West Michigan women business leaders share insight, inspiration from their careers 

West Michigan women business leaders share insight, inspiration from their careers 
The Grand Rapids Business Journal hosted the Women Who Mean Business Power Breakfast today at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.

Women business leaders in West Michigan discussed the value of diverse perspectives in leadership, finding mentors in unexpected places and “saying yes to the next challenge.” 

Those were some of the takeaways from a panel of four local women business executives who convened this morning at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park for the Grand Rapids Business Journal’s Power Breakfast series. 

Participating in the Women Who Mean Business event were: 

  • Lauren Davis, regional president at Huntington Bank
  • Graci Harkema, DEI speaker and author and founder of Graci LLC
  • Diedra Mitchell, president and CEO of Waséyabek Development Company LLC, the non-gaming economic development entity of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi; and 
  • Raquel Salas, founding partner, managing member and attorney at Avanti Law Group PLLC

The discussion, led and moderated by Crain’s Detroit Business and Grand Rapids Business Journal publisher Lisa Rudy, took a look at all four leader’s histories, discussing the unique capabilities of women in leadership positions. 

Salas shared her journey of moving to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic to study law at Michigan State University, where she graduated magna cum laude in 2007. 

“English is my second language,” Salas said. “I went to law school and it was my first time taking classes in English. I didn’t understand half of the things that the professors were saying. Every morning I would wake up, go to class, and then I would go to the library and start writing all the words that I didn’t know the meaning of. I created my own dictionary.” 

“I remember that in my first semester, one of the professors told me that I was very ambitious and that I should not be a lawyer and I should perhaps find something different (to study). I cried a lot that day.” 

Despite the challenges, Salas went on to carve out an inspiring career in law, founding Wyoming-based law firm Avanti Law Group and receiving multiple accolades for her work, including several recognitions one of the 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan from the Grand Rapids Business Journal. 

Davis started her career as a customer service representative for Huntington and now serves as the West Michigan regional president for the bank

“I realized that as I was working as a teller in the branch that banking was a way to help a lot of people,” she said. “I saw customers come in and open their first accounts for their kids or get their first mortgage or college students with their first car loan. And so I thought of it as a way to help people, and I love helping people. When I went to college, I decided that was the part of finance and accounting I wanted to focus on.” 

With that goal in mind, Davis started working her way up the ladder before landing her “dream job” as president of Huntington National Bank’s West Michigan Region in July. 

One lesson she’s been learning lately has been how to uplift people around her. 

“I’ve learned through my leadership that just because people are quiet in the room and they’re not talkative doesn’t mean they don’t have something to say,” she said. “People who are quieter may have something that could help me see roadblocks (that I) didn’t see.” 

Meanwhile, Mitchell has overseen Waséyabek through a period of rapid growth. The tribally owned firm has grown from three employees and one Grand Rapids location to almost three hundred people in seven states during Mitchell’s past six years of leadership.

Mitchell said she believes women’s collaborative spirit and “ability to see everything as an ecosystem” makes them stellar leaders. She also gave a nod to her own resilience and desire to succeed. 

“Just tell me I can’t do it, that’ll pretty much guarantee it gets done,” she said. 

Harkema agreed, bringing in a DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) perspective from her firm, Graci LLC. She said her previous experiences as diversity and inclusion director at Founders Brewing Co. proved formative for her, renewing her passion for representation. 

“Not only was I the only female on the leadership team, but I also was the only person of color and also the only person identifying in the LGBTQ+ community,” she said of her experience. “What I’ve been able to take and gain from that experience that I bring into my business now is the power of representation.” 

She added that while DEI can be seen as merely a trend or buzzword in the corporate world, it also brings fresh perspectives into leadership. 

“Diversity is so much more than what we see on the surface. It’s so much more than our gender, our race, our orientation, or our age,” she said. “Diversity is everything that encompasses us. We are only going to be better when we tap in together.”