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Jane Lubarsky
TMA Nevada Administrator
jane@tmaofnevada.com 702-403-3162

TMA of Nevada
4075 South Durango Drive
suite 111 - pmb 82
Las Vegas, NV 89147

"The Unsinkable Molly Brown", TMA Nevada and Me:
Lessons in Building a Start Up
By Pamela Joy Ring, president

I am happy to write to you as a president who will be giving up her position in a few months. Not because I am tired or bored or not interested, but because I have worked for being able to say these words as a testament to achieving a goal. The goal was to take a young, fledgling and virtually unknown business organization in February 2008, to a position of strength and renown; to make it an association which offers great pedigree of membership, and value in delivering programs designed to enhance the professional knowledge and business prospects of its members. And in the doing, distinguish it, and set it a part from other local business organizations.

If it was easy, as they say, anyone could have done it. It wasn't easy. That's why I think of the historical figure, Margaret Brown, who was immortalized in the 1960 musical, "The Unsinkable Molly Brown".

Margaret "Maggie" Brown was a colorful, wealthy woman from Denver, Colorado, who was a survivor of the "Titanic", and is credited with rescuing fellow passengers, seeing them to safety on life boats, sustaining life and spirits on her own life boat, and thereafter on the ships which brought them back. She never lost her grit in seeing things through.
That's why she resonates with me and funny, I relate it to building TMA Nevada.

TMA Nevada is a volunteer organization. It is only as strong and as viable as the efforts of its members. When I became president, I saw that the foundation for our future rested in the placing of pillars. And that started with building a working board of directors who were committed and dedicated to giving their time and talent to its growth. From there we built more pillars, defined by developing programs and running them, recruiting members and sponsors, building an administrative infrastructure and of course shoring up our financial coffers to sustain the whole thing.

When you are young and fledgling, one crack in any of these pillars, could result in a setback. We had many cracks; everything from a program not coming together and scrambling to find a replacement so that you don't compromise on the momentum you are trying to build with membership, to finding a venue which we could afford, to finding sponsors, to writing website content and marketing materials when there was no budget to hire a professional, and on and on.

When something cracked, our board scurried to patch it. I think we were all dry wall or masonry experts in a previous life! They are a magnificent group of professionals and always rallied to the cause not just as a team but as a family.

However, there were days and times when I felt early on that we were flying the monolithic, "Spruce Goose", and my goal was to get us to operate like a top Boeing aircraft! I used to write to the board in those terms.

But we were unsinkable. I didn't give up, they didn't give up. And with each year, we saw growing strength and momentum in the organization as a result of our work.

Now we have a succession plan; the cornerstone of leadership and the symbol of cementing the future for the organization.

I am honored to say that I look forward to passing on the baton to the capable and strong hands of Bill Granda, as president, and Mike Mazur, as vice president come this November. They have been a critical part of building our legacy, and will continue to do so, and then some! We never had a president and vice president tag team before. My, how far we have come, and have so much more to look forward to.