Women Franchise Leaders
EMMA DICKISON
LISA DIMSON
HEATHER ELROD
Company: Home Helpers Home Care Title: President and CEO Years with current brand: 12 Years in franchising: 25+
Company: Your Pie Title: Chief Marketing Officer Years with current brand: 6 months Years in franchising: 15
Company: Amazing Lash Studio Title: CEO Years with current brand: 4 Years in franchising: 20
What advice would you give to women seeking the franchising C-suite? Always look for a way to say “Yes” to opportunity. Most of the best things that have happened in my career are because I said “Yes,” even when I wasn’t sure how I would do it. Be confident that you will find a way to get it done. Describe your job in 100 words. I love my role at Home Helpers Home Care. It is amazing to know your work is vitally important and can positively affect so many. I believe my role is that of the company’s visionary. I work to create a shared vision for the future, then provide my team, franchise owners, and vendor partners with the support and resources to bring it to fruition. It’s imperative not only that I set up our team for success, but also that I give them the space to leverage their unique expertise for the benefit of Home Helpers.
What advice would you give to women seeking the franchising C-suite? To be successful in a franchising organization, it’s important to understand that your ability to make an impact truly relies on your capability to build relationships. This is true for any position within a franchising organization. The rise into the C-suite shouldn’t change this philosophy, and my advice to any leader is wrapped around the verb “be.” Build relationships by being present, mindful, and engaged with your team, your franchisees, and your guests. This purpose-driven action will allow you to lead your business successfully, while making a difference in the lives you touch. I personally believe that leaders should be bold, brave, and brilliant in their pursuit to reach their goals for their brand. Leaders may not have all the answers. However having a high level of intellectual curiosity, a “Yes and” approach, complemented with treating others with respect, is a great path to a rewarding career in franchising. Describe your job in 100 words. I lead our growth strategies to drive results to enhance unit-level economics for our franchisees, while also supporting brand development to bring Your Pie to more communities nationwide. In marketing, there are always competing ideas and priorities, so part of my role is a forward-thinking focus on innovation and finding effective solutions that drive measurable results, both at the brand and individual store levels. In today’s landscape, we have to leverage technology strategically to reach our customers, so a big priority for me is helping us stay ahead of the technology curve to deliver a personalized and frictionless experience to our guests’ ever-changing lifestyles.
What advice would you give to women seeking the franchising C-suite? Identify at least one C-suite executive to mentor you, ideally another woman. This is not often an easy task because, frankly, women are not generally proactive in mentoring each other. This is something that I am on a mission to positively influence: women supporting, helping, and encouraging other women! It is such an exciting time for women in franchising with more opportunities than ever before in multiple industries. Invest in yourself, soak up the knowledge of those who have pioneered the road before you, never stop learning, and never give up. Describe your job in 100 words. As the leader of the nation’s largest eyelash extension franchise beauty brand, I am enormously privileged to help women look and feel amazing! Our brand is recognized as one of the fastest-growing franchises of the decade. I, along with my entire team, know that this type of opportunity is rare and it is an honor to be part of creating a movement in the beauty category. We take the investment our franchisees make into our brand to heart and genuinely care about their success. To us, it is personal. We know that the success of our franchisees is predicated on the success of our entire business.
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FRANCHISEUpdate
ISSUE 1, 2020