Pahrump woman starts business to help female entrepreneurs

Heather Birmingham launched Woman-Owned Woman-Led Pahrump to help the town’s underserved and at-risk women. The nonprofit coaches women on how to operate a business.

Birmingham’s mission: to empower women in Pahrump through entrepreneurial education, leadership training and team building. She aims to offer a hand-up, rather than a hand-out in order to build a strong and capable community of women business leaders.

So far, the response from the community has been strong.

“Woman-Owned Woman-Led Pahrump has committed to a mission to offer our local women assistance to better balance their work life, responsibilities and create their own opportunities,” said Linda Groover, board president of the local Chamber of Commerce and broker of Groover Realty.

Groover attended a ribbon-cutting event on Thursday to celebrate the opening of Birmingham’s new space at 191 S. Frontage Road., suite #102. Meetings are conducted there on the second Friday of every month from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Women can gather to discuss the practicalities of starting a business of their own, while maintaining life balance.

Men are welcome too — but the focus is specifically on women, who remain under-represented in the business world. Despite making up more than half the population, only 40 percent of businesses in the U.S are owned by women.

“Men have always had that ‘boys club’ and now we’ve got something for the women,” said local attorney Robin Holseth, who met Birmingham when the group formed last fall.

She’s been an avid supporter ever since. Holseth has even provided legal guidance to fledgling female entrepreneurs, and also donated $1,000 to the nonprofit on Thursday.

A number of noteworthy women business leaders were in attendance at a meet-up of the group last week including Katarina Sepulveda (“Dr. Kat”), owner of Centered Care Chiropractic on East Basin; and Tamara Trudeau, of Saitta Trudeau Chrysler Jeep Dodge. These women, along with a grant-writing specialist and an accounting specialist, have joined Birmingham to provide essential networking and support to Pahrump women who want to start their own businesses.

Shay Dragna, who established her own house-keeping business — Happy 2 Help Pahrump — in December of

is one of Birmingham’s most recent success stories.

The single mother of four was cleaning houses for another company before starting her own company.

“There was no way I was able to provide for my family like that,” she said of her prospects before meeting Birmingham.

Dragna said Birmingham came into her life and began boosting her self-confidence.

She told Dragna what she needed to hear — and also what she didn’t want to hear.

“Heather helped me have epiphanies,” Dragna said. “She helped me go in alternate directions and be brave.”

Birmingham also guided Dragna to develop a solid business plan, then helped her apply for a business license.

“I put it out there in November that I was going to be cleaning houses on my own, and I was booked by mid-December three months in advance. I had to stop booking new clients. I rotate 12 clients now, with six waiting on stand-by,” she said. “I thoroughly believe this organization is going to be a game changer for a lot of ladies like myself who don’t have a business education. The sky is the limit.”

Wanda Peterson, an independent contractor at Blissful Travel Company, said that Dragna brought her to a meeting one night and it was “inspirational.”

“They were talking about grants, and how to apply for grants,” she said. “Heather gave empowerment to the women, who were from all stages of life. There are lots of women in various circumstances: married with children, stay at home moms, women from difficult circumstances who are starting over again. This is a network of women, who help each other out. I think there are going to be a lot of dreams birthed here in this organization.”

Diana Martin and Gennice Walker are both high school graduates, and co-workers at P-Town Air, a Pahrump heating, venting and cooling company. They’ve followed Birmingham on Facebook on the Woman-Owned Woman-Led Pahrump page, and decided to attend the event a recent event to learn more.

Birmingham made herself available to them on the spot, and the women said they now have access to essential resources and network connections they intend to use, to enhance their chances for success.

“I want to organize community events,” said Walker.

For more information call 775-910-1928, and/or follow Woman-Owned Woman-Led Pahrump on Facebook.