MEET MORE OF OUR 2024 WOMEN OF DISTINCTION
Maysee Herr’s career began in the classroom, teaching in Indianapolis Public Schools. The Wisconsinite returned to her home state in 2008, as a professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. After a decade in academia, Herr was offered the chance to lead the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce as executive director in 2019, and then as CEO in 2021.
At the chamber, Herr has a personal connection to her work. Her father was a Hmong refugee and entrepreneur, who could have used the resources and funding the chamber now offers to improve economic opportunities for low-income and underserved communities.
“Even in our failures, we still find a way to get up.”
When lending to entrepreneurs and businesses, Herr looks at qualifiers like experience, history and character more so than just credit scores and amounts of collateral. For small businesses, sometimes it only takes a bit of capital to transform and secure their futures.
This was never truer than when Herr joined the Chamber in December of 2019, just months before COVID put an extraordinary strain on workers and small business owners. “Suddenly, everything I had learned about leadership was tested,” says Herr. “It wasn’t about how well I knew the organization anymore; it was about the people and their basic needs. We had to quickly mobilize resources to help businesses survive, and that period showed me the critical role we play in the survival of small businesses.”
Q&A
How do you navigate being a woman leader in your industry?
Being a Hmong woman leader, within the Asian community and community at large, can often be challenging – there are a lot of different spaces to navigate, and I wear a lot of different hats. But at the end of the day, being true to oneself, knowing oneself and your purpose is so important.
So even in our failures, we still find a way to get up. In the times when people you know question us, or say something that isn’t exactly complimentary, we still have to find a way to pick ourselves up knowing that no one is perfect, and we need to forgive ourselves to move forward.
When you first joined the Chamber, there were two offices across Wisconsin. Now you have five. Can you tell me about that journey?
We now have offices in Milwaukee, Wausau, Eau Claire, Appleton and Green Bay. Sometimes I get questions like, “Why can’t we just do everything online? We’re kind of moving in that direction anyway.” But the truth is, people still want us in the communities. They want a physical presence. As much as the world is moving virtually, people are still proud to see that there’s an organization like ours in their communities.
There is that sense of pride that there is another minority led organization in those areas where our communities exist. So now not only do we obviously have an office, but we also have staff, individuals from those communities. They know those communities best, so there’s already that trust. It’s helped to inform people across the state a little bit more about the work we do, and how we help business owners.
