Not All Heroes Wear Capes

Post Author: Carey Rich

The number of women-owned businesses in the US in 2017: 11.6 million, employing 9 million and generating 1.7 trillion in sales.

Women-owned firms account for 39% of all privately held firms and contribute 8% of employment and 4.2% of revenues.

The number of businesses owned by women in the US has more than doubled in 20 years and Kansas City is the 7th best US metro area for women to own a business.

Kat McDaniel, Chief Innovator at MEDiAHEAD, began her career in print sales in 1980. At the time, she was the only female within the large web-printing company she worked for.

One of the reasons she was successful was because being a woman helped differentiate her at that time. When she worked with women buyers….they treated each other as equals.

Twenty-eight years ago Kat and her husband moved to Kansas City and bought a company called Fine Print, a printer that was closing because the owner was going to jail for counterfeiting.

Six years ago MEDiAHEAD split off from ColorMark as a separate company and she began to venture out into the world as MEDiAHEAD’s true decision maker.

There was always a struggle over the years getting vendors and other printers to acknowledge her because women in printing were rare.

When I asked Kat what her biggest obstacle has been with regard to being a woman-owned business, the first thing she mentioned was financing.

The second obstacle has been finding employees who respected her for being a woman leader in a traditionally male business.

The industry has changed considerably in the last 30 years – there are many female salespeople that work in the printing industry, but still very few owners.

To this day, Kat is a well-respected leader in the Kansas City community and attributes her success to tenacity. She considers her greatest success the employees who work with her and the clients who have developed into sincere and meaningful friendships.