Colquitt County's First National Bank hosts Women in the Workforce Luncheon

Apr. 28—MOULTRIE — First National Bank hosted the annual Women in Workforce luncheon Friday at First Baptist Church for any women in the community who wanted to attend.

"We want women to come inspired and leave encouraged," said Lorenda Smith, the marketing director at First National Bank who organized this event. "That's how this all got started. We wanted a place where women can come and know they are important."

The luncheon centered around the key speaker, Vera Stewart of VeryVera Cookbooks and the VeryVera Show, and two local speakers.

"There is power in women sharing their stories," said Smith.

Emily Watson, the marketing director at Colquitt County Regional Medical Center, shared about her entrance into the medical industry as well as the struggles her family now faces.

"It was God putting his fingerprints on my life," said Watson. "I grew up a farm girl and went to school for agriculture business. Jim Matney [hospital CEO] called me about the job telling me I had some qualities that would transfer over well and it went from there."

Watson went on to explain she had been working for the hospital for several years when it became time for her to really rely on the doctors' help.

"Our daughter fell off a horse in 2021," said Watson. "That started us down the path to many studies and tests. We found out she had dilated cardiomyopathy [large heart]."

Watson's teenage daughter suffered from episodes of fainting and they could never figure out the cause, until that horse decided it didn't want a rider.

"Her heart was completely unrelated to the horse accident," said Watson. "But, if that wouldn't have happened we wouldn't have figured out what was going on."

Explaining that her position at the hospital made her more comfortable with the overwhelming feeling that can come along with being in a hospital, Watson was able to focus her energy on her daughter and work while she relied on her community and family for everything else.

"When you are a working mom you have to be willing to accept that you can't do it all," said Watson. "You have to know when to ask for help, and better yet, when to accept it."

The Director of Utilities for the City of Moultrie, Elvira Gibson, also shared her experiences.

Her story was about forging a personal path, despite what others thought it should be.

Gibson explained how her parents didn't push her or her siblings to attend any type of college.

"I wanted to go to college, but didn't know how," said Gibson. "My parents didn't have opportunities and weren't able to walk me through things. Though my parents worked really hard on a farm to support the family, they still held lots of control and had many fears."

Gibson figured out the steps and attended Georgia Southern, but her father wasn't happy.

"It was a major stumbling block in our relationship," said Gibson. "But, after a couple weeks he was there with a car and was helping me get moved in."

After graduating college, Gibson now manages an entire department in a male dominated field.

"It was just another barrier to overcome," said Gibson. "When I first took the job there were expectations around how a man navigated the position and it took a while to get on the same page. It's a whole different dynamic managing men."

The Women in the Workforce primary speaker, though, was Vera Stewart.

Starting as a home economics high school teacher, Stewart's career blossomed into a catering business, mail-order cakes, a cafe in Augusta, cookbooks, a television show, a summer cooking class and much more.

Stewart has also catered the Masters golf tournament annually for the past 39 years.

But, as with everyone, Stewart had to start somewhere.

"I was raised by an extremely strong woman," said Stewart who explained her father passed away in a car accident when she was 7, leaving behind four children for her mother of 40 to raise alone. "It's always easy to give up, but she never did."

Stewart learned her mother's attributes of strength, determination, willpower and the desire for more, and she brought them with her into her career.

"I started off working from home," said Stewart. "In Augusta, there was an old Catholic church and I catered their grand re-opening. I fed 600 people from my home kitchen! And let me tell you something ... that's not legal."

Not too long after the event, the health department knocked on Stewart's door asking for her permits, of which she didn't have any. That is what prompted the move into her cafe location in Augusta.

"All of a sudden I had all these bills for the building, and I had to come up with another way to bring in money," said Stewart.

The business just kept growing after Stewart put her head down and did the hard work.

After years of networking and grinding, opportunities Stewart wasn't even looking for presented themselves.

"Afterwards, one of the cameramen just handed me his card and said they wanted to give me my own TV show," said Stewart. She had just finished filming an episode of 'Throwdown with Bobby Flay."

The VeryVera Show is now entering season 11.

There is no question Stewart has had a very successful career, and she attributes it all to one word.

"DREAM," said Stewart. "Determination, responsibility, energy, attitude and management. If you can manage those, you can do anything."