Heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce and ACE Leadership March ‘25

Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this Tuesday, March 25th, 2025.

Have your host James J. Mailoff here at 430 today.

We're going to talk to our friend Jess from the Wisconsin Rapids family center looking

forward to that.

Been looking forward to this.

Whenever we have promise in from the heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce, she is the

marketing communications director over there.

Promise always good to see you.

Thanks for being here.

Thanks.

Good morning.

And we appreciate you bringing a friend.

We have Mary Gear with us from the ACE Leadership Program.

Mary will be talking with you more a little bit later, but thanks for being here.

For sure.

Thanks for having me.

Promise.

Let's go ahead and kick things off with one of the bigger events coming up in this area.

Careers unlimited job fair.

This is one of those ones that we always love to highlight and talk about and let people

know what to look forward to.

Yep.

So our careers unlimited job fair is happening on April 2nd at the Lincoln High School

from 3 o'clock to 5 o'clock.

I just want to shout out to our presenting sponsor Dom Tar without their support.

We wouldn't be able to hold this event for our community.

So this is really great for any kind of job seekers out there.

If you're looking for a job, stop in, visit our booths.

We have booths ranging from agriculture, architecture, construction, education, entertainment,

sports, even government health care, hospitality, manufacturing, just a list of few.

It's going to be a really great event.

We have a lot of booths.

It's full.

So I don't think we're going to be able to squeeze anymore in there.

Okay.

It's really great if you're looking for a job or you want to have some face to face interaction

with a hiring company, stop on out and visit us that day.

Most of us would in high school or if not a little bit later experience job fairs and

know what these can mean.

So most of us can put ourself in the shoes of an employee and looking for work.

And we know there's a lot of people going back for years now that are interested in, well,

I have a job.

I want a career.

And for something that they, a place they can stay for a good five, ten years if not

longer and everything.

If you are a employee, this is where you get to ask those kind of questions that you can't

necessarily see on a website or when you're filling out a job application, when you're

face to face and you can make a lot of these inquiries right in person.

You're also able to really get a feel for a company and not that it's a, you know, complete

parameter, but you're enabled, you're able to kind of get to know these bosses, these managers

a little bit more, how they treat people.

I know for me, one of the things my mom taught me really young was, it's not just how they

treat you, but watch how they treat other people.

Like if you're standing in line and there's people in front of you, how are they interacting

with them?

How are they treating those people?

How do they treat people that they may not even think are good for their business?

You know, are they dismissive or are they still polite just as polite to them as they

are others?

A lot of these things can be parameters for somebody out there, especially a young person

that doesn't have the data or the life experiences that we have of, oh, this is what a bad

boss is or, oh, this is what a bad business does or something.

And to the businesses out there that are already a part of this and everything, there is

no bit of marketing or advertising that can give you a job fair.

That can give you that opportunity to be right there face to face, no middleman, nothing

going on in between, but you in a conversation with this individual and really being able

to sell your business in your career, you know, as this is something that, you know,

not just employees, but businesses are really looking for.

They want employees for the next five, 10 years, they're looking for something like that.

Here's the perfect merging of both of those worlds.

Yeah.

I definitely agree with you there.

There's a lot of like lost face to face interaction and today's ways and technology.

I also think that some of the industries that we have in the area are looking for those

people that are interested in like potentially growing their career.

So the boost that we have there, there's multiple positions open for a variety of different

fields and you never really know what you're going to find.

You know, you might be in one industry and then just find yourself more interested in

another industry and then you find yourself like growing within that company.

And I think that's a really great opportunity here with this career fair that we're having.

Absolutely.

You know, and I'll apologize to everybody.

I saw the entertainment in sports park and that's where my eyes went immediately.

Yeah.

I have no journalistic integrity, I'm biased about that one.

But it's cool to see that represented on here.

It's cool to see that that's going to be something that people, because that is an

avenue that honestly in this area hasn't always been there.

It's always been an opportunity.

It's always been an option, but I don't know that it's ever been highlighted like this,

like it has been in recent years where we're seeing more and more opportunity for people

to make careers in those industries in a variety of different ways too.

So that's great to see.

The variety of businesses in here, I just feel is, you know, these job fairs haven't evolved

or changed that much since we were kids in school even though that was a little while

ago.

We'll just leave it at that.

But they've gotten more opportunities, it feels like.

There's more avenues represented in these job fairs.

That's great to see.

And the thing that I really love about this career's unlimited job fair is that it kind

of showcases all the options and availability that we have in our own community here.

I hear a lot of people's talk about, well, there's nothing out there.

Well, yeah, you have to look and here's a great place to look at a lot of them all at once.

Yeah.

There are a few things in life that happen without work.

The best things in life take a little work and getting a good job is one of them.

With this, and I'm so out of my element with this now, realizing as I'm saying this

out loud, there's been a while since I've applied for a job or been doing a job fair.

But I know when I was doing this, they always recommended, hey, have a couple of your resumes

printed out.

Yeah.

You know, have some of that.

Nowadays, I don't know if it's something you just ask for an email address and just send

it to them or not, but it doesn't seem like a bad idea to have a couple of paper.

If you can have a couple of paper copies of your resume printed out and ready to go, you

can just hand them right to them and everything.

You don't give any wiggle room for anything that might mix up in that or them for getting

you and the pile of emails they have or something like that.

They put a face right to the name when they see that name and you hand it right to them.

I think that's a great idea.

And I should probably mention that more often in the next coming weeks here, if you're

a serious job seeker, you'll definitely stand out from the crowd if you show up with

your resume and hand in hand.

That's true.

Yeah.

That's very true.

I didn't know if I was outdated myself though.

People even did that anymore.

What is printing?

What is it now?

That's a great one again.

The April 2nd at Lincoln High School from three to five, the career's unlimited job

fair will be taking place.

You can find out more at WisconsinRabbitChamber.com.

Networking at night.

Coming up.

One of the talk about this one with you as well, promise.

Yeah.

So we have Networking at night.

It's once a month.

It's an event that allows our members to interact with each other in network.

And I've seen some great connections made at these events.

This month or an April, we're holding it at LCAPA from five to seven on April 21st.

So LCAPA is a diner that features like breakfast items and then it has a small lunch menu

too, I believe, right?

Yeah.

Yep.

Yep.

Yep.

Yep.

And then so that's on Market Avenue.

Import Edwards is open to members or future members.

We have some snacks and explore what LCAPA has to offer for you as well because they do

have a great little area off to the side of their main restaurant that they use to reserve

for like birthday parties and like little meetings for people in the area.

So I really love that place.

Integrity is very important here at WFHR for 80 plus years.

We have been able to hang our hat on that and I say that proudly.

And also to let people know that we have no integrity with LCAPA.

We love that place.

They sponsor a birthday anniversary club.

We talk about them every day on the air here and always try to encourage people to head

on over there.

Check that out.

It's definition of buying local supporting local.

They're a business that puts whether it's port Edwards or here in Rapids or in Acusa.

They're constantly putting into communities.

They just got done a little while ago doing a fundraiser for a local individual.

They do things like this all the time.

So that feels really good knowing that you're spending your dollars there and they're being

put back into the community and helping individuals in our community.

And oh yeah, by the way, some of the greatest food you're going to have.

And one of the more unique menus you're going to see and it seems like every week that

Friday fish fry others is getting more and more popular.

A plate, if I was going to recommend places to go with Network Ant Knight that you might

not have been yet, this would be number one on the list.

It's so cool to see that you guys are going to be over there and not for nothing too.

One of the more friendly places as far as prices and those things go, they work really

hard to make things affordable for families and for that.

You don't have to take my word for it.

Head on over there and check it out yourselves, everybody.

And what a perfect opportunity to check it out if you haven't been there before when

Networking and Knight.

Yeah, I definitely agree.

With this event too, it's kind of unique.

You mentioned that there's specials, mornings, lunches, kind of what they focus on.

They're not Friday nights, they're open late for their fish fry, but they're not always

an open at night.

So they're really cool place to have hosting this too, because they're not always open at

night.

I'm pretty excited about it.

I love Pedal Press and everything that he's doing over there and how community focused

he is and all the other additional efforts that he's doing in the area.

So I'm excited to have this over there.

One of the things that I should mention is that we are now looking for our 2026 list of

hosts for Networking at Knight.

So if there were business out there and are interested in hosting our Networking at Knight,

please get in touch with me.

You can send me an email at marketing at WisconsinRapageChamber.com.

Just writing that down, 2026, huh?

Yeah.

I wonder.

I wonder.

Just looking around our building here a little bit, I wonder if we can...

We'll talk.

We'll talk.

I think that'd be fun.

And with these Networking and Knight events are so much fun.

Be a part of them, everybody, whether you are attending them or you are a business that

wants to host one.

I'll reach out to the Chamber and find out more.

We're speaking with Promise Marketing and Communication Director with our heart of Wisconsin

Chamber of Commerce.

Promise before we get to talking about the ACE Leadership Group, did want to mention

the Community Connection Program.

And this is a really unique thing that you guys are doing over there at the Chamber.

Yeah.

So our Community Connection Program is basically a program to assist companies in the area

that are attempting to recruit staff perhaps out of state or to the area.

There's a lot of...

We're trying to make those connections.

Well, you sell your company, we're going to sell the community for you.

So if you don't have time to take your person that you're looking to recruit or hire

on a tour of the area to kind of highlight everything that we actually have here, give

us a call.

We will set up a customized tour with that person and find out, you know, do they have children,

do they have housing needs, do they need pet care, you know, what kind of restaurants

do you like?

What are your hobbies?

You like to go shopping, places, you know, like where can they go to worship, you know,

things like that.

And we will curtail the tour to fit that person's needs and take them out one day out of the

week and just highlight all these areas for them so that they know what our community has

to offer.

So if that's like one of the main, oh, I don't know if I want to, you know, work for you

because I don't know what the area has to offer.

You're able to, you know, connect those dots for you and offer that to them.

Now, this is a service to all of our members and then there are some opportunities to,

you know, be a partner with us on this as well.

I'm just really excited about this program because I haven't really heard of it in any

other areas.

Then again, I don't really explore a whole lot of areas, but I think it is great.

I know that we had done a tour for one of the gals that actually works at Erko now

and she just said it was a great tour and it really helped her get acclimated to the

area and really made it, you know, the community feel welcoming, which is I think a lot of new

hires in the area, especially if we're recruiting out of state, want to feel welcomed and want

to feel supported.

In addition to that, we also offer, like say, if you have a spouse and your spouse is leaving

their job and they're looking for work as well, we can help your spouse, you know, connect

some, make some connections that way as well.

I think this could, you know, we've got, it's a very new program.

So we've got to see where this goes and everything.

But I genuinely think this could be one of the cooler and more impactful things you guys

do at the chamber.

I think that's saying something for as long as I've been in this share, I've been talking

about how the chamber is just not only one of the better things in our area and one better

things for our businesses and our local mom and pop businesses to any, any established

business coming into town here.

But something that I, it took me really doing this job to learn was how much the chamber

helps individuals and helps families and, you know, easing into a new community.

I mentioned before on the airwaves my family and I had 10 different addresses before I

was 10.

You know, I know what I'm talking about as far as moving to a new area and getting, you

know, acclimated and everything and understanding things.

For every area we moved to where people were friendly and we did have some ease into

that.

There were places where they're just, it was the exact opposite to have a chamber that

does something like this.

It speaks to something that you can't put advertising, you can put a millions of dollars

in advertising and still not get what the chamber does.

It's a genuine organic thing that happens.

It's something that, you know, any family out there that has ever moved knows exactly

what I'm talking about.

And I think this also keys up something other, something, another interesting thing happening

in our area here and I don't know how much anybody has even noticed because it kind

of happens organically.

Our area is getting bigger.

Rapids has got new people moving into it all the time.

And with businesses coming in and some of the things that are flourishing around here,

you're seeing more and more people from out of the city, out of the state that are coming

to the area.

So this is the perfect time for something like this of kind of a way for people to really

get to know that stuff and ease into an area or at the very least finding out if they

want to move there and move their family there.

Yeah.

So if you're a business out there that is looking to recruit anytime during the year and

you want to make that connection for your new hire and you're ready to do the onboarding

process with them even, you know, or they're already hired and they still need support

in the area.

Give us a call.

We're happy to help with any of those needs.

Yeah.

There's nobody that does what the chamber does.

There's just simply no business, no nonprofit out there that is doing what our chamber is

doing to promote local businesses, to buy local support local and promote that.

That's their job.

Yeah.

That's a 101 over there.

So if you're looking to do that, you're not going to find more anybody who is tailored

for this better than our heart of Wisconsin chamber.

And as well, two families out there listening and looking to get to know the area or anything

like that.

This is a perfect avenue, a perfect opportunity for that.

Yeah.

It's a really cool program.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops, how it grows and the strength it brings

into it, promise.

Another cool program that we love talking about is the ACE leadership program.

We have Mary Gear with us here today to talk about this program a little bit.

Mary, thanks a lot for being here.

We appreciate the time.

For sure.

So Mary, what can you first tell us a little bit about yourself and what business world

you come from?

Sure.

So I am currently working with Tri-Corps Insurance.

I specialize in business insurance, actually commercial.

My background actually is more deep in schools and districts.

Okay.

Going back about almost 20 years now.

Cool.

Are you, forgive me for asking if this is prying or anything about you from this area?

I am.

Okay.

I am.

Okay.

I am.

I am.

Right on.

All the way.

So what, what, what, what made you want or are your employer to want you to join the ACE

leadership program?

I raised my hand just because I am new to Tri-Corps Insurance and I worked for Renaissance

Learning previously here in Wisconsin Rapids, but I wanted to get more involved with the

community as Renaissance has expanded and grown, you know, things have changed.

But now, you know, with Tri-Corps, they're trying to be more community involved and really

be a part of it.

And so that speaks to me just because I'm like, I need to get to know this community more.

Like it's completely changed from my childhood.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I appreciate mentioning that.

And you're not alone there.

I know a lot of people who feel very similar to that and we talk about this promise and

I even talk about this from time to time where we have a medium-sized community here.

A medium-sized city.

So it's not surprising that there are sometimes where there's a business we're talking about.

I'm like, oh, I didn't even know that.

I didn't hear about that or I didn't know about this or so it's just as, you know, just

as clear that there will be other things going on in the community that we might not know

about.

I tip my head to ACE to Tri-Corps for doing this and have and seeing that.

A lot of businesses are getting more and more in tune with that and understanding of it.

What are some of the things you've enjoyed about the program?

Honestly, just getting to know, first off, the community has been huge.

Like the learning that has happened.

I'm like, I didn't even know these things existed.

I didn't know these things were happening.

I didn't know about some of these businesses.

Not to mention the people and the supportive businesses that are supporting this initiative.

Every single year, it makes a huge difference and it's a big deal to have leaders, you know,

no matter how much they, how little or big they contribute.

We need those people to build this community and keep it growing.

Well said.

Can you tell us a little bit about the economic development session that you were a part

of?

This one was really eye-opening because I shouldn't say everybody.

I assumed that it was just about businesses and bringing businesses to make money for

the community.

Oh my gosh, it's like a big circle of trust that you need to support each other because

I mean, it even comes down to like our natural resources here.

Like what drives people to want to live here?

You want good education.

You want good jobs and opportunities, but you also want maybe a family, you know, a little

bit more family centered.

We have a lot of faith diversity here in Wisconsin Rapids and the surrounding areas, which is huge,

because everybody's accepting of each other and that isn't always the case.

But then, you know, you're also talking about health and we have some amazed and education,

like mid street tech, amazing what they're doing and building in this community.

One of our kids goes there, so like really excited to be a part of it.

Right on.

And appreciate that, especially the passion.

It's very, it's very evident that we want that.

We want more of that that's encouraging to hear.

It's very good to hear.

And as far as the program and what it's doing, while you're not necessarily breaking news

about this, what you're doing is confirming so much of what we know about this program

and what it's continuing to do and the positives of this one.

Everybody is a leader.

Everybody's got a leader inside of them and what that means.

And the greatest parts of leadership, at least I have never heard somebody who says,

I'm a great leader and you know, they announced this.

It's on their business card or something like that.

Leaders just lead and everybody can be a leader in their job and what they're doing and

a leader in their community.

And so much of this program does such a great job of, yes, promoting businesses and helping

employers and employees be stronger in their individual jobs and careers while also strengthening

our community and showing more and more and time and time again, how connected we are,

how much more we have in common than not, how our differences only in strengthen our community,

only make it that much more diverse and much more powerful, what we're able to do.

I've mentioned this many times moving to this town.

One of the things that stood out to my mother is as she would want me to mention a hippie

feminist, even at her age still.

The way that Rapids, I think unconsciously has always been a very big supporter of women,

having a female mayor, when we first moved to this town, some of these things, seeing

our non-profits and seeing women in leadership and those things.

Rapids has actually been pretty on the cusp of a lot of this stuff.

It's not too surprising to see that there's more and more diversity happening in this area

and only strengthens our area and programs like the East Leadership Program really highlight

this.

Yeah, 100% and this one really highlighted just the business support because all of

the participants, at least in this session, are coming from local businesses, which means

they're giving back to the community.

They're investing in their own staff to take time away from work once a month if not

longer because we're doing side projects.

We're trying to do something good within the community, what that is is still to be determined

only because they develop as you go along, but really just understanding what it takes

in this community, the challenge is that it's facing and how we can help.

Yeah, that's a very insightful, Mary, and I don't think we talk about that part of it

very often.

I appreciate your mentioning that.

And the investment that these businesses are taking, these companies are taking and having

their employers not working, but working, doing something like this that is maybe not

a profit-based, but is certainly community-based.

That's very cool.

Thank you, Mary, for the time in joining us today, appreciate it, appreciate what you're

doing in our community.

Thank you.

Promise that people want to find out more about the East Leadership Program or any of the

other things we've been able to talk about today.

How can they reach out?

Can they find out more?

For the East Leadership Program, you can reach out to Laura Bonner Ridgeway at Workforce

at WisconsinRapidsChamber.com or, otherwise, you can just give our main office a call at 715-422-4852.

And be sure to bookmark the Chambers webpage, WisconsinRapidsChamber.com.

All the information we talked about today and so much more happening with our chamber

over there.

We really scratched the surface when we hang out together promised.

There's so much else available for you over at the Chambers website.

Be sure to follow them on social media as well.

Share their posts on your page, you just never know who might see them otherwise.

And a big thank you, not only to you, promise for joining us, but again, Mary, we appreciate

the time.

Thanks for joining us.

We will be back with more Midday Magazine right here at 97.5 FM 1328WFHR, locally grown

radio.