Her Business is Putting Women in Business

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Photo courtesy of Sheila Long

MalamaDoe's Sheila Long

Women have made long strides since the 1960s toward equal opportunities in the workplace and in business and yet, it’s still an uphill struggle for many. In Milwaukee, Sheila Long has made it her business to help women get into business. Her consulting firm, MalamaDoe, is “focused on building and encouraging a network of community-based businesswomen” whose collaboration might, in addition, spur positive change in the wider community. She is the author of a book, Surrounded by Awesome Women: Unlocking the new model of Women’s Success in Business and Entrepreneurship for the Next Decade. Off the Cuff recently spoke with Long around a table outside MalamaDoe’s Oakland Avenue office.

Tell me a little about yourself.

I grew up in Appleton … For college, even though my family had a big tradition of attending Marquette University, I chose to have a different experience and attend Saint Louis University in Missouri. SLU’s study abroad program in Madrid was growing and I wanted to be a part of that experience, while attending an American university. That decision took me out of the state and out of the country to Spain to study for four semesters. 

After college, I became a Jesuit volunteer for a year to give back and use my Spanish. I was placed in a Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles where I worked in a domestic violence agency coordinating their Children’s Program. That was a great year where I learned a lot and saw the impact one person can have by standing up for themself. 

You worked in Chicago for over a decade and moved back to Wisconsin for family reasons. Why Milwaukee?

The unique opportunities in Milwaukee are vast. 

I had heard so much about Milwaukee from my family and having it be the largest city in the state, it is fun to be where the action for business is in the state. Being in Milwaukee gives us a stronger voice when an issue arises to truly lead. It is also so close to Chicago, that one can really be in touch with the needs of a larger city on a day trip or for a neat show, and then to come home in the same day. Yet Milwaukee’s art community is thriving with so many different places to enjoy it—from theater, to shows, to dance, to local festivals, including film—you really get the benefits of a larger city without all of the traffic and do not need to leave.

A great opportunity for Milwaukee lies in partnering with Milwaukee activists. Many transplants to Milwaukee want to get involved to help out yet don’t know where to start. I feel that if we could unite these neighborhoods into working on one-issue-at-a-time through partnerships, it would go a long way to making real change. In terms of activists, I find some great places to start are working with my personal favorites—Tory Lowe who tirelessly fights for victims, to Sharlen Moore with Urban Underground and Youth Justice Milwaukee working to build a community of leaders, to UMOs and WWBIC helping the Hispanic community flourish. 

When a family friend went missing, a group of us helped the family by going through the different neighborhoods looking for her with Tory Lowe’s help.   he eventually returned home safe but the experience we had looking for her and talking to the members of different communities was inspiring. We met so many wonderful people in beautiful neighborhoods who wanted to help.

Explain the name MalamaDoe and why you chose it?

Of all the facets of running a business, the one that is the hardest for me is naming it. There are so many options and places to go wrong. I heard about SquadHelp.com which allows for others to compete by giving you ideas for what your company should be named. I signed up! I wanted the name to represent strong women. And I know a lot about deer from my upbringing with a special appreciation for the Milwaukee Bucks! 

To get started, I gave the names of influential women leaders, some colors, and some female animals and let the consultants online come up with some suggestions.  

One person [a Nigerian]… came up with a great name. He explained that in his language, Hausa, Malama is a revered woman who is a teacher and thus held in high esteem. I loved how Malama was similar to Malala, the girl who fought for all girls, including herself, to be educated. The word Malama aligned with my mission of having women fight to work in a field they loved and earn a living doing so.  The Doe came into play because of the Milwaukee Bucks but also because I speak Spanish and Portuguese and it made the name sound like a fun word in a Spanish, even though it is not.

We did some due diligence and found out that Malama has a similar, if not the same, meaning in Hebrew. When we googled it, we found out that it has a special meaning in Hawaiian that is to care or to protect through stewardship in business. Since my goal is to create strong women leaders in business who are community focused, it all came together in that name.  

Do women continue to experience particular difficulties in starting businesses?

Women take on less financial risks yet make well-thought out decisions and have more caretaking responsibilities and thus have less free time to network. In terms of the financial risk, even though women are opening more businesses than ever before, when they grow, they are not taking the risk to hire employees. Of all of the women I deal with, only four out of eighty were willing to take on the financial risk of a loan. As women tend to be more of the caretakers and their fears about financial security are greater because they have to put food on the table for their family and they will suffer the consequences if this cannot be done as they are the caregiver. They are very fearful about financial loss and the repercussions about a change in family status.

When looking at caretaking responsibilities, it is noteworthy that 75% of caretakers are women. This is three out of four women, but also only one out of four men. Looking at that, the disparity is obvious. If we want caretakers to succeed, there is more of a need to help care for who is in a women’s charge at any event set up to help women. And there cannot be disdain for women who take advantage of this support. Otherwise, the only people who will show up are the 25% of women who are not caretakers, who are normally waiting to start a business after they have children or become caretakers. Many caregivers are able to start businesses on the side as they have flexibility, but without adequate understanding, resources, and support from the Community, they will have a tougher path.  

Caretakers tend to not have the same type of support as non-caregivers. Also, caregivers resources are minimized. For example, if they are a caretaker of any sort, their free time is limited by these responsibilities which impacts their ability to focus on growing a business. So, we need to provide services to help them. If a woman has a day job, which most women have when starting out, it is noteworthy that 61% of caregivers report that their job performance is impacted by their caretaking. So, women really need resources and support. Here is an example.  

One night during Startup Week Milwaukee a few years ago, I had two events in one night that I wanted to attend, and no babysitting was provided at either event. As the week is full of events at night, I needed to see my children as I had been gone the other nights and I knew they would benefit from some cool learnings at the events that evening. I decided to bring them along that night as I was the sole caregiver that week and I missed my kids yet needed to attend these events to network.

Networking can be tough since women’s free time is limited and there is only so much time in a day. Women have a harder time networking than men since the majority have additional responsibilities. Women are seeking guidance on how to start a business and need to network to do this, yet if they have a job where they are employed, they have less spare time to build a business which requires a lot of networking up front.  

For women to grow businesses, it would help for us to work together. White women can learn a lot from immigrants and African Americans about tenacity and drive and white women may have some resources and support to offer.  

What particular support does MalamaDoe provide for women entrepreneurs?

We recognize there is a lot of fear when starting a business. It is hard on ones relationships and can be lonely. With our MalamaDoe community, we have a group of women who support each other and want to help us succeed. We meet weekly and by speaking ones goal for the week, there is accountability.  

We know that women tend to open businesses in the service industry which requires more on-site support. The service industry is different from manufacturing, which is more male-dominated and just sells product and ships it.  In the service industry, how the service is delivered is very important and requires a lot more thought than in manufacturing. In our community at MalamaDoe, we have a many woman who have been working in this field for a while and are experts ready and able to help someone who needs it.

We attend trade shows and events together, so we are not the only ones at the event. We share a few booths, so we make a large impact as one organization while we learn best practices on what and how to promote.

But most of all, MalamaDoe offer a community of like-minded women who care about moving their community forward, not about their own personal agenda. A lot of our members have experienced a life event which has caused them to have a shift in priorities. Many of them have had great careers and because of some event, they have stepped off the career ladder and are not interested in it anymore… mothers with children with special needs, empty nesters, assault victims, recent divorcees, cancer survivors or the recently bereaved. Or it could be a mother who telecommutes and needs to get away from the household responsibilities for a few hours, or just a woman who wants to support us. Regardless, MalamaDoe offers support and a network.

Do women tend to bring particular strengths or insights into business?

Women collaborate more. We define success on different terms than men, it is less about winning and competing and more about taking steps to improve.

Decision making for women is different. Women tend to build knowledge up front before making a major decision whereas men tend to make decisions without attaining the same amount of adequate information. Since men are more able to get financing, they are not penalized. Also, they tend to have someone else providing the caretaking so they can work longer hours and network more. Also, as women are very fearful when launching a business, women seek guidance prior to launching normally online they want to sound more knowledgeable when they finally have the courage to speak up about their dream.

To read more Off the Cuff interviews, click here.

To read more articles by David Luhrssen, click here.