Founder and President of StaffLInk
St. Louis, MO
Gretchen Curry founded StaffLink, a provider of personnel staffing solutions for healthcare businesses, and non-medical and medical home care for private individuals who need caregiving solutions. As President, she leads her team to successfully find solutions for clients, often providing “out of the box” thinking.
Thirty eight years ago, Gretchen founded her business after losing her job due to a change in leadership. She took a month or two to assess her talents and strengths, recognized that she had a terrific track record in generating business in her field, and decided to launch her own business. And she has never looked back. She believes getting terminated, though rough at the time, was one of the best things to ever happen to her.
Gretchen’s advice to women who want to start their own business is four-fold:
● Make lemonade out of lemons.
● Surround yourself with positive people who believe in you
● Work in the industry first and learn as much as you can on someone else’s dime
● Be connected with and on friendly terms with your competitors
In a woman dominated field, Gretchen doesn’t find barriers because of being a woman, but she sometimes encounters barriers to being a black woman. She has skillfully used in-person meetings to chip away at those barriers.
Gretchen’s goal is to continue leading her company for a while longer. Working pushes her to continually learn. But once she transitions to retirement, she looks forward to more time for her favorite things – time with family, enjoying the arts and entertainment, traveling, and volunteering.