd says. “Other women are a little more at ease working with you,” she says. “Sexual-assault cases are more forthcoming. Same thing with domestic violence victims.”

Female officers can succeed, she says, as long as they’re physically fit and confident in who they are.

“I can do anything I set my mind to,” she says.

Redd's profile
Age: 37
Birthplace: Rockford
Family: Husband is a pastor; 12-year-old daughter, 4-year-old son.
Hobbies: basketball, bike riding, spending time with family.

Judith E. Toppe: Finance
The name on the building is Edward Jones, but the name on the door is Judith E. Toppe.

She was hired in 1994, the first female financial adviser in the company’s Chicago region, which stretched from Wisconsin to DeKalb and Indiana to Galena. She established the first Edward Jones office in Rockford.

Today, the company has 14 offices in Rockford and Belvidere, and five of the financial advisers are women. Toppe, 64, and two female employees manage the office at 4021 N. Mulford Road. Her duties include retirement planning, investment advice, stock sales and occasionally more personal business, like advising the client who phoned to ask whether she should buy a new sofa.

Toppe grew up on a farm in Orleans, Ind. Her father was a county sheriff. Her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother had all been teachers. Toppe attended Indiana University, intending to teach business education.

Sophomore year, she married Ron, a senior who was a Marine fighter pilot. He promised her mother that Judith would finish college. The couple moved to Pensacola, Fla., where her husband started military flight training. She continued going to college when they moved to Mississippi, then Texas, then Arkansas, where they both earned master’s degrees. Back in Indiana, she returned to IU to earn her doctorate.

She worked one year as a high school teacher and 15 as a college professor, while raising two children. When her husband’s employer, Essex Wire, transferred him to Rockford, she was unable to land a college-level teaching job. She applied for a position with Edward Jones, thinking it would enhance her knowledge of finance and investment.

“We were Jones clients in Fort Wayne,” she says. “I thought I would do this a couple of years and then I was going to teach it. I never went back.”

The first year was humbling, she recalls, having worked so many years as “Professor Toppe” and “Dr. Toppe.” Now her office was her kitchen table, and it was up to her to find clients.

“I had to walk the streets and knock on doors,” she says. “In some ways it was an advantage to be an older woman. I was less threatening.”

The business began to thrive, and she moved into her current office. She enjoys being a “visiting veteran” and helping to teach the next generation of financial advisers. But working with clients is still the best part of the job.

“The relationships are incredibly rewarding,” she says. “I’m problem solving and helping people reach their goals. I can tell them, ‘You’ve got the money to do it. Do you like the sofa?’ ”

Toppe's profile
Age: 64
Birthplace: Bedford, Ind.
Family: Husband, Ron; son, Ardee; daughter, Rebecca Shortridge; one granddaughter, 17; three grandsons, ages 6, 10 and 10
Hobbies: Traveling, gardening, biking, and singing in the choir at Grace United Methodist Church
Laura VanNatta: Manufacturing
Don’t ask Laura VanNatta what she does.

“What DON’T I do?” she’ll respond.

VanNatta, 37, is director of first impressions for the Rockford Area Ventures at Eigerlab. Her job – and her place of employment – somehow combine industry, education and government in a quest to create jobs. It’s a place that invites ideas, inventions and inspiration. Anything can happen.

Eigerlab began three years ago as an incubator for small business. Located in a 50,000-square-foot building at 605 Fulton Ave., it houses about 100 employees from small businesses, representatives from the Illinois Department of Economic Development and staff from Rock Valley College and Northern Illinois University.

Clients starting a business can find inexpensive rent, Internet access, conference rooms, and advice on everything from getting a patent to putting together a presentation.

For VanNatta, there is no typical day. Her duties include scheduling events, making presentations, maintaining two Web sites, giving tours, designing fliers for clients, teaching high school groups and maintaining President Tom McDunn’s schedule.

“One minute, I’m creating a newsletter; the next, I am giving a tour in Swedish to manufacturing delegates from Sweden,” she says. “There is always a challenge.”

Whether it’s helping the Boys and Girls Club make a video or dealing with Secret Service agents for a congressman’s visit, VanNatta has it covered.

“This job is perfect for a woman who enjoys the manufacturing field, but is not an engineer,” she says. “Women tend to have the organizational and personal skills that can add that special spark.”

When her Eigerlab predecessor left to be a stay-at-home mom, VanNatta applied for the job.

“The day I took the job, I found out I was pregnant,” she says. “This is a true incubator.”
“I want to be a successful mom and a success at my job,” she says. “I want to grow as the business grows.”
VanNatta's profile
Age: 37
Birthplace: Milwaukee
Family: Husband Kevin; son Alden, almost 2; daughter Olivia, 3 months; dogs Isaak and Brisco; cats Simon and Joon.
Hobbies: Writing poetry and creating whimsical paintings (kids permitting).

Samantha Venghaus: Aviation
Samantha Venghaus had just landed a job with American Eagle Airlines and mentioned it in casual conversation.

“Oh, you’re a flight attendant?” the woman asked her.

Not quite. Venghaus, 23, is one of two women in a current class of 20 training to be a jet pilot. After months of simulation and class work in Florida and Texas, she’ll be qualified to fly the big birds. Her goal is to make captain.

“I always wanted to travel and fly,” she says, ever since a trip she took to Arizona as a child.

After attending a career day in junior high, she announced plans to become a stewardess. Her dad asked if she’d considered piloting instead. Her parents bought her an introductory flight, and she was hooked. At 17, she earned her pilot’s license. Her dad was her first passenger.

“He got addicted,” she says. “My mother is terrified of flying but was really supportive.”

Venghaus, who grew up in Burlington, Iowa, double majored in flight operations and aviation management at the University of Dubuque.

“I rarely had another girl in my aviation class,” she remembers. “Aviation has been designed and written mostly by males. I had to study differently than the guys — more hands on.”

She moved to Byron in January 2007 to work for the Rockford Airport Authority and Emery Air. After an eight-year courtship, she married her high school sweetheart, whose father was a helicopter pilot. Last January, Venghaus became a first officer for American Eagle Airlines.

“I’ve always wanted to do the commercial route,” she says. “Eventually, I’d like to do the corporate side of it.”

Being a pilot has its challenges, she says, including delays and the weather. As a female pilot, she has confronted some bias, like the time she was one of several pilots supplying plane rides over a park.

“This guy wouldn’t go up with me,” she says. “You don’t realize it, but they stereotype this career.”

She hopes more women will choose careers in aviation, a field for which she struggles to name the thing she likes best.

“Everything,” she says. And then she lands it. “The view.”

Venghaus' profile
Age: 23
Birthplace: Burlington, Iowa
Family: Husband Chad, her high school sweetheart
Hobbies: Softball, volleyball, riding four-wheelers, shopping with friends, spending time with family