Pasadena woman honored for work in male-dominated field

When Jo Ellen Soesbee opened Reliable Repairs, it was tough for her to get taken seriously in the home improvement business.

"I'm in a field that's mostly men, so I don't get the same respect," she said. "When I would go to meetings to meet with construction people, they would just ignore me."

The Pasadena woman had to be persistent in her mission, constantly networking and talking to those in the renovation and repair trades to prove she knows what she's talking about.

Today, Soesbee will be recognized by those who know what it's like to be in her shoes.

She will be one of five county business owners honored in Adelphi at the state's third annual Top 100 Minority Business Enterprise Awards, which recognizes 100 of Maryland's most outstanding minority and women business owners.

Others from Anne Arundel County include Sarian Bouma, owner of BWI Florist in Glen Burnie, Deborah Zagami, president of Association Building Maintenance Co. Inc. in Crofton, Catherine Cherry, owner of Purple Cherry Architects in Annapolis, and Dr. Surina Ann Jordan, president of Zima Health in Annapolis.

The awards are sponsored by the state Office of Minority Affairs, University of Maryland, University College, Southwest Airlines and the Parren J. Mitchell Foundation.

Sharon Pinder, founder of the Top 100 Awards and former chief steward of the state's Women and Minority Business Program, said these awards are a way to recognize business owners like Soesbee.

"There's a tremendous amount of barriers that women face," said Pinder, who now runs her own consulting firm. "It's certainly validation that your hard work has paid off."

Seven panelists selected Soesbee and the 99 others out of 1,400 applicants. There over 250,000 women and minority owned businesses in the state.

Pinder said that it's hard to break in to male-dominated industries built on pre-existing relationships between businesses.

To do it, Soesbee started Reliable Repairs out of her home five years ago after getting a bachelor's in business from Johns Hopkins University.

She and her handyman husband, Russel, taught each other their respective trades on weekends. Soesbee also took basic plumbing, electricity and carpentry classes at Anne Arundel Community College.

A former single mom, her initial market focused on women like her. She remembered how weary she was of letting random handymen into her house.

Pam Ranberg, a single Baltimore woman, said working with Reliable Repairs has been a great experience.

"They've just taken care of me, it's like part of the family," she said. "I don't know anything about this stuff and they're completely trustworthy."

Today, Reliable Repairs has two full-time employees and four independent contractors that cover a wide rangy off odd jobs, such as carpentry, painting, flooring and light plumbing and electric work, and not-so-odd jobs, like building fences and decks.

Soesbee, who is MBE certified, is starting to see attention being paid to her business. Surrounding herself with other female owners has helped her stay positive and focused.

"When I first said we were going to do this, people kind of laughed," she said. "I think it's hard to convince people that I'm serious about it."

But organizations are coming around. This month, she will speak at a National Association of Women in Construction conference.

Another sure sign that the Soesbee isn't being taken as a joke is the increase in commercial customers her company has recently experienced. Reliable Repairs used to be mainly residential, but now does about 75 percent commercial work.

Soesbee picked up another business in January to help women in similar positions. She is now a consultant for Tomboy Tools, which manufactures tools ergonomically designed for women and donates part of the proceeds to breast cancer.

Tools come in pink with pink, complete with pink tool belts and cases.

Soesbee hopes to do some community service with Tomboy Tools.

"I want to work with women who are owning their first house or victims of domestic violence and getting back out on their own," she said.

As far as the future goes, she just hopes the business grows enough that she can pass it down to her kids.

"I don't want to be a huge business but I'd like this to be something we can pass to our kids," she said. "I'd really like to have it be the legacy."