TEMPLE, TX – Women-owned businesses in Temple are not hard to come by.
Just ask Amy Thomas, the owner of Zooty’s, a small boutique.
She can name all the neighbors of her business in the square where her business is located.
Most of them are women.
Owning a business is in Thomas’ blood.
“My mother was a businesswoman, my grandmother was a businesswoman, they taught me a lot,” said Thomas.
She has learned a lot from the older generations, both personally and professionally.
The class gave her a certain confidence to open her own shop 12 years ago.
“They also taught my sister and me that you can do anything you want, but you have to work for it and you can’t make excuses,” she said. “So I don’t make excuses.”
The boutique has clothing, locally made jewelry, monogrammed goodies, and more.
However, she said it wasn’t just rainbows and butterflies, especially during the pandemic.
“Right now, most small business owners haven’t been paid in a year,” she admitted. “We don’t have it, I mean because we make sure our employees get paid.”
She stated that the fact that she is an entrepreneur does not pose any additional challenges for her.
However, not all women across the state can say the same thing.
According to business.org, women in Texas are paid 20% less than men.
That would mean women workers would no longer receive a paycheck at the end of October, while men would be paid year-round.
“When you start factoring people, mapping people based on their jobs and careers, most of that number goes away,” said Dr. Robert Tennant, interim accounting manager at Texas A&M Central Texas.
He said women in positions normally held by men would help bridge the pay gap.
“For example, a vice president shows people in different roles than they have ever done before,” he thought.
Thomas thought back to what her own mother would say and said that women can do anything a man can do.
All you have to do is …
“Put some lipstick on, you will feel better,” she said with a smile.
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