Susan Defife

What about getting financial support for a start ups? Do women face excessive road blocks?

It's interesting when we look at the statistics on women-owned business and how many there are and how many people they employ and how successful they are. Yet less than two percent of the venture capital money in this country goes to women owned business. That's not a discrimination issue. That is a pipeline issue and an education issue. How did the investors know that the deals were there. How did the women owned business reach the investors -- that's where networking is incredibly important to getting to investors and to increase and the access to capital, and it's also an education issue.

Women are not taught to talk about money and when you go talk to an investor, it's about money. It's not about the mission of the company, it's about how are you going to make me money and what's my return on this investment going to be, what's my exit strategy? Those are things that we haven't been taught to talk about and for the companies that get funded like us, we're doing a lot of talking to women-owned businesses about here's what you need to know in getting access to capitol, and I'm hoping that we're going to be opening those doors for other women. There is a lot of money out there looking for good deals, and we really just need to increase the communication and open up that pipeline.

Another traditionally woman-centered question or problem has been balancing career and personal life. How have you struggled with that?

I've struggled with that a great deal and I don't know that I've really won that battle because there are times when life is really out of balance and the business just consumes you. I think what I've come down to is that the bed isn't always going to get made. In fact, it might never get made. The dishes might still be in the sink, but my children are only going to be around for a certain period of time. At some point there won't be dishes in the sink to clean up. And while they are around, those things don't matter. What matters is that the primary focus when I'm not doing business is them. And I try to set aside special days and special time when nothing else will interfere. There are plenty of times when it does, so I think that by not worrying about what doesn't get done, and instead focussing on the things that are the most important, I'm most comfortable with where we are. I don't feel that it's completely in balance, but I'm comfortable with where we are.

Have you ever felt like you had to choose between those two things?

The interesting thing is that I had my children in my early 20s, then started doing the career. If it were the other way around, I can tell you that it would be extremely difficult to have young children and do what I'm doing. My children are teenagers now, so there's a little more independence on their end. I don't know that it's something you could do with very young children. Women do, and they do it successfully. I'm not sure that I could do it. I have to tell you that having a family while you are doing this is an incredibly good positive anchor because there is always something there to remind you what's really important in the end. When somebody says to me, "What's your greatest accomplishment in life?" I always say its how extraordinarily proud I am of the people my children have become. Nothing else will ever top that.

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