Her definition of success is taken from a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson...“To earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others”, and she truly lives by those words.

Please tell us how you got started in your career.
My first career was retail. I started my first part-time job at sixteen. It was Christmas and my mother informed me that if I wanted money to buy presents with, I needed to get a job. I was a competitive horse-back rider, so I went to the store where I bought all of my tack and applied for a job. And, I went to the pet store where I bought dog feed and applied for a job. I was offered both jobs, but I figured that the value of the discount that I would receive on the tack was far greater than what I would receive on the food, so I took the job at the sporting goods store. This was supposed to be a “part-time Christmas help” position so when I was still working there in June, I asked them if my job status had changed.

I went to college and found that I really wanted to work instead of going to school for six years to become a veterinarian. I wasn’t great at being a student and I loved working and really, really liked money. So, I went back to the sporting goods company and became a store manager for them. I eventually became regional supervisor for a chain of stores that the owner, Bernie Tuckman, had started.

How did you get into radio broadcasting?
In 1979, I was looking for a job after managing a large shopping mall in Rochester, New York. I called Murray Green, a man who owned two radio stations, and ended up getting hired at the country station. My account list included accounts receivable that were 110 days and older and if I collected payment from any of these companies, then I could officially put them on my account list. Shortly after that, I was given a promotion and received an account list of four accounts.

Eight months into my job, they made me sales manager for both stations. A year and a half later, the general manager was fired and I was moved into that position. I stayed in Rochester until 1987 and then moved to Albuquerque to head up two country stations.

My husband did what a lot of husbands would never do, and quit his job so that I could take my next radio job in Las Vegas.

Two years ago, we moved to Kansas City where I accepted the position of Vice President/Market Manager for Entercom’s eight station cluster.

Do you have a mentor?
My mentor is Murray Green, the man who hired me into my first radio job. Shortly after I started working for him, he and his wife went to Hawaii on vacation. A day before he was due back to work, all his employees created “Welcome Home” banners and put flowers on his desk. We just wanted to make it special for him because we had missed him so much. Who misses their boss? That’s when I knew there was a lot I could learn from him. He is a terrific communicator. He’s kind, honest, forthright, concise, hit his goals and got things done. Murray was never too busy for anyone and always kept his priorities in order. He never lost focus of his job or his people.

Do you have a philosophy?
The first that comes to mind is the “Golden Rule”. And, I firmly believe in that and practice it on a daily basis. Even when I’m negotiating, I think about how I would feel in their position. I don’t think this puts me in a position of weakness. I think this makes me a better negotiator.

My second philosophy is to tell it like it is: honestly, openly, candidly.

What has been the most challenging aspect of your career?
I think that it is adaptation. I’ve worked for twelve different broadcast companies. Because of the position I’m in, I generally work with the owner or president of those companies and adapt to the culture of their company. Similarly, I’ve had to adapt to the cultures of all the varied places I’ve lived from Rochester to Vegas to Kansas City.

Sometimes it has meant helping others adjust to a culture or creating a culture.

What makes you most proud?
I am most proud of the people I’ve helped grow in their careers. Watching someone take their lives from a place of ’OK’ to a place of greatness and really make something of their careers is very rewarding.

Do you have any advice for businesswomen?
I look at problems as one of three types of “illnesses”. Every problem I encounter is bacterial, viral or terminal. If it’s bacterial, I can treat it. I can treat it by managing through the situation differently. If it’s viral, I have to just let it run its course. Maybe an employee is going through a hard time in their lives and their job performance is suffering or something of that nature. With a problem that’s terminal, I think about whether the outcome is going to be the same whether I spend hours on it or not. If so, then I know not to spend much time on it. You have to make this determination in about thirty seconds. Applying this philosophy to my daily list of challenges helps me to manage the stress and identify what’s really a problem and what’s just part of the normal routine.

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