Hannah Grogan Owner, The Sculptry in Lake Charles
Allyson Montgomery: Executive Director, The Children’s Museum of Lake Charles
Melissa Hill: Owner, Niche Creative Studio, Lake Charles and Moss Bluff
Janie Frugé: CEO, West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital, Sulphur
Diana Vallette: What’s it like to be a woman in business? What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your careers, and how did you overcome them?
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Hannah Grogan
Hannah Grogan: I moved away for a time, and then came back to Lake Charles and have been working since to reestablish myself as a thought leader in my profession. I wasn’t sure if that was going to fly with people or if they’d understand the reason I came back — for my community. I missed it. Not just my friends and family, but the Lake Charles community as a whole. I was hoping I’d be able to get that across to people.
The second challenge was figuring out whether this community was ready for a premier medical aesthetics clinic. I was going to invest a lot into The Sculptry–it’s an elevated med spa. And there were times I wondered if there was a reason we didn’t already have something like The Sculptry here. Then I realized I should let Lake Charles decide. So, I think my challenges were internal — analyzing if this would be successful. I’ve spoken before about how Lake Charles rewards hard work. In this community if people see you working hard and giving back to the community, it rewards that hard work and supports you.
I’m in a mostly female-dominated industry, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t business challenges. I feel that if you’re an assertive woman and you say the same things that men say or do, you’re considered aggressive, instead of assertive. And you think, ‘I’m speaking to you the same way a man would. Why are you receiving it differently?’ Why are women held to a different standard? I’m not aggressive. I’m assertive. I’m a businesswoman.
Allyson Montgomery: I’ve been at the museum my entire adult career. I was hired as an assistant manager in 2006, and my office literally looked like a storage closet. I had to clean it out, set it up and then figure out what my job was actually going to be. Turns out it was going to involve a little bit of everything. I was doing fundraising, programming, field trips, managing employees, leading our volunteers and managing our website.
Allyson Montgomery
In 2009, the museum suffered a devastating fire. So that was the first big hurdle of my career. I worked from home fundraising and working with exhibit designers for eight or nine months while we rebuilt the first floor of our Broad Street location.
Then, later, there was COVID, and we had to learn how to pivot. Because the Children’s Museum is a hands-on, interactive experience we had to figure out how to implement and operate with new sanitizing procedures. We had finally gotten the swing of that and gained the community’s trust with our new sanitizing procedures and protocols… and then the hurricane hit. We lost the roof to our building and water inundated all three floors. We lost about 85 percent of all of our exhibits. I also lost my personal home, and so we worked to rebuild our home at the same time we were trying to move forward with Port Wonder, which had been announced in 2018 and was scheduled for ground-breaking in 2020.
Now, we are at the point where we’re getting ready to finally open and, you know, it’s just a matter of having a lot of patience. All of the difficulties that occurred through my career have taught me valuable lessons and they’ve made me stronger.
As far as being a woman in this profession, a lot of executive directors of nonprofits are women, which I think is phenomenal. We have a good group that we do trainings with, we network and just bounce ideas off of one another. Having those women as mentors and colleagues through the years has been very helpful. But it can be intimidating for a woman to try to be the voice of her organization and have her voice heard.
When I was younger, a few people said to me “All you have to do is go in and bat your eyes and smile and they’ll give you a check, right?” So, I had to get past that school of thought. I had to say, ‘I’m smart. I have a brain. I’m not just here to look pretty and ask you for money. I want you to believe in my mission. I want you to be invested in the kids and what we do.’
I think social media has put an added pressure on women, too. It can be easy to feel like you have to have a perfect life. Life is not perfect, and I don’t think it’s fair for women to pretend that it is, because that just makes other women feel like, well, what’s wrong with me? Why isn’t my life perfect?
Melissa Hill: COVID was our first big challenge as a retail business. We had to move online. And I basically had to work to have a craft store be essential. I learned to sew masks, which I’d never done before. Because I was making masks, it made my business essential, so we were able to stay open. I was still able to keep my staff and myself employed and keep the lights on.
I think the challenge for me as a woman early on in my career was figuring out how to be strong and run my business and at the same time hold on to vulnerability. I had to figure out how much of that vulnerability was appropriate to show my staff. If I, as the boss, was having a tough day, should I show it? At first, I thought I couldn’t. I had to act like I had it all together. It was exhausting. I have an all-female staff and I realized it wasn’t fair for me to pretend I had it all together. I learned that we’re able to grow stronger as a team when we share our weaknesses. That allows us to lift each other up.
I think for me another challenge was learning to balance being a mom and a wife while also owning my own business. I have to make sacrifices. I have to say, ‘I could work really long hours this month and make more money or I could go to my kid’s band concert or go on a date with my husband.’ I’ve had to learn to give myself grace for those decisions. I’ve learned not to be too hard on myself and realized I’m never going to do it all perfectly and I don’t have to act as if I do it all perfectly. We have two daughters, and I want them to learn they don’t have to sacrifice having a family if they’re running a business.
Janie Frugé: 2020 was the biggest challenge—COVID and then Hurricanes Laura and Delta. As far as being a woman in business, I really never gave a lot of thought to the fact that I was female in this business. I was the first female CEO in 63 years at our particular hospital. There’s been, I think, only one other female CEO at an area hospital, and that was Ellen Jones at Christus— a great woman and a great mentor for me.
Diana Vallette
I’ve been asked what it’s like to be a female CEO. I tell them, ‘Well, it’s like being a CEO.’ I don’t wake up in the morning and wring my hands because I’m a woman. Honestly, I don’t really think about it.
There are people who see that as an obstacle. The trick is not letting their problem become your problem. When people are trying to reconcile the fact that I’m a woman and a CEO I remember it’s not my barrier, but theirs. I can try to help them remove the barrier but never in a way that makes it my problem, because it’s not.
It takes skill and time to figure out which situations need to be addressed and which don’t. Not being reactionary is often not a weaker stance and that’s a very powerful thing for all of us to learn.
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Diana Vallette: How have you been able to balance your professional and personal lives?
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Allyson Montgomery: As a mom, I don’t think any of us ever truly figure it out. I have a seven- and a 13 year old. There’ve been times when I’ve told my daughter ‘you’re going to pack your coloring book, your crayons and your iPad and you’re going to come with me.’ Just this morning, I had to go to Port Wonder and I had to bring her with me. Fortunately, she’s resilient because she’s been with me through all of the challenges I talked about earlier. I hope my girls are learning lessons they’ll be able to carry to adulthood. I hope they’ll say ‘Mom went through these things and she did it. We can do it too.’
I struggle with comparing myself to my own mother. She worked when we were very little, but then later in life was a stay at home mom. So, you know, the house was always spotless and dinner was always cooked and great. I think that’s just an internal struggle that we all deal with–guilt. We feel guilty about not devoting enough of ourselves and yet we take care of everyone else before ourselves.
Hannah Grogan: I love what you said about your daughter going with you. The Sculptry is a family business. My kids were here yesterday pulling weeds and my husband was carrying out boxes. I want my children to see the work ethic and passion that it takes to do something like this.
Right now, I’m taking one day per week as an admin day–Wednesday. That’ll be the day when I take care of my health, go to the doctor, get a massage, get a facial. You have to take care of yourself and make sure you and your health are a priority.
Janie Frugé: I find being intentional about it helps. I’ve waited before for someone to see that I was exhausted and offer to make the time for me to take care of myself. That never happens. You need to make it happen yourself. I put facial and massage appointments on my schedule a year out. It can be easy to let those things fall aside when you get busy and to put yourself last. You really have to be intentional or they won’t happen. I think that’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned.
Melissa Hill
Melissa Hill: Success is often measured by who is making the most money. I don’t know about you, but I want to make money! Who doesn’t want to make money? But I’m not going to grow my business at the expense of my family. It’s important to me to be there for my kids and to be a great wife. What I’m the proudest of is that I’ve owned a sustainable business for 10 years that employs other women who are moms, wives, grandmothers and college students, but I don’t miss my kids’ activities. I know how valuable that is because there was a time early on when I couldn’t make that choice.
So, I may not own the most successful business in Southwest Louisiana, but my life is the way I want it to be right now. I love going to work every day, but I also loved getting to be the mom helping out in the classroom with the kids’ parties. I don’t miss those special moments and that’s success to me.
Janie Frugé: I don’t have children, but I do know there’s the business-you and there’s family-you, and you’re not leading a successful life with only one of those parts of you. You need both and your family should be the priority.
Diana Vallette: What unique strengths do you think you bring to the table as a woman, and what leadership skills do you think have been the most difficult to develop?
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Melissa Hill: I’m a multitasker. I feel like that’s something that a lot of women do well. We have to manage homes and husbands and family, so multitasking comes naturally, and as a business owner, you have lots of plates in the air, so you have to be able to manage all of that.
Allyson Montgomery: For me, it’s knowing what my strengths are and working to surround myself with people who make up for my weaknesses. I will be the first to tell you I’m not a math person. So, I know one of the first roles I’ll need to fill are an office manager and a bookkeeper. Surrounding yourself with smart people that bring you up, rather than bring you down, is one of the most important things you can do. Not just as businessperson, but as a person in general.
Hannah Grogan: What’s worked for me is knowing what’s important to me and to The Sculptry. I try to be a role model for my staff and make those same things important to them. Our patients want and deserve excellence. We have a morning huddle each day and we talk about what’s important, where we are and what we’re doing that day. We have a plan, we have goals, and we set measurable steps to reach those goals. I talk about the 3 Es —excellence, energy and education. In our morning huddle, everyone has to take turns educating the team. Each staff member gets five minutes and I’ll talk about, for example, a new injection point that I’m loving lately; my aesthetician yesterday talked about the different retinoids that we offer here. Even if it’s not something that directly impacts each member individually, as a team we are stronger when we’re operating this way.
Janie Frugé
Janie Frugé: I think intuition is a big skill that a lot of women have naturally. And we need to learn not to second guess that intuition.
One of the things I’m good at as a leader — and maybe it’s because I was an emergency department nurse for most of my nursing career — is making decisions quickly and sticking to them. And, maybe my biggest flaw, and the skill I’m constantly working on is listening. I think it’s also really important that we monitor the way we speak and our mindset. We don’t have weaknesses; we have opportunities for improvement.
Diana Vallette: What about mentors? Have any of you had mentors that have played a big role in your career or given you great advice you can mention? I think you mentioned Ellen Jones, Janie?
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Janie Frugé: Yes, I got to see Ellen in action as the CEO of a hospital. Teresa Landry Woods, the chief nursing officer for a good portion of my nursing career at WCCH, was also a mentor to me. She was just a forward-thinking person who made sure that you knew she believed in you.
She created opportunities like an extern program for nursing students. I have so much to thank her for because of the support, opportunities and mentoring. Some of the best advice I ever received was from her. She said to me, “Don’t try to be all things to all people.” I didn’t know what that meant at the time, but, wow, I do now.
Bill Hankins was also a very strong mentor for me. He was the CEO at WCCH before I stepped into the role. He made the space for me to learn and have experience. He stepped back and gave me opportunities, all while making himself available for questions and to give guidance. That was a great learning opportunity for me.
Hannah Grogan: Mine was an injector colleague. She’d been injecting my face for about six years and I told her I was interested in working in aesthetics. She took me under her wing, and I learned a lot from her friendship.
I remember one day she told me, “Hannah, there are good injectors in the world and then there are good businesswomen in the world. You’re both. You need to do this.” Hearing that advice ‘if you have the skill set, do it.’ can sound basic, but it’s true. Don’t doubt yourself, just do it. Believe in yourself and take the risk. Just do it.
Melissa Hill: I think the best advice I’ve ever received has been to just be willing to change and adapt as needed. So many business owners have a vision of what they want for their business and they aren’t willing to adapt that vision. You have to be willing to ebb and flow. I started off 10 years ago as a fabric store. I sold fabric and did sewing, which I loved. If I still did that, I would not be open anymore. Two years in my husband and I sat down and said ‘Hey, this is getting really hard. What can we do?’ I prayed about it. I told God ‘This is what I want to do, sewing is my passion, but I give it over to you. Whatever is supposed to happen, will happen.’ And now I do a little bit of sewing and also a lot of other things at Niche. So, it’s just being willing to change the vision as you go.
Allyson Montgomery: My biggest mentors have been my grandparents. I was really, really close to all four of my grandparents growing up. My dad’s mom always said, “God has a plan, and I’m sticking to it.” And so anytime that I’ve been faced with difficulties or doubts, I’ve always remembered that. This is all part of God’s plan. I don’t need to know why; I just need to work through it. He puts these things in our lives for us to grow from. My grandfather was my person. He passed away recently, but he treated everyone, from the janitor to the CEO, the same. He said, “Everybody puts pants on the same way— one leg at a time.” It doesn’t matter how much money you make or what your social status is, everyone should be treated with respect. I’ve always carried that with me.
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Diana Vallette: What do you attribute your work ethic to, and how do you pass that work ethic down to your children?
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Janie Frugé: My family was not wealthy. There was no college fund. There are times where I probably could’ve felt sorry for myself because even if we would’ve been able to afford it my father, who was a marine turned preacher, also thought we should do it on our own anyway. We got triple doses, or more, of discipline. Looking back, even though some of that was not so much fun at the time, I’m grateful for it today.
I worked three jobs and put myself through nursing school at McNeese. I started at the hospital as a runner, bringing specimens from the floor to the lab and doing anything else I was asked to do. And I was happy to have a job.
Hannah Grogan: I think that struggle early on creates a strong work ethic. I had to find my way to college, too. We didn’t have any money, either. I do worry
about those of us who are raising children without that level of struggle. It’s important to be intentional about showing them what hard work looks like and instilling that work ethic.
Melissa Hill: When you own your own business, you’re doing everything. You clean bathrooms, you take the trash out. You have to be willing to do it all. That’s how we all got to the places we are now — we were willing to work. We didn’t just sit back and wait.
Janie Frugé: That early work ethic has a payoff. Working now as the CEO in the same hospital where I was once a runner means people will have a hard time finding something and I can tell them right away where it is. They’ll ask me ‘How did you know?’ My current role didn’t teach me that, I learned it when I was just starting at an entry level.
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Diana Vallette: Where do you see yourself in 10 years, and what legacies do you hope to leave?
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Hannah Grogan: I want to be right here doing exactly what I’m doing right now. I don’t have this huge vision to own multiple clinics across the state. That’s not me. I want to be right here in Southwest Louisiana serving the people in this community. These are my people. I love the size of my clinic right now. I love where I am and I hope to be doing the exact same thing in 10 years.
Allyson Montgomery: Port Wonder is a brand-new baby, so I will probably be in the same place in 10 years. I’ve dedicated so much time and energy to it and it’s something I’m proud to be part of. I love Lake Charles. It’s my home and it’s where my roots are. I want to make Lake Charles better–a place where my children want to live. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to make things better for my children and my grandchildren and beyond.
Melissa Hill: I think my legacy is my two daughters. I have a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old. I just want them to see and know that they can be strong and independent. I want them to know they can follow their dreams and to remember that in order to be successful, you don’t have to sacrifice your family. I want them to know they can do both and that their identity is in Christ. That’s enough of a legacy for me.
Janie Frugé: I’m very passionate about the health of the population we serve. I hope my legacy will be that we improved their health. We’re a smaller, acute care organization. We don’t do everything, but the things we do we want to be excellent. Also, there are 750 team members working with me, and I’d like for all of them, by the time I’m ready to exit the organization, to be able to see themselves as a leader.
Allyson Montgomery: Yes, that’s true. You can be a mentor and a leader to those around you and sometimes not even realize it. You never know who is watching and who you’re inspiring. That’s quite a legacy, as well.
Hannah Grogan: As for my legacy, I want my family, especially my boys, to see what passion is and what it means to do something you love. I want to be known for making patients feel good and instilling self-confidence. My hope is that I’m able to help them change how they feel inwardly and improve their lives by what I do. I’m very passionate about that and I believe in it heavily. But, at the end of the day, I hope people will say ‘She gave it her all. She gave everything she had to give.’ That’s the legacy I want, that I reserved nothing.
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