Being a woman in this industry hasn’t been an issue for Laura Forbes. "Competition is competition no matter who you are," she says. "You deal with it. You can’t fall back on gender. If you have integrity, if you are professional and trustworthy, if you do business the right way, you are ahead of the competition."
Forbes’ company, Zebra Marketing (asi/365683), was created in 2000 with the merger of her former company, Ad Impressions (which she co-founded in 1981), and the Joe Padawer Company of Memphis. At that time there were 15 salespeople in the offices in Memphis and Jackson, MS. With growth in the sales team and the additional merger in 2007 with the House of Specialties in Mobile, AL, there are now three offices, a support staff of 12 and a sales force of 32.
"Over the years my role with the company has evolved, and I’m 98% on the management side of the business now," Forbes says. "I get to do what I enjoy and have talented business partners to work with."