- May 9, 2024
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Cheryl Tanenbaum is the senior vice president and chief financial officer at Intracoastal Bank. She’s not the secretary.
“A man comes into the bank and asks to talk to the manager, and I say, ‘That’s me,’” Tanenbaum told a crowd of more than 80 women in business Jan. 10, at the Hilton Garden Inn. “‘No, no,’ he says, ‘I want to talk to the man who sits in that office.’ Well, you’re talking to that person.”
Tanenbaum and Heather Beaven, the 2012 Democratic nominee for District 6 of the U.S. House of Representatives, were the guest speakers at the Palm Coast Business Assistance Center’s first Focused and Fearless: Women in Business event. It was the first in a five-part series designed to unite and build the confidence of women business leaders in Flagler County.
There were several times when a high-pitched tone from the microphone caused interruptions in Tanenbaum’s speech, so when Beaven got up, she quipped, “You know, it’s the men in charge of the technology.”
Beaven talked about the value of work and encouraged the women in the audience to believe in their individual visions for the future.
“You already know what the next 20 years should look like for you,” she said. “You might not be brave enough to accept it yet, but you know it.” All that remains is for the women to act on their visions. “The next five or 10 or 20 years are going to come and go whether you realize your destiny or not,” she said.
Beaven is also the CEO of the Florida Endowment Foundation for Florida’s Graduates. She said she tries to inspire teenagers and teach them that they owe it to the rest of us to chase their dreams.
“You have no right not to be you,” she said. “You have no right to live small. You hurt the world when you do that. If you’re thinking your dream is too big, too grandiose … you’re robbing us of what you can achieve.”
One of the women in attendance was Tameka McDowell, president of Flagler Business Women Inc. She said the event should help women know more about the other women businesses, so that they can recommend services to each other and strengthen the network.
“Women can become easily discouraged,” she said, "and this series is a way to “embrace success.”
More than 60% of the women who seek consulting services from the BAC are women, according to BAC Director Joe Roy, and they’re more prepared than ever to succeed.
“If we’re going to grow the national and local economy in 2013,” he said, “it’s women entrepreneurs who are going to lead the way.”
The next Women in Business event will be in March. Call Program Assistant Leanna Bourke at the BAC at 986-4764.
