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In 1974, Brenda Gaines worked with the City of Dayton as a water meter reader. Brenda was only the third woman in Dayton to work in the field. Brenda earned her bachelor's degree in 2000 and as a result was promoted to a supervisory position within the department. Later, she entered the master's in Management program and moved into a management position in the Water Engineering department. She completed the master's degree in 2004. After her retirement, Brenda’s career took off. With the know-how and confidence she gained at McGregor, Brenda was able to make a lifelong dream come true – starting her own business. Now Brenda makes great-looking, affordable eyeglasses as a licensed optician. Her goal is to provide style and sight to others, especially elderly folks who can’t easily travel to the local eyeglass shops. Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did McGregor help you professionally? How has McGregor impacted you personally? |
McGregor: |
Tell us a little bit about yourself. |
Brenda: |
My bachelor’s degree is in Business Management. My master’s degree is in Management. And I received both from McGregor. I finished my master’s in Management in 2004.
I’m retired from the City of Dayton. I started in 1974 as a water meter reader. And as a matter of fact, I was the third woman water meter reader for the City of Dayton. And the second black woman water meter reader in the city. After I received my bachelor’s degree, I became a water service representative. They are troubleshooters, basically, doing anything that the regular water meter readers don’t do. After I’ve got my bachelor’s degree, that's when I started supervising meter readers. And then after that, I went to the Water Engineering department as a customer relations representative. That's where I would handle customer complaints. I think the management program is going to help me even more now since I have retired because I’m opening my own business. Right now, I’m a licensed optician. And I’m going to open up my own optical shop making eyeglasses. That was one of my biggest ambitions – to retire from the City of Dayton and then open up my own business. ^Top |
McGregor: |
Why did you choose McGregor? |
Brenda: |
When I heard that McGregor didn’t give grades and it was a non-traditional school – I had never heard of a non-traditional school before – a school that didn’t give grades.
And I figured, I only have one life to live. If I only have one life to live, then I want to take that road less traveled. I don't want to take the easiest road. I feel that I can learn more from the other one. And like I said, every time I finish something, the world gets a little bit brighter for me. The fears don't go away, but it just gets a little bit brighter for me, and I find that I can do more. The more I do, the more I can do. ^Top |
McGregor: |
How did McGregor help you professionally? |
Brenda: |
I wanted to learn about business because I wanted to open my own business. I’ve never done it before. It seems like that's the most difficult thing to do – to start from scratch – and the scariest thing to do. I’m learning from every step of the process.
I want to sell affordable glasses because I wear glasses myself and I know how important they are. And if I can keep the cost low – my expenses low – then I can pass the savings on to my customers.
From my classes and from the books, I’ve learned how I can manage things like renting a building, shipping and how it will impact my taxes. How do I sell my product? What price do I put on the product in order to cover the expenses? So, it's really exciting. It's just a rich environment and I’m enjoying it. But, it's really scary because I have to know which direction to go in. And then a barrier will come up, and I have to turn a corner. And then it looks like smooth sailing, and then another barrier will come up. My main objective is not to quit. And I realized that life itself is an ongoing learning experience, and as long as I’m living, I’m going to feel this fear. When I was in school, I was scared there too. You know, “Can I do this?” And then I took the first step. And then another step. And I realized that, “Yes!” I can do this. I mean, there were times that I didn’t feel like writing a paper because I didn’t know what to say. But if you don’t say anything, then you automatically fail. And don't you know, some of those papers received "A"s or "excellent". I just didn’t have enough confidence in myself, you know. But the more I do, and the more I extend my comfort zone, the more confidence I have in myself and the more I can get out there and do more things and give some back to the environment, neighborhood, city as a whole, the world as a whole. It's good. I think that's what life is all about. Life is really rich if I can just steal that fear and just jump on up there and do it. ^Top |
McGregor: |
How has McGregor impacted you personally? |
Brenda: |
McGregor has made me able to take more risks.
Like I said, when I first started working for the city my ambition was to retire from the City of Dayton and then start a business. But when you make long-range goals like that, you never know if the environment is going to change, if circumstances are going to change. And in both cases, things changed. But now, I’m not afraid of that. McGregor has really opened doors. I’m just willing to take risk. Something else about McGregor – right now I’m working in my neighborhood as Vice President of my neighborhood association. I’m Vice President of the Service and Legislative Committee at the Northeast Priority Board, and I’ve been on the Northeast Priority Board now for five years. I’m just in so many things now to give back to the community. And I think McGregor helped me get to that point. It makes me want to give back to the world. ^Top |
McGregor: |
Did you have an ‘Aha Moment’ at McGregor? |
Brenda: |
Yeah. An Aha moment… I remember Paul Lucas’ class, Social Research Methods. That was an 'Aha Moment', because the Social Research class actually got me through my Statistics class.
And as a matter of fact, my Social Research paper was actually sent to the Office of Budget and Management at the City of Dayton. It's great when you have a class that you can connect to the real world, to make a difference. Paul actually wanted to pay me for the paper, and I said, “No, just go ahead and use it.” I was just glad he could use it and that he wanted to. ^Top |
McGregor: |
What advice would you give to a new student? |
Brenda: |
At first when you go in, there are going to be some fears. And I talk about fear because some people don't even recognize that fear. Some people may call it anxiety. It's a new environment. It's a new experience.
So, just go in and expect to learn and grow, and don't get so overwhelmed about just making the grade. You know, McGregor doesn’t even have grades. But don't get so overwhelmed in the grading process or the Pass or Fail, because you miss the experience. Enjoy the experience. Once you’re out, it's going to come back and it's all going to be worthwhile. It's just such a rich experience. ^Top |