Meet Six Women Changing the World

How these fabulous Chicago women are making a difference.

The modern Chicago Woman isn't just glam, smart, and successful--she's changing the world.

Meet these six ladies from Windy City who are shaking things up and making progress towards fairness and diversity: Mayra Garcia Guzman, Bernie Wong, Janet Deatherage, Julieanna Richardson, Pat Harris, & Perri Irmer

Mayra Garcia Guzman
General Manager, Diversity & Small Business Compliance Department, Chicago Transit Authority

Mayra Garcia Guzman’s drive to help small businesses succeed probably stems from her childhood. A native Chicagoan born of Mexican descent, she came from a long line of entrepreneurs. “My parents were born in Mexico and a lot of my family members there are small business owners,” she says. “So I saw how much heart, soul, work and sweat goes into every single day of running a business. You have to be making that sale – otherwise you don’t eat.” Now, as general manager for the Diversity & Small Business Compliance Department at the Chicago Transit Authority, Mayra’s helping small businesses in a big way, encouraging and enabling them to do business with the second largest transit system in the country.

Helping Minorities

“I was looking to work with members of the minority community,” Mayra recalls of her professional start with the Chicago Public Schools. There, she specialized in business diversity. “It was the perfect marriage of working with different community groups and helping to create economic growth in this community that I care about so much.” From there, Mayra moved to the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to serve as director for the Procurement Technical Assistance (PTA) Center, helping companies navigate the government procurement process.

And then she joined the Business Enterprise Program at State of Illinois Central Management Services where, as deputy director, she was responsible for the department that promoted and monitored the participation of minority and women-owned businesses. “It provided a wonderful opportunity to learn about the state aspect of business diversity.”

Mayra’s well-rounded background set her up for success at the CTA. She’s only been there a year but already made an impact by enhancing and expanding its Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) program. “The DBE program is a federal program mandated by the U.S. Department of Transportation and created in an effort to help companies that have been socially and economically disadvantaged,” she explains. “It helps create a level playing field on which to do business with different government agencies.”

Under Mayra’s watch, the CTA approved a new DBE operating program in December of 2009. “Of all the [construction and professional services] contracts with subcontracting opportunities that we assign every year, at least 25 percent must be subcontracted to DBEs,” she says, adding that the DBEs can also bid as contractors.

To help potential players get in the game, CTA offers a free program called “Monthly DBE Certification Workshop” which guides participants through the application process. “If you’ve ever had an opportunity to look at the DBE application, it can be a little bit overwhelming,” Mayra laughs. “We try to demystify the process.”

Bottom Line

Once certified, companies are eligible to bid for contracts not only with the CTA, but also with the Illinois Department of Transportation, PACE, Metra and the City of Chicago. “We work with vendors to educate them on how to do business with CTA, but they can take that knowledge and apply it to the other four organizations that are using [DBE certification].”

Companies are also encouraged to connect and collaborate with CTA’s larger primary vendors, not only for CTA contracts, but for outside endeavors as well. “We’ve started monthly sessions, which offer opportunities for DBE certified companies to meet with primary vendors that are already doing business with CTA,” Mayra says. “The idea was to get companies to start thinking about ways to collaborate. As a result, we’ve had companies that have partnered for CTA contracts and outside of CTA. That’s what we love to hear – that we’re creating wealth outside of CTA and hopefully beyond today, tomorrow and next week.”

But offering opportunities to DBEs isn’t all hearts and flowers; Mayra admits the bottom line is always a consideration. “We’re trying to make sure we have as many companies bidding on CTA contracts as possible,” she says. “Because that creates competition, opportunity and creativity.”

Still, the DBE program is truly a small business program. “You always hear that small businesses are the backbone of this country, but there are not a lot of programs thoroughly targeted to small businesses,” Mayra says. “There are a lot of small businesses that don’t get the assistance they need and that’s what we’re trying to do at CTA."

Next: Bernie Wong

• Displaying page 1 of 7
• 1
• 2
• 3
• »
• Last ›