Sheryl Barbich Continued from page 35
Sheryl Barbich The phrase “Times have changed” usually implies that modern life has somehow deteriorated from the good ol’ days. When Sheryl Barbich uses the phrase, however, she says it with relief, because she remembers that as a UC Davis college graduate in the 1960s, good job opportunities were not as prevalent for women as they are today. “All they wanted to know was, ‘Honey, can you type?’” Barbich remembers from her first job interviews at Sears & Roebuck and Security Pacific Bank. Her decision to choose Security Pacific Bank — “I didn’t want to sell bras and underwear” — would prove fateful, launching her on a career path that would span 40 years in banking and financial consultation. Today, Barbich is married to her husband of 40 years, Lou, is a leader in the community, and provides mentoring for young women so that they may benefit from the type of role model that wasn’t available to her decades ago. Then she had to prove herself the hard way, with elbow grease and a will to succeed. She started in operations, moved to supervisor, and bucked the odds by relocating to Bakersfield in 1971 to follow a job opportunity when the safer bet would have been to stay put. Barbich was never easily satisfied with the status quo. On a short list, Barbich has been the president of the American Association of University Women and became the first female president of the Downtown Rotary Club. She has been the chair of the board for the Bakersfield Museum of Art, the Bakersfield Racquet Club and the Memorial Hospital Foundation (to name a few), and was on the founding board of the Bakersfield Women’s Business Conference. The project closest to her heart, however, is Vision 2020, a 2036
Bakersfield Life
March 2010
Barbara Smith year project to change Bakersfield’s social and business landscape to reflect what’s important to the community by collaborating with a broad base of individuals and organizations. Barbich was pivotal in the project’s inception and remains its driving force today, which is no surprise considering a lifetime spent trying to make everything she touches better. “If you can help somebody, why not? It’s up to each person to do a good job,” said Barbich. Feeling a personal responsibility to her community and to other women means that times, as they say, haven’t changed that much after all.
Barbara Smith Huron, S.D., native Barbara Smith grew up on a construction job site. As the daughter of homebuilders, young Barbara watched her parents work as a team while she filled nail holes and did other small jobs. Along with a strong work ethic, an inherent pride in women budded, too, as she watched her mother work alongside the rest of