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popular or most likely to succeed. I
was the busiest.”
After graduating fromhigh
school and then a local business
school, Dobsch networked her way
to a job in order entry at Hazel, an
industry desk accessories company.
“The ladywhoworkedwithme at
the doctor’s office toldme to call
them, and I walked in and started
working,” she says. “Hazel at that
timewas the coolest place towork
and the best training ground for
anyone in our industry.There are
probably 20 or 30 people in our
industrywho started there. It was
awesome.” At the time, Dobsch
explains, Hazel was one of the
most prestigious companies in the
industry. “It was a franchise, and you
had to apply to sell their products.
They didn’t give just anyone the
ability [to sell their products].”
Dobsch left Hazel in 1987 after
Bill Wood (another Hazel alum)
called to recruit her to his new
company, Magnet, LLC. “I was the
second office employee there. It was
growing so fast it was unbelievable.
I remembermeetings wherewe
talked about slowing down on sales
becausewe couldn’t keep up. It was
fun to be a part of it. All we knewwas
this industry. We had connections.
We knewhow the gamewas played.
It was perfect,” she says.
The Chest
At the time he startedMagnet,
Wood had also acquiredThe Chest
froma friend in California and
both companies were located in
the same building. “Nobody did
anything withThe Chest. It just
sat there,” says Dobsch. In the
early ’90s, Wood sold it to Ken
Bebermeyer, who had also worked
at Hazel and then joinedMagnet.
Dobschwas part of the sale. “I went
withThe Chest and started as VP of
sales.Then in 2005 I purchased the
company because Ken was going
to sell it and I was scared of who
would buy it. I wanted it to stay in
the industry.”
The Chest is unique in the
industry in that the company
makes everything per order, so
no two orders are the same, says
Dobsch. And, all the products
aremade in the U.S. “We control
our own destiny. If it doesn’t get
done it’s because we failed, not
because someone let us down,”
she says. Today the company has
40 full-time employees withmore
part-time employees hired in the
fall for the holiday season.
One Of The Guys
Though there weren’t that many
women in the industry in the 1970s
and 1980s she didn’t ever feel like
an outsider. “Everybody tells me
I’mwrong [about not feeling like
an outsider], but at Hazel, it was
never like there was a difference.
I never thought I couldn’t do it
because I was a woman.That was
never an issue. People tell me it
was my personality,” she says.That
and, perhaps, the fact that she has
three older brothers.
Dobsch adds, “When I go to
WLC [PPAIWomen’s Leadership
Conference], my thought process
is, ‘These people think they’re being
held back because they’rewomen’
but they’re not being held back—I
mean, maybe youwork harder.
Maybe I had to do that but I don’t
know that it was ever a conscious
thought. I don’t know that I’ve ever
hit a roadblockwhere someone told
me I couldn’t do something.”
Maybe it’s because she
can
do
anything. “The old adage ‘If you
want something done give it to a
busy person’ fits Mary to a T,” says
Ken Bebermeyer, vice president of
The Chest. “Here in our hometown
of Washington, Missouri, she has
been president of the Rotary Club
and the Chamber of Commerce,
[but] as busy as she is there is
never a time that she isn’t there
when someone needs help. I am
[not only] proud of what she has
accomplished in our industry but
proud to count her as my friend.”
In his speech introducing her at
the 2016WLCWelcomeDinner and
Awards presentation, Bebermeyer
said, “HavingworkedwithMary for
most of 39 years, I have seen her,
time after time, change someone’s
question from ‘Canwe do it?’ to
‘Howwill we do it?’”
Many Mentors
Over the years, many people
inspired Dobsch with their
confidence in her. “Ernie Hazel
set an unbelievable example. Bill
Wood gaveme opportunities—I
always wondered, ‘Does he just
not want to do it or does he really
think I can handle it?’ I remember
my first show; he sent me up to the
SAAGNY [Specialty Advertising
Association of Greater New
York] showwhen it was up in the
Catskills. He said, ‘You go on up
and I’ll be up there tomorrow.’The
guy never showed up! He let me do
my job and he never doubtedme.”
The list of mentors goes on.
“Ken Bebermeyer, Sue Tobias
“I don’t know
that I’ve ever
hit a roadblock
where someone
told me I couldn’t
do something.”
Mary Dobsch with her
husband, Bob, (left)
and her children,
Laura and Jacob.
|
SEPTEMBER 2016
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13
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