It’s our privilege to present Latest class of Top 25 Women in Business

A reader once asked, “why does Prairie Business do an annual Top 25 Women in Business edition? I don’t see the magazine publish a list of its top 25 Men In Business.”

Our answer came organically and without hesitation. Essentially, it was this: “When Prairie Business feels that businesswomen in the Dakotas and western Minnesota are getting their share of credit for the great things that they’re doing, perhaps we’ll consider a change.”

March, by the way, is Women’s History Month – 31 days set aside by Congress in 1987 and re-upped each year after by a series of congressional resolutions.

According to the website Womenshistorymonth.gov, “since 1995, presidents have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as ‘Women’s History Month.’ These proclamations celebrate the contributions women have made to the United States and recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields.”

This is easily found via a simple Google search. Do a little deeper dive and ask Google, “why isn’t there a men’s history month.”

Sure enough, the website Parents-together.org tackled that one, answering the question with a series of bullet points. Our two favorites – and ones we probably will tweak and commandeer going forward – are these:

• “Everyday life is already full of events, names and images that commemorate things men have done.”

• “For centuries, men have had significantly more power than women.”

Women’s History Month has only been around since the 1980s. Similarly, the Prairie Business Top 25 Women in Business edition has been an annual event since 2014. The point is that any effort made to better promote the accomplishments and victories of women is still relatively new and deserves more time to develop.

We believe it’s important to splash these achievements throughout the pages of Prairie Business, and it’s apparent the people who work with these women feel the same.

“Two words best describe Kristi Nicholson: Trustworthy and loyal,” one person wrote to Prairie Business during the nomination process. “Kristi has always had a reputation for going above and beyond what is expected, and then she does a little bit more. It’s what drives her. It’s part of her DNA. She sees each day as a chance to make life easier for someone else. Kristi knows her purpose in life is to help others and feels she is in the perfect position to use her gifts to accomplish that. At Apex, we know we are fortunate to have her.”

And this came to us about Top 25 winner Amie Aesoph: “Amie has brought new fantastic ideas, projects and improvements to our organization. While she’s an idea person, Amie’s talent lies in the fact that she can also execute those projects simultaneously in her busy, demanding role.”

All told, 62 women from the region were nominated. Whittling the finalists to 25 isn’t easy, because each has a fantastic story to tell.

It’s our privilege to pass along those stories to you, the readers. And it’s a privilege to meet many of these winners, if even for a moment, at our annual recognition event each September.

And that’s why we continue to publish our annual Top 25 Women in Business edition, presented for you here today.

Korrie Wenzel has been publisher of Prairie Business since 2014. Send story ideas to Interim Editor Sydney Mook at smook@gfherald.com.

PUBLISHER

KORRIE WENZEL

AD DIRECTOR STACI LORD

INTERIM EDITOR

SYDNEY MOOK

CIRCULATION MANAGER

BETH BOHLMAN

LAYOUT DESIGN

JAMIE HOLTE

ACCOUNT MANAGER

NICHOLE ERTMAN 800.477.6572 ext. 1162 nertman@prairiebusinessmagazine.com

Prairie Business magazine is published monthly by the Grand Forks Herald and Forum Communications Company with offices at 375 2nd Avenue North, Grand Forks, ND 58203. Subscriptions are available free of charge. Back issue quantities are limited and subject to availability ($2/copy prepaid). The opinions of writers featured in Prairie Business are their own. Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, artwork are encouraged but will not be returned without a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

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ADDRESS CORRECTIONS

Prairie Business magazine Box 6008 Grand Forks, ND 58206-6008 Beth Bohlman: bbohlman@prairiebusinessmagazine.com

ONLINE www.prairiebusinessmagazine.com