March Sunrise Scrambler Showcases Women’s Stories

The Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce brought together a panel of four Wichita women who are leading change in the community for its March Sunrise Scrambler Celebrating Women’s History Month.

The event was sponsored by Credit Union of America and was held at the Wichita Brewing Company Event Venue on East Central.

The panel discussed “And She Did – A Wichita Documentary” by Caitlin Slemp, a local filmmaker and video producer. Slemp was joined by Lai-L Daugherty, director of student engagement at WSU Tech and one of the women featured in the documentary, and Shelly Prichard, president and CEO of the Wichita Foundation. Mary Beth Jarvis, president and CEO of NXTUS, moderated the conversation. 

Slemp said she was inspired to make the documentary after digging into the Chung Report – an effort led by the Wichita Foundation. As she reviewed the report and its findings, Slemp said she thought of people – specifically women – she knew who were working to address some of the key areas identified for the community to address.

“There were three women who were doing these things, and I wondered ‘Does anyone know about this?’” Slemp said. “We’re in the aviation capital of the world, and Alicia Ybarra is making custom wedding gowns.”

In addition to Ybarra’s story, Slemp was inspired by Cindy Claycomb, who was serving on the Wichita City Council, and Lela Meadow-Conner of mama film. She recruited three more women – Lacey Cruse, who was serving as a Sedgwick County Commissioner, Andrea Hattan of The Hive, and Daugherty of WSU Tech to be part of the project as well. The film debuted in 2020.

“I’ve seen a lot of progress [since the film came out]. At the time, women of color, especially black women, were leaving Wichita,” Daugherty, who was a member of the panel and still works at WSU Tech. But she admitted that there’s still work to do. While women of color are still leaving the community, many are now looking for other places or industries to plug into so they can stay in the community they love.

She said she’s seen that especially in higher education, where in order to stay in the community, women of color have moved into other sectors. But Lai-L said she’s encouraged by efforts to connect professionals together through organizations like The Gathering, which is focused on retaining Black professionals in Wichita.

“We need everyone to see themselves thriving here,” Jarvis agreed. “We need people to be able to see people like them being successful here to attract and retain talent.”

Prichard said the Wichita Foundation’s Focus Forward project inspired the Chung Report, which was paid for by the Bastian family.

“James Chung gave people the voice they didn’t have,” Prichard said. “But people were waiting for James to give us the answers. It’s up to us to move forward. It’s not solved.”

Jarvis named the four main areas identified in the Chung report as areas where Wichita needed to work in order to grow.

“By reputation and reality, Wichita needed to be more inclusive to retain and attract talent,” Jarvis said.

The community needed to change the business make-up. Wichita’s economy was not diverse enough to withstand downturns in the major industries because they were all affected by the same highs and lows.

“The Chamber and its partners, like the Greater Wichita Partnership, work tirelessly to combat that,” Jarvis said.

Third, Wichita needed to support entrepreneurs, not just the large existing businesses. Wichita needed to become a place where start-ups wanted to be because they could thrive.

Fourth, Wichita needed to be proud of itself. We needed to find the reasons why Wichita is great and really capitalize on them so people will choose Wichita, which is the theme for the Greater Wichita Partnership’s talent efforts.

All agreed that progress is being made.

“Our hiring practices are getting better,” Prichard said. “As employers, we are recognizing that we have to offer flexible time and mothers’ rooms. But we also need equal pay.”

She said it is a point of pride that some of their newly re-written employee policies are being adopted by other foundations and organizations across the state.

Daugherty agreed that women are weighing an employer’s compensation and benefits, and added that investing in employees’ success and making them feel valued and appreciated are other key factors that make a difference in retaining and attracting talent.

Slemp said The Hive and The Thread both provide opportunities for women to support and empower each other.

“When women empower other women, it doesn’t stop,” Slemp said.

Employers need employees who raise issues and offer solutions. Slemp shared that she worked with her employer to rewrite policies for nursing mom’s so she could pump at her desk, not just in the mother’s room, so she could continue to work while she pumped.

“We need to be thinking about how we as employers can make things easier for our employees who have caregiving responsibilities,” Jarvis said. She pointed out that it isn’t just women who are serving as caregivers for parents or children, and many times employment decisions are made based on the availability of flexible working hours and grace in getting the job done.

Slemp, who describes herself as someone who felt like she could do it all herself, said she found she had to redefine success when she realized she needed help at work.

“That’s not a recipe for sustained success,” she said. Asking for help isn’t a sign of failure, but a sign that we’re humble and self-aware enough to know when we need help. “And I’m a better professional because of it. We’re more capable together when we multiply forces.”

The next Sunrise Scrambler will be April 12 at the Wichita Marriott. The program will feature the finalists for the Chamber’s Small Business Awards program. Chamber members and the public are invited to attend. You can register here.