Worcester Business Journal

F O C U S O U T S T A N D I N G W O M E N I N B U S I N E S S 30 Worcester Business Journal | October 29, 2018 | wbjournal.com L ess than a year aer graduat- ing from Bentley University with a finance degree, Mari- anne Lancaster was unhappy in her job until she got a pitch from relatives in Maine, who manufac- tured specialized bags for shipping. Lancaster would have to start her own business as a distributor, becoming a go-between from manufacturers to com- panies needing their equipment properly protected during shipping. On one hand, it was an opportune time. She didn't own a house or have a family, and had roommates to share the rent, so she had less to risk. "It was actually a good time to start a business," she said. But it wasn't as if the manufacturing and shipping industries were filled with minority women like her to give her a hand or act as a mentor. Lancaster set up a business plan and got help through a minority business seminar. She talked to five potential customers, and all but one encouraged her to start the company. Ironically, none of those companies became customers, but the business she started out of her home was on its way. In engineering or banking or any- where between, Lancaster nearly always found herself working across from white men and having to prove she was capa- ble. She oen struggled to get loans. "It definitely was a long road to prove yourself because they did not expect you to understand the product protection or the military-spec details, or they'd expect that it was your father who started the business or your husband," said Lan- caster, who grew up in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. "You have to go beyond that extra mile to prove yourself." Lancaster Packaging is still a small player in the industry, with 18 em- ployees, most of which work out of the company's 17,000-square-foot Hudson facility. But nearly three decades aer taking a leap, Lancaster and her business have grown to 11 states and work with many of the largest aerospace and defense companies, including Lockheed Martin's helicopter maker Sikorsky or General Dynamics' Electric Boat, which makes submarines in Connecticut. In 2013, the company was ranked 48th on e Boston Globe's top 100 female-led businesses when ranked by revenue, as the firm was bringing in more than $16 million per year. Lancaster has worked not just to over- come industry challenges as a minority woman but convinced major industry players to work with her company when Lancaster started a $16M business out of her house Residence: Brookline College: Bentley University What has been the key to your suc- cess? A willingness to slow down when in times of trouble and re-group. Look at a way to survive and take the necessary steps. If you could go back and change one thing, what would it be? Hire more salespeople sooner in the life of the business. Take more risks in growing the sales sooner. What is your primary motivation? Take the company to the next level in sales and customer growth, through being partners to our customers and helping out with pain points they may have. This may sound a bit crazy, but you have to be motivated to make changes. their equipment can't be subjected to shipping potentially damaging it. e industry is more than just tossing shipping peanuts or foam into a box. To- day's materials are likely far lighter and contain reusable material, and Lancaster Packaging has to ensure equipment isn't damaged by static, for example. "It's constant communication," she said. "It's a high-quality level of service." Her company has to ensure materi- als are in stock and become a problem solver for production lines. "She's become a real value-added partner to her clients," said Liora Stone, the president of Uxbridge manufacturer Precision Engineering. When starting a company like Lan- caster did, "you get knocked down more than you know," Stone said. "It speaks to a kind of person who has the self- strength and self-confidence and inner strength to say, 'I've been beaten down but I'm not going to let it get me down.'" Stone and Lancaster became friends aer meeting at an industry gathering in Florida in 2010. eir two companies share many of the same customers. ey each serve on the advisory board of the Central Massachusetts Center for Wom- en & Enterprise. "Within that circle," Stone said of local businesswomen, Lancaster "has definite- ly become more well known." Lancaster said she has taken opportu- nities where she can to be the mentor she was unable to have herself. "I don't have a mentor in my field," Lancaster said. "It was definitely hard. You sometimes feel like where you are, you're all alone." BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor Marianne Lancaster President Lancaster Packaging, Inc., Hudson W 2018 W I N N E R

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