The ninth annual Little Rock Chamber’s Women’s Business Luncheon featured a roomful of driven women, delicious food and a wonderful keynote speaker.
In a presentation at the luncheon, executive director of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Dr. Marta Loyd gave her five pieces of advice for women in business: Make sure your actions are congruent with your values; seek and be a mentor; learn from both good and bad experiences; life happens so make sure you respond to it in a manner that will move you forward; and finally, it’s never too late to try something new.
Dr. Loyd imagined herself as a young girl becoming dental hygienist, a wife and a mother. She achieved all of this by the age of 26 and felt something missing. When her youngest child went to school, so did she. Dr. Loyd secured a job at University of Arkansas – Fort Smith (UAFS) in the continuing education department by showing she was much more than her resume of church volunteer work and PTA experience.
A year later, Dr. Loyd was asked to help with the creation of a dental hygiene school at UAFS. She ended up working a 17-year stint at UAFS, 12 of which she spent as the vice chancellor for university advancement and executive director of the UAFS Foundation Inc. Dr. Loyd has served in her current position since 2014.
Dr. Loyd serves as a perfect reminder that not only is it never too late to switch up your career path, but she proves that sometimes life just happens and how you choose to react can change everything.