{"id":6821,"date":"2018-02-13T15:14:48","date_gmt":"2018-02-13T23:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohoproductions.org\/old\/?p=6821"},"modified":"2018-02-13T15:19:21","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T23:19:21","slug":"woman-debra-dunn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohoproductions.org\/old\/blog\/woman-debra-dunn\/","title":{"rendered":"THIS WOMAN || Debra Dunn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing<\/em><\/strong><\/a> actor and co-producer Beth Thompson<\/strong> brings us another inspiring story in the fifth installment of the This Woman<\/em><\/strong> portrait and interview series. Debra Dunn<\/strong>, founder and president of Synergy Resources Group<\/a>, shares her experiences championing women, finding success in male-dominated spaces, and Alice Cooper concerts.<\/p>\n

Photos by Lava Alapai<\/a><\/p>\n

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I met Debra Dunn through some of my nearest and dearest, the women in my life who are constantly inspiring me to be a better person. She came into their lives as a friend and a mentor. Debra is a fierce and sharp woman. She\u2019s always hungry for inspiration and on the lookout for warm and wise hearts to take on the journey with her. Debra has been working in business since the early 80s and got into lobbying and government affairs later that same decade. She\u2019s the only woman in the\u00a0This Woman<\/strong><\/em> series who has been experiencing the rise of feminism in the workplace over the course of the last three decades, while most of the others were busy being born and going through puberty. As such, Debra can offer a perspective that is unique, and one that continues to resonate in the here and now.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy feminist journey started when I was a teenager and my younger brother got to do everything because he was a boy. And, a feminist was born. \u2018What do you mean I can\u2019t go to the Alice Cooper concert but my brother can?\u2019 Not that I wanted to, but just because I couldn\u2019t!<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to burn the bra protests and did a lot of pro-choice marching. My journey has been fiercely feminist, always thinking about women in many roles and trying to break the silences and boxes that women are put in.\u00a0 It\u2019s also put me in positions, in places, where conflict lived, which I learned to navigate.”<\/h2>\n

\u201cI know that today\u2019s women, your generation and all those behind me, are making such great strides in the workplace.\u00a0 Just think\u00a0 – women could not get financial credit in my lifetime! That\u2019s appalling. However, women are advancing, and I know that I\u2019m standing on the shoulders of many generations of women who made it possible for me to do what I do today.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked her to tell me how and why she got into what was, especially at the time, an industry overwhelmingly governed by men.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it was journey. It started in the 80s where I was lobbying for education issues with Oregon Parent Teacher Association and I was on their legislative committee. We were able to get the checkbox on the tax return if you wanted to contribute to child abuse prevention. And for me at a young age, that was a pretty big deal and I found that I enjoyed it.”<\/h4>\n

\u201cBut, I also had to make a living, so I was working for a veterinarian who was more of an entrepreneur than a \"\"veterinarian.\u00a0 He gave me the opportunity to work with him to buy and sell veterinary clinics. I would analyze the position of the business and determine whether we were going to purchase it. And, once we did, I developed the business and marketing plan to turn it around and then we sold it.\u00a0 We had a lot of fun.”<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, then my former husband wanted to go into the trucking business. And, at the time, I brought the business and financial acumen to the table and he had the technical experience. So, it was important for me, just out of self-preservation, that I got involved in the business to make sure that it was successful.”<\/p>\n

\u201cLong story short, I got involved in transportation issues. As I was already familiar with lobbying on education issues, it gave me the opportunity to talk to people about issues that were impacting our business, and at that time, it was safety issues. We were without the kind of safety regulatory environment that we have today. So, I got involved with lobbying on transportation issues, met many friends in Salem and my life took a different path. I probably would never have pursued a career in transportation. But, I really enjoyed it and I enjoyed the people I was working with.\u00a0 I found opportunities to lead organizations that were transportation related where my primary role was the public affairs side of the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

The whole concept of that story is a little wild for a girl who has been focused on making theatre for more than a decade, so I asked Debra about her education, what schooling led her to all this.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy education is in business.\u00a0 All I usually needed to hear was that it really wasn\u2019t a place for women or it really wasn\u2019t something women were qualified to do and it became a competitive opportunity for me to prove that wrong.”<\/h1>\n

\u201cBut, it did put me in situations that, at the time, were very difficult for women in that you were the only one at the table. There weren\u2019t any people of color at the table and there certainly weren\u2019t any other women at the table. But, it put me in a position to learn and understand the environment that I was walking into.\u00a0 I had set a high standard for myself that immediately demonstrated my abilities. My financial acumen helped because most women were supposedly not math oriented, right?\u00a0 So my ability to read and understand financial statements usually bought me some credibility. But it was difficult to demonstrate your abilities, your effectiveness and your performance because you were instantly overshadowed by all the men in the room.”<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, my high achiever personality worked well in that environment, because I became very results driven. And, it wasn\u2019t so much how I got there, it was the results. If I could show the right results, then I would get their attention and the \u2018Oh, gee, she must know what she\u2019s doing.\u2019\u00a0 So, I was very results oriented and set professional and personal goals, and I still do every year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those days it was critically important to be focused on what I was trying to accomplish. And, it was hard. I\u2019m not going to say it was easy. I can say, \u2018Me, too,\u2019 many times over. I remember going into the legislature, some of my first times in the legislature I had female lobbyists immediately telling me which legislators\u2019 office not to go in alone.\u00a0 And, I of course, listened. And thought, they know something didn\u2019t.”<\/h3>\n

\u201cSo, it was tough. And, I\u2019m sure it still is; however, I do think it must be easier for women. I\u2019m glad that there are so many women in executive roles now. \u201c<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m pushy. And, Debra is a friend, so I asked her to speak honestly with me about any ways that working in the male dominated spheres of business and government at those times shaped who she is today.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cIt totally shaped me. You have to be pretty confident to be in that industry. I was pretty confident to start with, but it required some pretty tough skin and that\u2019s probably one of the reasons I got out. You don\u2019t want to lose sight of your sensitivity and that was at risk at times because I had to be on my game at all times.\u00a0 I\u2019ve wondered if I had been in an environment where it wasn\u2019t so male dominated, if it was more balanced as I see so many environments today, just what a difference…I\u2019m sure I would be a different person.”<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I satisfied? I\u2019m certainly satisfied with who I am. But, it shaped me, the goal setting and just setting high standards. But, it put me in a position where I was exerting so much energy on a day-to-day basis that there wasn\u2019t a lot left of me for my family, my girls, and that suffered. And, that\u2019s a shame. Being in that environment and working at the level just didn’t leave a lot leftover. So, it did shape me in a positive way, as well as in ways that had an impact on people that I cared about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mentorship and mentoring women, has been a long-time conversation between Debra and me. She fully believes it is the mission of the rest of her life to mentor other women. But, that is the mission, in part, because it wasn\u2019t always the focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those early years, I\u2019ll be the first to admit, we didn’t take the time to mentor other women. We were so busy trying to keep up with everything that was trying to tear us down, we didn’t take the time to help other women. My first opportunity was in the late 90s. I realized then that I could find opportunities to help women in the workplace. I decided I wanted to put myself in a position to be open to it if there was someone that I thought was reaching out in some way for advice or guidance, I would be ready to share.”<\/h2>\n

“But, I also realized that in many of the businesses or associations I ran, there wasn\u2019t a lot of room for advancement. And some of these women were so qualified to do so much more that I found myself using the workplace as a training ground. So, I would hire these really qualified people to gain the experience in where they wanted to go. And, they would launch from there to a place that inspired them. I had a lot of fun with that. I know some people thought, \u2018Well, gosh, they\u2019re here and then they just go. But, I thought, \u2018Great. It\u2019s just wonderful.\u2019 Because there isn\u2019t anywhere for these amazing women to go within the organization! There weren\u2019t that many leadership roles, so that was a way for me to think in terms of how can I bring women up.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, there is also a focus on interweaving her multi-generational circles to aid in this work.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the work I\u2019m doing right now, I\u2019ve worked with a lot of 30-somethings and I thoroughly enjoy 30-somethings.\u00a0 I have friends and colleagues who say they drive them nuts. I find them to be creative and full of energy; they don\u2019t like boxes, neither do I; they like to draw their own lines, so do I. I mean, they\u2019re entrepreneurial almost by their nature.”<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I feel like I’ve been able to create opportunities to bring women of all ages together and find that there is common ground. And I think one of the challenges with many of the women in my generation is that they\u2019re feeling that maybe they didn’t do a very good job of bringing up women of color.\u00a0 If I had the opportunity… but I didn\u2019t create the opportunity. That\u2019s one of the things we\u2019ve talked about, \u201cHow could we have created that?\u201d Because we have to be intentional. And that\u2019s what I\u2019m encouraging them to do\u2026 we have to design that outcome. And, the outcome needs to include women and people of color.”<\/h4>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019m able to have those conversations with women my age and it\u2019s been helpful testing those conversations with 30-somethings. It really has. Because you provide an insight, a point of view, that I wouldn\u2019t have considered\u2026sometimes…and yet it\u2019s right in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, that\u2019s the thing that has always struck me about Debra. She is intelligent and wildly opinionated. And, she is equally curious and truly open-minded. There is an intelligent demand to her curiosity that inspires me to bring more to the table in conversations where I am trying to shift her perspective. The passion of her strength and the warmth of her flexibility are the examples that mentor me in our friendship together.<\/p>\n

Synergy Resources Group is a proud sponsor of This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing<\/em><\/strong>. Check out their blog<\/a> to learn more about why Debra is supporting this project, and then get your tickets here<\/a>!<\/p>\n

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